Radiant Floor Heat

One word describes radiant floor heating - friendly. When you step out of the shower or climb out of bed, it offers your bare feet a toasty welcome. It warms you silently, invisibly, economically, and, unlike forced-air heating, doesn't stir up dust or allergens.

Did you ever stand in the sun and feel its warmth on your face even though the air temperature is below freezing? Did you ever stop to think about how that was possible? It happens because of a phenomenon known as radiation. Radiation is the most effective way to transfer heat between two objects separated by distance. This is how the sun heats the earth. The sun does not heat the air, it heats the earth.

Radiant heating works the same way as the sun - radiation. Most of the warmth you feel in a radiantly heated room is direct radiation from a heated floor or ceiling. If you look at a thermometer, it will most likely indicated an air temperature three to five degrees lower than you would expect. In other words, you would feel completely comfortable in a radiantly heated room with a 65-degree temperature while in a room heated by forced-air, you would feel cool, if not cold, at 65 degrees.

Why radiant heating?

Comfort: Radiant heating has a high comfort rating. Radiant heating warms your entire floor, turning it into a low-temperature radiator. This puts the heat near the floor where you and your family spend your time. Additionally, radiant floor heating can reduce dust mite population and air borne dust.

Control

Each room or area of the house can be controlled individually, as with forced-air heating and cooling, to create a comfortable environment for those you love.

Efficiency

Radiant heating uses hot water, an efficient heat-transfer medium, to provide gentle, radiant heat. Radiant heat warms the objects in the room much like the sun warms your face on a cold winter day!

More Benefits

Many people who are building new homes choose to install tubing in the slab of their basement floors even if they are not going to hook up a radiant system immediately. The cost is minimal, but this decision can increase the resale value of your home and can allow you to experience the joy of "radiant living" in the future. Radiant heat costs more to install compared to forced-air heat, but the systems last a long time, operate efficiently, and eliminate drafts and dust and allergen distribution common in forced-air systems.