Contractors dream home radiates comfort

May 1, 2002
SPECIAL TO CONTRACTOR CROTON-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. When visitors see the mechanical room of Mike Lanzillottos new house here, they tell him that a picture of it belongs in a magazine. I just wanted a really super-duper heating system, Lanzillotto told CONTRACTOR. People ask me about it, but it probably would cost them too much money for me to do it in their house. Since Lanzillotto owns All County Heating

SPECIAL TO CONTRACTOR

CROTON-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. — When visitors see the mechanical room of Mike Lanzillotto’s new house here, they tell him that a picture of it belongs in a magazine.

“I just wanted a really super-duper heating system,” Lanzillotto told CONTRACTOR. “People ask me about it, but it probably would cost them too much money for me to do it in their house.”

Since Lanzillotto owns All County Heating & Air Conditioning Systems here, he was able to afford the system by designing and installing it himself. In fact, working evenings and weekends, he built much of the 5,700 sq.-ft.-house and installed a portion of the plumbing as well. He is also a licensed Westchester County master plumber.

The most noteworthy aspect of the heating system probably is the dual-variable injection setup, Lanzillotto said. One variable injection loop feeds six zones of Runtal hot water baseboard; the other loop feeds seven zones of radiant floor heating. Tile covers the radiant-heated floors.

The heating plan also incorporates two tekmar outdoor reset controllers, a Burnham boiler and Weil-McLain stainless steel indirect water heater.

“We use a lot of hot water,” said Lanzillotto, who lives in the house with his wife and three daughters. “We have a shower with eight showerheads.”

He didn’t skimp on the air conditioning either. The house is equipped with five American Standard 14 SEER condensing units with five variable-speed air handlers.

“We just zoned it out that way,” Lanzillotto said.

His previous house was an 1,800-sq.-ft. colonial built in 1925 with hot-water heat. Like many other contractors, he decided to install radiant floor heat in his own dream home after he had put it in houses of his customers.

All County is primarily a high-end service and replacement business, and his firm has done a number of radiant installations as well. Lanzillotto has owned the three-truck operation for 20 years.

With the big difference in size between his old and new homes, Lanzillotto said it’s a little tough to compare the efficiencies of the two heating systems. He added, however, that he is very happy with his gas bills from the recent winter.

“The system worked great and I’m sure I saved on my gas bill,” Lanzillotto said. “Plus the comfort is unbelievable. It was definitely worth the effort to do it this way.”

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