Image by Michal Křenovský from Pixabay
Radiant heat systems do not blow allergens and dust around like forced hot air systems do. Instead of overheating the area’s perimeter with the hopes of warmer air traveling throughout the surface before rising, heating subfloors serve up heat from below. The outcome is a more even, overall heat warming up everything in the space, including furnishings, surfaces, and the family members.
Lower Utility Bills With Hydronic Heating
Radiant heating is much more comfortable as compared to other systems for various reasons. First off, it feels much warmer as the heat is delivered where you stay, near the floor. Due to the heating of all surfaces in the room, there would be no colder objects to draw heat from you to make you feel cold in any way. Additionally, radiant heat does not consistently cycle on and off, making you too hot one minute and then again to cool the next minute. There does not exist any supply and returns register, and there is lesser leakage of air around windows and doors.
Radiant Floors Cost More
For construction from scratch, a hydronic radiant floor unit would cost more than forced hot air or hydronic systems. However, in the end, it would help save money due to the lower thermostat configurations and maximum efficiency. The average cost of retrofitting hydronic radiant flooring differs depending on whether there is accessibility to the subfloor and the extent to which ceilings and flooring must be removed and replaced.
Innovations in Home Heating Systems
The constantly growing popularity of PEX tubing during in the last fifteen to twenty years has made radiant floorings leak-free and easier to install. Earlier on, PEX did not have any hiccups. Small amounts of oxygen can penetrate the PEX lining, bringing about corrosion to the metal components like cast iron boilers.
Radiant Cooling Is Not As Cost Efficient
The only drawback for radiant heating systems is that they are not so easy to use in cooling your home. For conventional forced-air heating systems, similar ducts that transfer hot air through ducts from the furnace can as well be used to introduce colder air from a central air conditioning unit. Whereas radiant cooling is possible, it is ideally not cost effective to install. A geothermal heat pump or chiller must be used to supply cold water. Additionally, the tubing for radiant cooling would best be run on the ceiling. Though radiant cooling systems would reduce air temperature, dehumidification would also be required to make the family feel cool.
Retrofit Your Floors Using Radiant Heat
For retrofits, tubing is attached below the first-floor subfloor, of course assuming there is access to it from a crawl space or basement. In case the renovation is broad, and the finished floor would be replaced in any case, it is often best to fix your tubing over your subfloor where it can be more efficient, simpler to install, and with the need for less tubing. Introducing radiant heat to the second or third levels in situations where existing floors have to stay in place, you may need to remove the ceiling of the rooms below to reach the underside of the subfloor.
