Hate the blowing in your face from standard forced air HVAC systems? Utility bill through the roof trying to heat your home this cold winter? Find out the benefits of radiant floor heating and how installing a system in your upcoming renovation can help save on energy costs and keep you more comfortable than traditional heating methods. Just say no to cold floor tiles in the bathroom or kitchen every morning!
Radiant floor heating is a method of directly heating the floors in your home. With radiant heat transfer, the heat is transferred directly from the heated floor to the people and things in the room by radiation, also called infrared radiation. Convection also plays a role as heat rises from the floor and the natural circulation of air heats the room.
Radiant heating is the effect you feel when you can feel the warmth of a hot stovetop element from across the room. - Energy Savers
The government backed website Energy Savers lists several benefits to radiant heating over traditional methods of baseboard or forced air systems.
- It is more efficient than baseboard heating and usually more efficient than forced-air heating because no energy is lost through ducts
- The lack of moving air can be advantageous to people with severe allergies
- Hydronic (liquid-based) systems use little electricity, a benefit for homes off the power grid or in areas with high electricity prices
- Hydronic systems can be heated with a wide variety of energy sources, including standard gas- or oil-fired boilers, wood-fired boilers, solar water heaters, or some combination of these heat sources.
There are three types of radiant floor heating systems: 1) air-heated, 2) electric, and 3) hydronic (liquid). Early air-heated systems have slowly become phased out due to their inefficiency. Electric systems work with cables embedded into the floor. With high electricity costs though it's important to note that these electric systems work best with thick concrete or other high thermal mass floors, where the concrete can absorb heat at night when electricity costs are lower and then slowly let the heat out throughout the day. Liquid systems are generally the most cost-effective method for radiant floor heating, where heated water is pumped through tubing laid underneath the floor.
If you're looking to renovate your home in the near future, consider installing a radiant floor heating system. Your cold feet will thank you as you step out of the hot shower onto what was previously cold bathroom tile!
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(Images: Flickr member agahran and PinkMoose licensed for use under Creative Commons)
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We've been planning to retrofit our entire first floor with Radiant floor heating for some time now. Just need to get on the ball and start the install during the summer when we don't need the hear.
We're planning on an ultra high efficiency boiler to supply heat to the first story floors via staple up plates from the basement, hydronic forced air through the second floor (we ran PEX years ago), and baseboard/wall panels once we finally finish the basement at some point in the next 20 years :-)
Every winter when the heat is kicking on and blowing in our face, then freezing when it is off, I always look forward to "some day" when we actually do the install. Now where did I put that $15,000 I needed?
Totally on my list of future to-do's!
one big problem with radiant floors is thermal lag- it takes hours for the temperature to change when you adjust the thermostat.
Radiant heat is great. When we renovated our kitchen, we looked into radiant there, as it's above our uninsulated garage space. And then we found out how much it costs to install, in an existing structure.
Oh, well! Sure would have been nice.
@Contrabass - How much were you quoted and for how much space? Which kind of radiant heat? Thanks!