Radiant Floor Heating

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Radiant Floor Heating For Comfort And Efficiency
Radiant floor heating is an efficient and comfortable way to heat your home. It provides superior comfort to compared forced air heating because the heat emanates from the floor, and rises. The air cools somewhat as it rises. This allows the temperature at the feet and legs to be slightly warmer than the temperature in the air around the head.

Radiant heat is produced from either hot water flowing through a pipe system in the floor , or by electricity. Hydronic systems are more complicated to install than electric systems, because the pipes need to be set in the cement under the floor. Obviously, this is expensive to install, but hydronic floor heating has it's advantages over electric heating.

The water holds the heat much better than electric wiring does, and as a result, is more efficient. It also allows for a variety of ways to heat the water itself. You can use gas, propane, oil, electric or even solar heat. Any traditional heating method is a usable option for heating the water that runs through the underfloor tubing.

Electric heat functions like an electric blanket. As electricity flows through the wiring, it encounters resistance, which causes the wires to produce heat. This is much less expensive to install than hydronic heating. It's easy to find floor tiles with the electric wiring built in, ready to just place and install. These are easily available at just about any home improvement store.

Radiant floor heating is especially popular in rooms that are commonly floored with tile, such as kitchens and bathrooms, but it can be used in any room, or the house as a whole, with any type of floor covering, including hardwood and carpet. It's quite nice to walk into the bathroom on a cold day and notice nice, warm tile on your bare feet. This simply isn't available with forced air heat, unless you keep the temperature uncomfortably warm.

Another advantage of radiant floor heating over traditional forced air heat is that there is no air being pushed through the home. This seems almost obvious, but when air is being pushed through the home it can suck the humidity from the air, especially if there a a leak in the system allowing the dryer outside air to mix with the air being heated.

It also can distribute allergens through the air in your home. Of course, there is also the issue of feeling hot air blasting on you while the heat is on. If you're in the wrong part of the room, it's still too cold. In yet another equally wrong part of the room, you're being hit with hot, dry, allergen carrying air. Neither of these options are particularly comfortable.

Overall, radian floor heating may be a little more expensive to install, but in the long run, it will be a more efficient and cost effective way to heat your home. It will also be much more comfortable. That's a double bonus in my book. I would ask, what's the price you would put on your comfort, but the reality is that it's going to be a big savings in the end.
Alex Parry is the author of a heat exchanger cleaning equipment site, where you can also find more information on shell and tube heat exchanger design

Electric Radiant Floor Heating Pros And Cons
As you may already know, radiant floor heating is a great alternative heating method that is gaining more attention in recent years. Unlike forced air heating systems, radiant floor heating systems give a nice, even, luxurious heat to a room.

There are several types of radiant floor heating, with the two main types being electric and hydronic. We'll be talking about the electric system in this article.

So, how does this electric radiant heating work? More or less, the system is an electric blanket that sits under your floor. Electric cables run underneath your floor, and generate heat from resistance, just like an electric blanket. Easy enough to understand. Let's talk about the pros and cons of this system.

One obvious issue is that electricity is quite expensive. To save electricity, it is generally more efficient to install the system over a concrete floor base. The concrete will absorb up the heat, and radiate out slowly, giving the radiant heating system its characteristic "glowing warmth". If you install the same system in something like a wood floor base, none of the heat will be absorbed, leading to an inefficient system. In fact, if you can't install the system in some sort of slab, you're better off just getting a hydronic system.

One situation where electric radiant heating does shine, though, is for additions where running the main heating system over is not practical. Since electric radiant heating requires no furnace or boiler, it is very convenient to install. Of course, since it doesn't provide cooling, you may want to run ducts in anyways, or use some other sort of cooling method. For heating in an odd addition, though, electric radiant heating is a great way to go.

You can see that electric radiant floor heating isn't a magic bullet. It can be inefficient for the amount of heat it provides, that is for sure. However, if you have the right setup, or simply have a hard to heat addition, be sure to give electric in floor heating systems a closer look.
David Wilson is the man behind the Radiant Floor Heating Guide. Visit the site to learn more about the various types of radiant floor heating, including electric radiant floor heating.

Radiant Floor Heat Electric Or Hydronic?
Radiant floor heat usually comes in two types: electric and hydronic. Most new homes don't have this kind of heat anymore because it is more expensive to install than forced air. In the long run, however, radiant heat floors are less expensive.

Electric radiant heating works very similar to the way a toaster works. Electric wiring underneath the floor is heats up as electricity is pumped through it. That makes the wires hot which in turn heats the floors. The heat from the floors slowly rises and heats the room. Electric radiant floor heat is usually accomplished by placing panels with wires attached underneath the floors of a home. These panels are attached to an electrical circuit that can be turned on and off and is sometimes controlled by a thermostat.

Many times, homeowners will choose to install electric radiant heat in the rooms of their house which have cold floors such as the bathroom and kitchen. This type of heating is especially nice when you get up in the morning and everything is cold.

The second kind of radiant heat is hydronic heat which is the heating of water. Heated water goes back and forth in strong tubing that is placed underneath the floor. This type of radiant floor heat is more often installed in new homes as these pipes need to by set in some form of cement. This makes hydronic heat floors more complicated to install and more expensive than their electric counterparts.

Hydronic heated floors stay warmer longer than electric ones because water carries the heat longer than electricity. Another advantage is that you can heat the water in a variety of ways such as gas, electricity, solar, or a wood boiler. this gives you a little more versatility than with electric radiant heat.

No matter which of the two types of heat you choose, radiant floor heat will make you home warm and comfortable for a long time to come. It may be more expensive up front to install this type of heat but it will save you money in the long run.
Learn more about radiant heat and it's many advantages at Radiant Floor Heat

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