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Radiant Heating
Advantages
The Benefits
of Installing Low Voltage Radiant Heating
By Mark J. Donovan
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Radiant heating offers a number of
advantages over alternative heating technologies. Radiant
heating is an incredibly comfortable form of heating. As the
heat rises from the floor, you’re warmed from your toes to
your head in a slow and continuous progression. Moreover,
with radiant heating there is no whoosh sound coming from
vents, nor the blowing of dust, as is the case with forced
hot air heating systems. Also, unlike forced hot water
baseboard heating or hot air heating, low voltage radiant
heating provides a very evenly distributed heat throughout
the entire room or home where the radiant heat is installed. |
Radiant heating is also extremely efficient and outputs the heat
where it’s needed. Low voltage radiant heating efficiency is
typically rated at 98 to 100% efficient making it extremely low
cost to operate. Also, due to the fact that it puts the heat
immediately where it’s needed, at ground level, it needs to
operate much less often.
Radiant heating can also be custom designed for a specific room
or home. Furthermore it can consist of multiple heating zones,
and be used as either the primary or supplementary home heating
source. In many homes it is simply used for supplemental heating
of bathrooms, kitchens and/or finished basement floors. It can
be used to heat under all types of flooring materials including
hardwood floors, tile, marble, slate and even carpet. Due to its
design flexibility it can even be custom designed where only a
portion of a room is heated with it, e.g. a finished basement
area that has areas left unfinished.
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Radiant heating installation is also easier than most people
realize. There is no duct work that needs to be circuitously
installed in the home. Similarly there is no large furnace or
boiler required. The radiant heating wire can be buried in
concrete, sandwiched in between a raised floor, or even fastened
to the undersides of floor sheathing in between floor joists.
The associated control box and low voltage heating element can
be located in a basement, garage or utility room.
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Control thermostats are located in the room(s) with the
radiant heating. Many of the thermostats that come with low
voltage radiant heating systems include a plethora of
programming options, including the ability to set different
temperatures for certain times of the day or on
weekdays/weekends.
Due to its simplicity in installation, radiant heating is also
ideal for home addition projects. It can be used as the primary
heat source for the addition, thus eliminating the possible need
for having to replace the main heating system with a larger
furnace or boiler system.
Radiant heating systems are also extremely safe and reliable.
Due to the fact that they are low voltage there is no risk of
life threatening electrical shocks. From a reliability
standpoint they require little to no maintenance, due to the
fact that they operate off of a solid state electronic control
system. Also, radiant heating manufactures offer extended
warranties on the heating elements. Consequently, unlike other
heating systems, annual maintenance inspections are not
necessary.
So when evaluating home heating options make sure to look at low
voltage radiant heating systems. You’ll be shocked at what they
can do to make your home more comfortable and energy efficient
For information on maximizing your
wood stove’s home heating efficiency see
the “Installation
of Hood over Wood Stove Ebook”.
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