When it comes to new construction or renovations of a home, one subject that comes up is radiant heat; whether to use it, where to put it, and how it would be beneficial-with regard to cost and feel. I’m here to tell you that radiant heat is comfortable, efficient, clean, safe, unobtrusive, reliable, affordable, and green.
Regardless of whether you are considering a small area such as a bathroom, a medium sized project like a kitchen, or a larger scale location like a floor of a house or even a full home, there is something in it for you. In the coming blog posts, we will discuss how you, the end user, benefits.
Reason 1 – Comfort
Hydronic radiant heating is all about comfort. Below are three reasons radiant is superior in the world of comfort to other heating systems.
- Radiant heat has more even temperature across all surfaces. With radiant heat, when it is done correctly, the walls, ceilings, and all objects in the room warm up creating less cold spots.
2. It is less drafty. Lower heat emitter temperatures mean less air circulation. Air currents are sped up in proportion to the difference in temperature between emitter and room air temperature.
3. Radiant heat allows you to have warm comfortable floors. Whether you are walking barefoot or sitting on the floor, a warm floor beats a cold floor any time of the day.
Reason #2 – Efficiency
Why is radiant heat more efficient than the competition when it comes to heating emitters?
Firstly, hydronic radiant runs on a lower water temperature than all other emitters (e.g. baseboard, radiators, fan coils, etc). This means it is heating water at 100℉ compared to the conventional 180℉ which is the temperature different heaters are typically set to. You save money without a doubt!
Secondly, radiant floor heating allows you to use all the wall space you paid for when building your home. There will be no issue in your mind of “where do I place a bookshelf, beds, or couches without blocking the heat from working?”
Lastly, radiant floor heating, when installed in a low-mass concrete or wood floor, will heat up and cool down rapidly so no extra BTU’s go to waste by heating up unnecessary mass.
Reason #3 – Radiant Is Cleaner
Radiant is cleaner. Here’s why:
With radiant heat, there are no baseboards or fan coils to catch mold, dust, pet hair, etc.
Since a proper designed radiant system runs at low temperatures, there’s less of a temperature differential between the room air and the heated surface, which means fewer air currents. Fewer air currents usually equates to less dust.
Have you ever seen the baseboard heaters on the side of a toilet? ‘Nuff said.
Reason #4 – Radiant Is Safer
Hydronic radiant heat is safer for multiple reasons. There are no radiators for kids to bump into, no hot radiators to be a scold hazard, and there is less air movement and thus less air-born dust. You won’t be breathing air through a ducted system that has surface mold which formed from a poorly designed air conditioning system.
How about in an industrial environment? Radiant heat doesn’t have an open flame as is the nature of many fuel-fired heaters.
Reason #5 – Radiant is Unobtrusive
Hydronic radiant heat is unobtrusive. The heating medium, water, and the tubing hides under the floor, behind the wall, or above in the ceiling, depending on which method(s) is used for installation. There’s no need to have to organize furniture based on the location of a radiator or to figure out a way to hide it. There is no increase in cost or buying a more decorative version, as there is with traditional baseboard heating. Hydronic radiant heat is simply hidden, unobtrusive.
Reason #6 – Radiant is Reliable
Radiant floor heat is reliable. Installed with PEX tubing, the pipe lasts. The tubing doesn’t rust or get holes. The tubing’s inner walls are smooth and don’t attract contaminants to cling together and cause a blockage. Since radiant is covered, it never gets scratched, and it is not painted so it never has chipping paint like a radiator baseboard system may have.
Reason #7 – Radiant is Affordable
Radiant is surprisingly affordable when comparing apples to apples.
When comparing radiant to ductwork based furnace systems, the heating medium (air in the case of a furnace and water in the case of radiant heat) can be routed from one point in the building to another quicker, with less damage, less structural bracing, less interaction from other trades, and less downtime during construction.
While comparing to a ductwork-based furnace heating system, radiant heating doesn’t require added humidifiers. Radiant heating uses small circulators which have less of an electrical draw when compared to fans on furnace air distribution systems.
Radiant heating when compared to a baseboard or radiator system is more efficient due to running at a lower water temperature. It’s simple; heat water to 115°f uses X amount of BTUs. Heat water to 160°f or 180°f uses significantly more BTUs.
Reason #8 – Radiant is Green
Radiant is green because it uses less energy than conventional heating systems, retains its heat longer than other heating systems, has the ability to be heated by the sun via solar thermal panels, and lastly radiant is green because unlike conventional boiler systems, radiant puts high efficiency boilers in the sweet spot where they want to run. They get the efficiency they are rated for.
To conclude the series, all of the information above has contingencies and should not be taken as face value. Each job is unique. Proper considerations as well as proper installation have to be present.
Thank you for reading! Please stay tuned for the next series!
