Whole House Hydronic Radiant Floor Heating

We all love the pleasant surprise of a warm floor beneath our chilly toes.

Whole house hydronic radiant floor heating.

If you plan on using radiant floor heating as the source heating your entire home than hydronic radiant heating is a better option for you than electric. Pex manifold radiant floor heating set 3 loop system stainless steel heated hydronic heating for 1 2 oxygen barrier tubing. The heating system goes right into the floor heating water or using electricity in an infrastructure of pipes. 142 99 5 loop radiant heat manifold 5 zone pex tubing manifolds with compatible outlets for hydronic radiant floor heating.

The catch lurks in your utility bill. The 6 to 10 watts per square foot the system uses per hour makes it prohibitively expensive to heat a whole house. Hydronic radiant floor heating in this method tubes of water heated by your water heater or boiler run below the floor. Radiant heat can be a complete heating solution for a home but to do so successfully there are considerations.

However even if you plan on heating your whole house and live in a climate where you need only a few hours of heat in the morning and at night then the electric system will be a better more economical choice. If you have ever experienced radiant floor heating you have probably wondered at some point or another if an entire home can be heated by this luxurious system. Any radiant floor heating system gas or electric hydronic or radiant air heating tubes would need to be sized for the heat load and so it would need to be designed by an hvac professional. Radiant heat dates to ancient times when the romans warmed rooms by running the flues for slave tended wood burning fires under elevated marble floors keeping toes and togas nice and toasty.

Kits cost 6 to 12 per square foot including installation costs. Ideal for new home builds large renovations and whole house remodels hydronic radiant heating systems use a boiler to heat up hot water and a pump to circulate the hot water in plastic pipes installed in a concrete slab. It s best for spot heating such as taking the chill off a tiled bathroom or stone countertop. While it generally is room specific i e for the kitchen or bathroom where you are standing a great deal or might be in bare feet it is a viable and effective way to heat your home.

Hydronic heat deliver using low temp panel radiators a fraction of the cost of most radiant floor systems is quite comfortable more responsive than most radiant floors to changes in load and has none of the ducted air delivery issues. Ah radiant floor heating. A quick historical recap. Hydronic floor heating systems use hot water pumped through plastic tubing laid out in a serpentine pattern to heat the floor.

To understand the concept of radiant heating and its limitations i d start with this. They re ideal for whole house heating but professionals suggest installing them during the home s construction because they can be difficult to retrofit if the home isn t already outfitted with the proper equipment.