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Radiant Floor Heating
Electric Radiant Floor Heating Systems
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Electric-resistance radiant floor heating works like a toaster. When electric current travels through electric wiring, it generates heat. With this type of heating system, special floor-heating cables or woven mats, foils, or panels with built-in wires are installed on, in, or under the subfloor. Then they're hooked up to an electrical circuit and a control such as a thermostat. When the control is turned on, electric current that moves through the cables or wires heats the floor.
With cable systems, a fairly large electric heating cable is wound back and forth on the subfloor. Concrete or gypsum-cement is poured over it, resulting in a slab with the cables inside it. This becomes a base for finish flooring such as tile or stone. This base is flat, solid, and has plenty of thermal mass for retaining and slowly releasing heat. If your utility company offers lower rates during off-peak hours, you can save money by heating such a floor during off-peak hours; the floor will retain the heat and release it slowly during peak hours.
Electric Radiant Floor Heating Systems |
Radiant Floor Heating- When it does- And doesn't make sense
This article was written for the Environmental Building News by Alex Wilson. Copyright 2002 by BuildingGreen, Inc.
I've long been a fan of the comfort delivered by radiant-floor heat, and strong arguments are often made about energy savings and indoor air quality advantages. But is this really the best match for high-performance green homes? In the most energy-efficient buildings, the answer seems to be "no," though radiant-floor heating can offer both comfort and IAQ benefits. This article provides a quick overview of radiant-floor heating, reviews the benefits of this heat-delivery approach, and reviews when these systems do-and do not-make sense in homes and small commercial buildings.
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Radiant floor heating
Hydronic, or radiant floor heating is a method of heating a home, shop, or other building with the heat concentrated in the floor. It works by embedding special tubing in a concrete foundation or in a thin concrete mixture on top of a wood-framed floor. Heated water (or a food-grade antifreeze mixture) flows through this tubing, warming the thermal mass of the concrete.
Conventional forced-air systems, wood stoves, or other heating methods produce uneven heat, with the highest air temperatures near the ceilings. Hydronic heating puts the heat in the floor under your feet, gently warming a room or a complete structure. This results in similar heating levels with superior comfort without wasting energy and money in monthly fuel bills. The warm water circulated through the tubing in a radiant floor may come from solar collectors, water heaters, demand water heaters, wood stoves, or heat pumps.
Radiant floor heating |
Water (Hydronic) Radiant Floor Heating Systems
With a hydronic floor heating system, hot water circulates through lengths of tubing that loop back and forth on the subfloor. The tubing is usually encased in a slab of concrete or lighter-weight gypsum-cement. In some cases, the tubing can be fastened to the underside of subflooring instead.
A clear advantage of hydronic systems over other forms of heating is that you can use a variety of energy sources to heat the water: a gas water heater, electric boiler, wood boiler, heat pump, solar collector, or even geothermal energy. If in a few years your heating source, such as oil for a boiler, becomes too expensive, you can change over to solar or some other source. Another advantage is that the water retains residual heat longer than electric wires.
Water (Hydronic) Radiant Floor Heating Systems |
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