Radiant Floor Heat - The Friendly Heat

One of the nice things about radiant floor heat is that it greets you right from the instant you get out of bed. The morning is usually cold and at least the floors are warm.

Unfortunately, most new houses come with forced air heating. When you get up in the morning you turn on the heat and you hear it being forced out of all the vents in the house. The air moves from room to room and the heating is very uneven. Forced air also is very bad for your skin as it pumps dry air into the house all day. As you get older, the dry heat affects you more as your skin naturally becomes dryer with age. The forced air heat only makes the problem worse.

Radient floor heat is much better health wise as it doesn't push air from room to room like a forced air system does. A radiant heat floor slowly and silently heats the floors which in turn heats the air. The heating is done very evenly and efficiently. Since there is no moving air from room to room, dust and allergens are less likely to be a problem. If you wanted you could install a wood burning boiler system to do much the same thing but that would be expensive as well.

Another benefit to radient floor heat is that it is less likely to lose air to the outside when you open a door. Forced air heating also forces air outside when you open a door. This doesn't happen with electric or hydronic radiant heating.

When considering whether to install radiant floor heat, you need to take into consideration whether the house is new or existing construction. Hydronic floor heat is usually only an option if the house is being built. Electric radiant floor heat is better suited to put into existing homes as it is much easier to install.

Radiant Floor Heat – The Different Methods

Radiant floor heat is achieved by inserting panels in the floor which are heated in one of three ways:

· By electrical circuits
· By water in pipes (hydronic)
· By air ducts in the panels

The biggest benefit to using a radiant heat floor system is comfort. While a system that uses forced air delivers heat that rises to the ceiling, a radient floor heat system emits heat from the floor and is able to deliver heat more evenly throughout a house or building. There are also many other benefits to radiant floor heat that will be discussed in future articles:

· Radient floor heat is totally silent.
· A Radiant heat floor is invisible as you don't see any vents on the floors or ceilings.
· There are usually energy savings. A radiant heat floor evenly distributes heat throughout a house which can allow your thermostat to be set 2-4° less than with a forced air system.
· You will have a healthier home. This is a major benefit of radiant floor heat. With forced air systems, you are constantly spreading dust , germs, and pollen as well as pumping in dry air which is bad for your skin. Not only is dry air bad for your skin but it is uncomfortable too when your skin is dry and flakey.