Radiant Heat

What is Radiant Heat?
      What is radiant heat? Try holding your hand over the element on top of your stove, the heat you feel is radiant. Hold your hand near the side of a cup of hot tea, the heat you feel is radiant. Radiant heat travels in all directions, whereas heated air, like that provided by a forced air heating system, rises and accumulates near the ceiling which is very convenient if you live on the ceiling. However, most of us live near the floor which is where the heat should be. That is where we put the heat, in the floor.

• Hydronic Radiant Heat

      A hydronic radiant heating system is one that uses hot water to transfer heat to a conditioned space through the use of radiant panels, radiant floors, radiant ceilings, or other radiant application. This system is designed to provide a sufficient amount of heat to warm the structure to the desired inside temperature on the coolest anticipated day.

Radiant vs. Forced Air
      Radiation heat is the heat that the sun gives off, it is the type of heat that we are designed to live in. In a forced air system you don't get radiation heat you get air heat. When you turn on a forced air system the furnace forces warm air into your home, while simultaneously spreading dirt, dust, mold, grime and whatever else is in your air ducts. The spreading of these molecules is not only the biggest cause of dust in the house, but it is also one of the causes of many allergies and other respiratory problems. The air that this system forces into your house needs to fill your house with this warm air in order to heat it effectively, to do this the furnace must move the air very rapidly. Rapid air flow, unless it is very warm, has a chilling affect on human skin, thereby eliminating the whole Heating idea. In a Radiant heat system there is no in-house movement, the only movement is in the floor many times buried in several inches of concrete. As you can propably imagine it is very hard to get chilled from the movement of water encased in concrete. The heat simply radiates to all of the objects in the room and warms them to a comfortable temperature with no chilly air movement.

      Radiant heat has the ability to have multiple zones that enable you to control the temperature of different rooms, or parts of your house. For a forced air system to have zoning capabilities it would require much more time and money than it is worth. With a radiant system zoning is part of the installation process. We can easily set up your system with individual zones that are controlled by individual thermostats. Think about it, you could have your bathroom warmer than your bedroom, Or you could have your entry closet nice and toasty to dry those wet coats. The possibilities are endless.

      In a forced air system the warm air produced rises to the ceiling, blows to unwanted places, and is blown in uneven drafts around your house. The air will also form in pockets, hot or cold at the ceiling or near the floor. This makes having a nice even heat throughout your house very unlikely. In a radiant system heat is radiated in an upward motion from the floor surface. This calls for a nice even heat that doesn't leave you feeling cold, it heats the objects in the room, and if you are in the room then you are heated and if you have furnature in the room, which can be placed anywhere since there are no air ducts to stop you, they are heated as well. Also there are not any pockets of cold or hot in radiant. The heat from a radiant system originates from the ground, and since it is from the ground that is where it heats first, then it travels upward and dissipates as it reaches the ceiling. This makes the top of the room the temperature that it should be, cooler than where you live.

Combination Systems- Space and Water Heating
      Combination space and water heating systems use a natural gas, propane gas, or oil-fired water heater as a single source application for both the living space and for the domestic hot water.

      A standard size, energy efficient natural gas, propane gas, or oil-fired water heater does the work of both a furnace and a water heater, saving valuable living space and eliminating duplicate equipment costs while delivering warmth and comfort to the resident.The combination system also simplifies the installation by requiring only one vent that can be vented directly through an exterior wall.

      Normally, hot water sits idle, waiting to be used. In this configuration, hot water circulates using one of several different methods, yet all of these share several key elements such as a high efficiency natural gas, propane gas, or oil fired water heater, and a Taco™ circulating pump actuated by a programable thermostat.

How we do it
      In our systems we use 200 or 250 foot loops of potable PEX™ tubing that is either tied to a steel reinforcing steel, stapled to the sub-floor, or hung up inside the joist bay (usually on the upper floor), soon after the tube is placed and pressure tested, to insure against defects, concrete is poured over the tube, or in the case of joist heating we have the joist bay insulated to provide maximum upward heat travel. We then run heated water through the tubing by means of a high efficiency gas or oil water heater. Many systems are combined with the potable hot water.

• In-Floor Radiant Heat

      An in-floor radiant heating system involves strategically placed, durable flexible pex tubing embedded in either a concrete slab on grade, a 1 1/2 inch concrete or gyp-crete poured over the sub floor, or in the joist bay for raised non-poured applications. Hot water is then circulated through the distribution system tubing, heating the surface and thereby comfortably heating the room. While this method was at one time cost prohibitive, technological advances in the tubing, installation techniques and equipment, now make this system more affordable. Radiant heating can be individually zoned and separately controlled to provide maximum comfort and minimum operating costs.

This is an example of a radiant slab heat installation	This is an example of a Staple down installation	This is an example of a Joist heat installation