Radiant Heating

The benefits and comfort of a radiant floor heating system are endless. Creating an energy savings and healthier home for you and your family for years to come. Radiant heating systems heat every room in your home evenly with heating coils that are place under the floor before installation. Below is a list of information on what radiant heating are, benefits and methods to guide you on the path to heating your home or business more efficiently.

Mountain View Heating is proud to be 1 of only 3 Radiant Panel Association designers in all of Oregon.

What is Concrete Radiant Floor Heating?

How Does Radiant Floor Heating Work?

Benefits of Radiant Floor Heating

How Warm is a Radiant Heated Floor?

Components of a Radiant Floor Heating System

Radiant Floor Heating in a Concrete Slab

Radiant Floor Heating Under Wood Floors

Why Heating Costs Are Lower with Radiant Floor Heating

What is Concrete Radiant Floor Heating

To be a true heating panel, the surface temperature of the panel (the floor) must be controllable. Floors generally operate at less than 85 degrees. It is only a "radiant" panel if 50% or more of the heat transfer is by radiant energy.

What exactly is radiant energy? Here is an excellent description provided by the Radiant Panel Association:

Hold your hand over a cup of coffee and feel the heat. The logical conclusion is that heat rises. Logical maybe, but incorrect!

"Hot air" rises but "heat" can travel in many directions. That is why you can feel the heat of the coffee cup when you place your hand to the side of it. Radiant energy transfer is caused by a warm surface giving up its heat to a cooler surface.

Consider how the sun (10,000° F) heats the earth (61° F). The sun radiates its energy towards the earth. The radiant energy is absorbed by the earth and is released as heat.

A radiant floor heating system simply radiates heat upward from the floor to provide optimum comfort and many other benefits. Back to top

How Does Radiant Floor Heating Work?

Here is an overview to how a radiant floor system works:

Warm water circulates through tubing beneath the floor. This turns the flooring into an efficient, low temperature radiator.

The heat source to produce the warm water is a boiler with a certified efficiency rating. (This same boiler can also be used to heat the pool, snow melting system, heating a hot tub, or domestic hot water needs.)

The tubing for a radiant floor heating system is located in one of three places:

• In the concrete
• Under wood subfloors
• On a subfloor of wood, precast concrete or concrete slab-on-grade then covered with gypsum

Areas of a floor plan may have different heating requirements. Back to top

Benefits of Radiant Floor Heating

The number one benefit to a radiant floor heating system is comfort. Whereas a forced air system delivers heat which quickly rises to the ceiling, a radiant floor heating system "radiates" heat from the floor and delivers the heat evenly throughout the rooms.

Listed here are some of the other benefits:

• Silent operation. No hum or whistle of a forced air system.
• Inconspicuousness of the system. You don't see vents or hear air blowing.
• Energy savings. Evenly distributed heat from a radiant floor heating system can allow the thermostat to be set 2-4° less than in a forced air heating system. This can reduce energy costs by 10-40%. (Check with the utility in your area to verify what a 2-4° temperature decrease would amount to in savings in your area).
• Even, quiet warmth. Even with wood, tile, or uncovered concrete floors. Back to top

How Warm is a Radiant Heated Floor?

A heated floor normally "feels" neutral. Its surface temperature is usually less than our body temperature, although the overall sensation is one of comfort.

Only on very cold days when the floor is called on for maximum output will it actually feel warm. Back to top

Components of a Radiant Floor Heating System

(FOR HYDRONIC SYSTEMS)

Here are the components required for a radiant floor heating system:

• Heating Source – this can be electricity, solar, natural gas, propane, oil, wood, or any other heating source.
• Boiler – houses the water to be heated
• Pump – to circulate the water through tubing located under the floor.
• Tubing – the water will circulate in tubing running beneath the floor in the concrete, under wood floors, or on a sub floor of wood, precast concrete, or slab-on-grade concrete.

• Qualified System Installer – The company who designs the radiant floor heating system may also install the system. Look for a track record of satisfied customer.
• Qualified System Designer – like any mechanical system, a qualified, experienced designer should design radiant floor heating systems.

The designer will know which components work well together, capacities of various systems, special considerations for installations in your area, and manufacturer’s warranties and reliability.

The designer should do a room-by-room heat loss analysis of your home or building, as well as a step-by-step system sizing process.
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Radiant Floor Heating in a Concrete Slab

Many radiant floor heating projects are in slab-on-grade concrete. Tubing is installed in the slab. Temperature-controlled water then circulates though the tubing in the slabs: this process turns the slab into a radiant panel.

Concrete presents the greatest thermal mass of any of the radiant floor heating methods, which can be a tremendous benefit in rooms or buildings with high ceilings. Click here to read more about thermal mass. Back to top

Radiant Floor Heating Under Wood Floors

Tubing can be installed to the underside of the subfloor between the floor joists.

After the tubing installation, insulation is placed between the joists with the shiny side up to reflect heat up to subfloor. (This creates the radiant panel.) Back to top

Why Heating Costs Are Lower with Radiant Floor Heating

Radiant floor heating concentrates the heat in the lower half of the room where the human body needs it most. This can allow you to set your thermostat 2-4° lower and still be comfortable—thus lower heating bills.

Check with the local area utility in your area on how much a 2-4° lower thermostat setting would save in heating cost on an annual basis. 10-30% is the often quoted range of savings.

Homes and buildings with high ceilings will save even more in heating costs as heat generated by forced air systems quickly rises to the top of these structures, where it is of little use. Back to top

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