Radiant Floor Heating

Radiant floor heating is an energy efficient system for heating your home. Rather than circulating heated air through ducts like a traditional forced air heating system, the radiant system warms the entire surface of the floor which then radiates upward to the living space.

Because the whole floor of the room is radiating heat, the heat stays close to the living space in the room and less heat is wasted heating the ceiling space in the room. This makes the room more comfortable and requires less overall heat energy. An additional benefit is that the arrangement of the furniture will not have any effect on the performance of a radiant floor heating system. With forced air systems care must be taken to ensure that vents and air returns are not blocked by furniture which limits how these items can be placed withing the room.

Air is a very inefficient heat conducting material. Much of the heat energy in a forced air system gets lost in the ducts between the furnace and the room. The greater the distance, the greater the heat loss. With radiant floor heating systems, the heat is either generated electrically in the floor or transported from a boiler to the floor in a liquid solution that is directed through flexible pipe.

The heating elements of a radiant floor heating system can either be set in a poured concrete slab (called a 'wet installation') or placed underneath the subfloor (called a 'dry installation.') Wet installations improve the efficiency of the system because the concrete is able to hold heat and release it slowly. The floor can be 'charged' with heat when energy costs are low and then slowly release the heat throughout the rest of the day.

Radiant floor heating systems can be coupled with renewable energy sources an energy efficient heating systems to further improve efficiency.

Overall, a radiant floor heating system will improve energy usage 20-40% compared to other heating options like forced air or baseboard radiant heat.