niome22:
I Just bought a home and the basement has radiant flooring. It seems to be heating the house well but is it more expensive then a gas furnace?? My water heater is also gas it that makes a difference.
Comment please!
Tags Radiant Heating
Suggested:
Military Divorce Lawyers
February 21st, 2009 at 8:51 am
Radiant flooring is not to take the place of a furnace. It is to keep tile floors comfortable to walk on. I don’t know what part of the country you live, but in the Midwest radiant heat would not heat a home.
February 24th, 2009 at 4:19 pm
i doubt it would heat the house all that well if it gets really cold, not to mention the fact that if the pipes should break it is basically unrepairable unless you want to tear up the whole floor
February 25th, 2009 at 11:02 pm
I am not to sure because I also have radiant heating in my basement and thought I could heat my house with it. My bill was twice the normal bill.
February 28th, 2009 at 8:07 am
Overall, radiant floors are more efficient than forced air systems (furnaces). The reason is that in radiant applications, the temperature at the floor is relatively the same as the tempurature at the ceiling. With forced air, the temperature at the ceiling can be as much as 10 degrees warmer than that at the floor. Because of this you can run your system at a lower temp. with radiant (warm feet means warm body). That leaves only one factor, the efficiency of the heating appliance. Generally, furnaces are more efficient than boilers and water heaters used for radiant applications therefore offsetting the benefits. So, if you know the efficiency of of your heating appliances, it will help you figure it out. And yes, you can heat a home with radiant alone and it is a much more steady comfortable heat. Hope this helps.
March 2nd, 2009 at 6:31 am
Radiant heating (gas boiler) is neither better or worse than a gas forced air furnace, water heat.. whatever..
If your house uses 100,000 btu’s of heat on a cold day (20f) it doesnt matter how the heat gets there…
A forced air furnace will produce the heat that is needed to keep up with demand as will the boiler that heats the water in the radiant heating tubes. a btu is a btu regardless how it gets there.
The plus side of radiant heating is that the heats source is under you.. so the room is warm from floor to ceiling. Also, because radiant heat heats the structure of the house.. concrete or wood floor.. it makes the temperature very stable.
Your house will always be very close to the temperature setting on the thermostat..
One problem with it is that it is very slow to react. If you leave on vacation and turn your thermostat to 50.. when you return it takes a very long time for the house to return to 70. Forced air furnaces are much faster at this.
In a basement it is great.. it keeps the floor warm. prevents condensation.. keeps things dry in general. the basment will always be nice and toasty warm. With forced air in a basement the heat is always ducted in from the ceiling and the floor is always cold..
It is more expensive to install… some more equipment is necessary to make it work than forced air.. But anyone who says you will have a higher gas bill because you have radiant heat doesn’t have a clue.