Overall Savings
“Our winter weather can drop to 20 degrees below zero, and, in our previous home, fuel heating with propane cost us $6,000 to $7,000 a year. [With radiant heat], this past winter it cost us only a thousand.”
With traditional forced-air heating systems, warm air sneaks out through leaky ductwork and electrical outlets on its journey from the furnace to your living space, forcing your boiler to work harder. Radiant heat, by contrast, is designed to warm your space from the ground up through panels installed beneath your flooring. No ductwork, no heat loss. Compared with forced-air systems, radiant heat operates at least 25 percent more efficiently to get heat right where you need it most, significantly lowering your energy bill month after month.
Even Comfort
“When you walk through our main floor, there are no hot or cold spots or obvious sources of heat—just a nice comfortable warm feeling.”
No registers or space heaters to tie yourself to here! When you install radiant heat at home, hydronic tubes spread boiler-heated water throughout panels beneath the flooring so that every square foot warms evenly. In years past, these panels were typically made of concrete, a poor conductor of heat, but today’s technology has evolved and the market has expanded to include aluminum panels, which are 232 times more efficient. For the astute homeowners who choose radiant heating, that means more heat, more quickly, for less energy (and less money).
Heat Where You Need It
"We built a log home with cathedral ceilings and have always felt like the lower the heat to the floor, the better. With radiant heating, it can be less than 30 degrees outside and my living room stays comfortable at 70 to 71 degrees.”
In homes with high ceilings, standard heating options tend to fall short. Because hot air rises, the gusts of warmth generated by a forced-air heating system naturally travel toward the ceiling, prompting homeowners to crank up the thermostat just to feel any heat on the main level. Radiant heat, however, doesn't get so carried away. Its thermal radiation warms what it encounters first—the floor, furniture, and people standing or sitting in the living space—keeping even a vast, open space cozy.
More Design Options
“The home has a variety of flooring types—tile, hardwood, and some carpet—so the flexibility in flooring that comes with choosing radiant heat is definitely a benefit.”
As the system runs beneath the surface and out of sight, there's virtually no need to compromise your home's design for your heating system. Radiant heat lets you arrange your furniture the way you want, without worrying about blocking a register or having to sacrifice square footage to a bulky, immobile radiator. Moreover, a high-efficiency radiant hydronic system allows flexibility in the types of flooring you can install over it. Panels manufactured by Warmboard, for example, are so conductive that they can generate ideal room temperatures while warming the water that runs through them to temperatures 30 degrees less than the competition—safe enough to sit below thick wool carpets, ornate tile and marble, and even patterned hardwood!
Fewer Allergy Flare-Ups
"The room’s a comfortable temperature, without feeling stuffy. And it doesn’t blow cat hair around the room!”
Forced air blowing through ductwork cycles allergens—and worse, cold-causing germs—through your home. As well, breathing dried-out, stale air can irritate nasal passages and lungs. Give your humidifier a rest! Ear, nose, and throat specialists and allergy doctors alike recommend radiant heat over most other systems because it won't stir up trouble.
Quiet Operation
“There’s no noise, no air blowing around, yet as soon as you walk inside you’re warm."
Functioning completely out of sight, the hydronic tubes beneath your floors operate also out of earshot. Radiant-heating systems silently and stealthily distribute the constant, uniform comfort your household desires. After winters of noisy stop-and-start blasts of air interrupting conversations, and creaking radiators disrupting sleep, this whole-room heat is as soothing to the ears as it is warming to the body.
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