Jon:
I bought a weekend house last fall with radiant heat and mostly wide-plank pine wood floors. To save energy in the winter I turn the heat down to 45-50 degrees when I leave on Sunday night. I turn the heat back up on Friday evenings but it can take over 24 hours just to get back to 60 degrees. Once the house has warmed up the system is fine. The house is new (less than 10 years old) and well-insulated. I’ve gone into the basement and felt the hot water running through the system within minutes of turning it on.
We want to know what you think!
Tags Radiant Heating
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March 7th, 2009 at 1:43 pm
That is how radiant heat works, slowly. You might consider changing to forced air if house is not used often.
March 9th, 2009 at 2:55 am
I think you just answered your own question.
Depending on the size of the place it will take time to warm all the walls and objects especially with radiant heat which is the slowest of the heat processes.
If you have any neighbors in the area, you might give one a call the night before you come out and have them turn the heat on, otherwise you’ll likely want to speed heat the place some other way such as with some good quality Pelonis space heaters then let your radiant take over once up to temp.
March 9th, 2009 at 4:06 am
I don’t think there is a way to speed the process. How about an programable thermostat to turn the heat up on Thursday nights.
There are even some, depending on your situation that you can program over the web or the phone. Here is one for $67!