5 Things You Didn’t Know About Radiant Heating

by Tash @ The Dreamhouse Project

We recently tackled the DIY install of our radiant in-floor heating system. If you're considering a radiant system for you're home, here are 5 things you might not know..

1: Different Types

There are essentially 2 different types of radiant systems - hydronic & electric.

- Electric systems are generally cheaper to install, but can be costly to run due to rising hydro costs.

- Hydronic systems (like ours shown on the plans) below are typically designed to heat an entire house and operate using water circulated through PEX tubing installed beneath the floor & heated by a boiler system.

2: Quiet

Radiant floors are virtually silent by comparison to forced air or radiators that often come with the wooshes, clanks & groans we've all grown accustomed to.

3: Energy Efficient

Radiant heat systems can be as much as 30-40% more efficient than forced-air systems because so much energy is lost in distributing the air from room to room. Radiant heat warms the solid objects in the room causing the air to heat up as it comes in contact with those warmed objects.

4: Comfortable, Even Heat

With radiant heat systems, as the warm air rises, it does so evenly over the entire floor instead of around the perimeter of the room as it does in a forced air system.

5: DIY is an option

Installing a radiant heating system is A LOT of work. And like anything else, you'll always pay a high price for something that is labour intensive. But if you’re willing to put in the time and effort, DIY is an option for having a radiant in-floor heating system.

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1 question

Lesley Owens on Oct 29, 2017

How would this hold up with a DIY art-floor above the subpanels? I'm an artist and I was thiking of doing a polyurethaned floor, above.

We already installed radiant floor (our second one) in a bathroom in the ground floor--it's electric over concrete, under tile. And yeah, it's an energy hog.

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Sarah Smith on Oct 27, 2016
I want to install radiant floor heating for my bathroom. I had no idea that there are two different types of systems and that electric is the cheaper option. Since installing a radiant heating system is a lot of work, I think it would be smart to get a professional to do the installation to save you time. http://www.adamsplumbingheating.com/index.php

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Scott Adams on Jun 19, 2017

I had no idea how energy efficient radiant heating was. I've been thinking about getting a new heating system, but I was worried about how efficient it would be. I'll keep in mind how efficient it is while making a decision. http://www.actionplumbingandheating.com/services.html ;

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John White on Sep 26, 2018

It's really great to share the benefits of radiant heating and home renovation using this. Thanks for sharing this useful idea.

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