[Graeme]

Cut Energy Use Up to 40 Percent with Speedheat Electric Radiant Floor Heating Systems

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')ith natural gas prices anticipated to rise by 35 percent this winter, many Americans are looking for ways to reduce their energy consumption by using alternative heat sources.

“Our family room is located over an unheated crawl space, and it always felt colder than the rest of the house,” Mrs. Havlish explains. “After reading about Speedheat’s electric radiant floor heating system, we decided to have two panels installed. Last month, it was unusually cold, and we put the product to the test. It surpassed our expectations. And, with gas prices higher this year, we have kept our thermostat turned down. We are so pleased that we are planning on adding Speedheat in at least two other rooms.”

[FoxV]

Interesting that they say to use this because natural gas prices have risen.

Even with the price increase Nat Gas is still cheaper than electric heating. This will only save you if you already have electric heating (and at the best price of $10/sqft, very small rooms )

Also my electricity rate has risen 20% this year.

[EnemyCombatant]

Does anyone here use radiant heating?
If so, what's your opinion.

[gego]

I do not have radiant heating, but as a child can remember that in our school we had radiators around the edges of the rooms.

I also remember at six years old helping my grandmother load coal into her basement furnace which heated water for circulation through radiators. Other than being a little spooky going into the dark room which was the coal bin, I think it worked very well.

It is hardly a new technology.

[Tanada]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('EnemyCombatant', 'D')oes anyone here use radiant heating?
If so, what's your opinion.

[WisJim]

Around here, when you mention radiant heat, you are talking about in-floor coils circulating hot water. We don't have it in our old house, but would put it in a new house. One of my sons works for a builder of energy efficient homes, and I think that they have put it in just about every house they build, usually with the water heater by solar panels, with wood and propane back up. Everyone that I have ever talked to that has in-floor radiant heat loves it. Uniform heat, and lower heating bills.

[EnemyCombatant]

That's EXACTLY what I want Jim.

Solar powered radiant heating. For others, I am not referring to radiators.

Here is a link.

http://www.radiantsolar.com/

I am considering this versus a wood burning stove. I have ceramic tile and wood floors which I understand is ideal for radiant heating.

I was concerned about the cost and if it REALLY works. Does it heat the air or just the floor and walls??

If you can provide anymore info, testimonials , please do.

[strider3700]

Old radiant floors where done with copper and by now have almost all failed due to leaks this took 40-50 years in most cases which sounds fine but it's impossible to repair with out jackhammering it all out.

I have no idea what the life expectancy of PEX is but I'm certain it hasn't been tested in the field 40 years yet.

Other then that warm floors kinda rock.

[Pops]

A little under 20 years ago we built a house in the Sierra Nevada foothills and installed in-floor radiant heat. It was fantastic! The only complaint I had was I could not seem to turn down the bathroom circuits enough to keep my feet from sweating while I was … reading.

The best part about radiant is that it heats things and not the air – temps might be 75 degrees at the floor and 65 at head level; very comfortable.

The house was built over a crawl space with tile floors everywhere except the living and bed rooms. A plumbing company up there had just gotten a franchise and purchased the equipment needed to pour lightweight concrete. They sold me the fittings and poured the concrete (hiring me as a grunt) and my wife and I did the rest renting their special stapler to attach the tubing.

In those days plastic was still kind of new and there had been problems with the connectors, any connections needed to be accessible in case they failed so we cut holes in the sub floor and dropped the connection through; we didn’t have any trouble in 7 years. Of course the floor was insulated.

We used a plain household tank type water heater since the budget didn’t allow an on-demand type - which would certainly have been more efficient. We designed the house with lots of south-facing glass in the rooms with the tile; effectively making them solar collectors. The way we designed the plumbing we could flip a switch and bypass the heater and just circulate the water from the sunny areas all throughout the system transferring solar gain to the shaded areas. This worked well to store up daytime heat for use at night and cooled the house to a surprising extent in the summer – we had no other cooling.

In addition to the in-floor under tile, we also attached tubing under floor of the living room. After running the tubing we installed foil faced insulation – foil side up, between the joists. I don’t know how efficient that was but it did make lying on the floor and watching TV or playing a game nice.

I am considering running tubing under the kitchen floor here, which will be tile. It won’t be as efficient without the thermal mass but could take the chill off, don’t know when we will get the dough tho…

[ritter]

Radiant floor heating is what I would do if I were in the position to build a house. Use of solar pre-heat and back-up gas/wood boiler and you’d have a pretty cheap heating system that works very well. I have some friends that have radiant floor heating (in the mountains, so solar potential was limited due to 6 months of heavy snow). It really is a nice feeling heat and it heats everything in the house. The downside is that it takes a long time to respond to thermostat inputs. If you’re going away for a week or two, you don’t want to turn it down too low because it can take days to get the house back up to temperature. They work very nicely with a wood burner in the house to add the additional warmth if/when needed.

The other downside to radiant floor heat is that it is best for new construction. My understanding is that retrofit is a b*tch, requiring new subfloor and flooring throughout, plus a whole lot of plumbing.

[Pops]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ritter', ' ')My understanding is that retrofit is a b*tch, requiring new subfloor and flooring throughout, plus a whole lot of plumbing.

[Aimrehtopyh]

I lack the resources to convert to radiant in-floor heating. It's very popular for new construction up here in famously cold Minnesota and I've heard good stuff about retrofits. I've also had good experiences with the radiant shop-heaters.

The radiant heat panels I just bought have two distinct advantages over my current Forced Air Natural Gas set-up:

#1 It changes my heat source to electricity. This sounds stupid but in my area electricity is sourced mainly from coal and nuclear and is fairly cheap and stable in price.

#2 This device will only be heating when and where I require greater comfort; thereby allowing me to turn my FANG thermostat down to mortuary-like temperatures. This can greatly reduce the number of Btus I'll have to buy.

#3 Unlike a woodstove it doesn't violate my homeowners insurance or any city ordinances.

Here's a link to the site that sells the panels:
http://www.eheat.com/

I did this mainly because I'm anticipating nasty natural gas prices this winter.

[scottinmass]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('EnemyCombatant', 'D')oes anyone here use radiant heating?
If so, what's your opinion.

[Pops]

Can you give an idea of the cost of the installation Scott? We still have time to go that route (if I can just remember where we buried all that money).

[skyemoor]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('EnemyCombatant', 'I') am considering this versus a wood burning stove. I have ceramic tile and wood floors which I understand is ideal for radiant heating.

[elocs]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Aimrehtopyh', 'I') lack the resources to convert to radiant in-floor heating. It's very popular for new construction up here in famously cold Minnesota and I've heard good stuff about retrofits. I've also had good experiences with the radiant shop-heaters.

The radiant heat panels I just bought have two distinct advantages over my current Forced Air Natural Gas set-up:

#1 It changes my heat source to electricity. This sounds stupid but in my area electricity is sourced mainly from coal and nuclear and is fairly cheap and stable in price.

#2 This device will only be heating when and where I require greater comfort; thereby allowing me to turn my FANG thermostat down to mortuary-like temperatures. This can greatly reduce the number of Btus I'll have to buy.

#3 Unlike a woodstove it doesn't violate my homeowners insurance or any city ordinances.

Here's a link to the site that sells the panels:
http://www.eheat.com/

I did this mainly because I'm anticipating nasty natural gas prices this winter.