We are currently looking at a house to purchase that does not have a central air cooling unit or furnace. It has radiant electric heating that was installed in the late 1960's. Can anyone give me or direct to somewhere that can give me a ballpark idea of what the cost would be to replace it with forced air heat and cooling? The catch is, there is no gas line to the house currently, everything is electric and the basement is finished with no duct work. I'm guessing around 15,000, can anyone tell me if that is a good estimate? Or should I update the radiant heat and look for a different type of central cooling. We are outside of Pittsburgh, PA. Thanks for yelp.

Well, you have a couple of choices. You may be able to install an electric heating coil in your air handler. That would be the simplest, and cheapest in installation costs, although perhaps not cheapest in operating costs. Or, you could put in an oil or propane tank, and heat with that, but that would probably mean an entirely new air handler.

Is the radiant heat embedded in a concrete floor? If so, how would you plan to "update" it? How does it perform now?

The heat is embedded in the ceiling. We were hoping to get central air conditioning in at some point, but we didn't know if that would require and entirely new forced air system or if there were alternatives. Not sure how it performs we haven't decided to purchase the home yet. Thank You for your response.

Updating the heating system can be a hard job. Or a very easy one. All depends on many factors. Type of home, access to attic, or basement. A whole host of things.

Basic costs to install a gas heat system, along with electrical AC system with ducts, side wall venting for flue gasses. Gas piping etc.
$15,000 and up. But again this depends on many factors. How big is the house? How easy is it to get to the rooms with air ducts?

Remember if your all electric you get a special rate from the utility company because of this. So changing may not be such a good idea.

Richard touched on something however. If your thinking of Central AC you can use a furnace in the attic if that is where the fan is going to be located instead of just the fan unit. Or you can use a boiler with a hot water coil to heat the home. Not a real good method of heating in a home, but will work.

Thanks for the response. That is what I was figuring 15k +. The basement has a finished ceiling, so It would be difficult and costly to add duct work. I was thinking about possibly a central cooling unit in the attic. Do you have any idea the cost of that? Somewhere around 1500 sqare ft.

Something isn't adding up. First you said you HAD a central cooling system, and now you want to add one. You still haven't said whether the radiant heat is effective or not. Radiant heat is an excellent method for heating, because it heats objects (including human objects) and not the air. Because of that, you will feel comfortable at a lower air temperature than with other heating systems which heat the air. Maybe you haven't given it enough of a chance.

It's no big deal to remove and replace part of, or even all of, a ceiling. What makes you think it's so costly?

I stated it does not have central cooling and we have not purchased home yet because of concerns about the age of the radiant heating that is in the ceiling. My question was am I able to simply add central cooling to a house with no duct work and at what cost? I was suggesting the forced air heat and cooling as an option to replace the radiant heat because the radiant heating is 40 years old and if I would have to cut holes in the game room ceiling to run duct work from the central air unit, would I be just as well to go with a complete forced air system and how expensive would that be? Thanks

Sorry, I misread.

If the radiant heat still works, there is no reason to replace it. It could, because it is a passive system with no moving parts, work for another 50 years.

Have you looked into a form of cooling which they call "split systems"? They consist of very thin air-handling units which you mount on walls, and condensing units located outside. They require no ductwork, but they require more open planning, or open doors. They are inexpensive to install, and are very effective if designed correctly. You just need to get piping and wiring to the units.

An air handling unit in the attic is not a practical solution if you keep the radiant heat, because they would have to penetrate the ceiling with ductwork, and they may cut some heating wires, since no one probably knows exactly where they are.

Sorry for the misunderstanding...next time I'll read more carefully.

Richard, thanks for the advice. I appreciate your help.