radiant floor heating

[franklin pug]

I live in Ontario, Canada, and the winters get pretty cold. My wife and I are considering selling our little house and building a new one from the from the ground up. When it comes to heating, I was considering installing a radiant floor heating system (either hot water though PEX, or electric).

What do you guys think?

[HVAC HAWK]

I live in Ontario, Canada, and the winters get pretty cold. My wife and I are considering selling our little house and building a new one from the from the ground up. When it comes to heating, I was considering installing a radiant floor heating system (either hot water though PEX, or electric).

What do you guys think?

not sure ho much $ electric is up there but down here its cheaper to to do hot water . will this be on a slab , if so it is the best heat you can have .
i'm doing a job now and will post pictures tomorrow .

there is nothing like laying on a heated floor on a cold night

[ToUtahNow]

I live in Ontario, Canada, and the winters get pretty cold. My wife and I are considering selling our little house and building a new one from the from the ground up. When it comes to heating, I was considering installing a radiant floor heating system (either hot water though PEX, or electric).

What do you guys think?

It's pretty tough to beat a radiant floor heating system when it comes to comfort.

Mark

[plumberscrack]

You won't be disappointed. Best way to heat IMO. The only drawback is no way to add humidity like through a ducted system.

[ToUtahNow]

You won't be disappointed. Best way to heat IMO. The only drawback is no way to add humidity like through a ducted system.

There's always misting fans.

Mark

[HVAC HAWK]

You won't be disappointed. Best way to heat IMO. The only drawback is no way to add humidity like through a ducted system.

your right but you dont need as much with floor heat then you would with hot air or hot water base board .

[Hondahead]

In floor radiant heating is the best. Ideally you want the piping in concrete(thermal mass) , slab on grade or basement, plywood floors with transfer plates work ok too. You still need some form of mechanical ventilation. I suggest a forced air sytem with fan coil. You need to have air exchange, add humidity and AC is always nice. I also suggest you look at a HRV (heat recovery ventilation) system. An indirect fired tank will heat your domestic water. This type of system will not be cheap (expect to add 20K+ to the total cost) but, it is the best, IMO.

[HVAC HAWK]

what is the cheapest way to heat up north gas ,oil or electric

[Hondahead]

Definitely natural gas. If I lived in a rural area, I’d use wood. A radiant system run off a large, outdoor, wood fired boiler would be sweet!

[Birddoggiest]

What is the cost per sq. foot on a typical radiant floor? and what is the cost for forced air? I know there are a lot of variables. I think it would be something that you were willing to pay up for and I am not sure you could recoup the cost of it in a resale.

[jeff]

A good site for information is heating help.com go forum part the whole site is full of good info jeff

[bigPipe09]

When comparing costs, you should also consider that a properly maintained boiler system will easily last 25+ years

[NHMaster3015]

Last year I installed a radiant system for an electrician friend of mine. The house is a 28 x 48 ranch on a finished basement. The basement radiant is 1/2" pex in concrete. The main floor is 2 1/2" pex staple up. The boiler is electric. It uses electric elements to heat a mass consisting of 600lbs of brick. There is an air space between each brick layer and a blower that moves the heated air across a air\water heat exchanger. This boiler has out door reset and is all computer controlled and timed. Hot water is a Super-Store. His average monthly heat and hot water cost was $325.00 a month. As the price of oil continues to go up I'll bet we see more of these going in. Hell I would'nt be surprised to see the return of electric baseboard.

[boillerman]

We do a lot of them around here with outdoor wood boilers. Infloor can't be beat for comfort. Humidifiers like Aprilaire can do the whole house usually from one location, since humidity spreads so easily, but an air handler for A/C and cleaners, humidifiers, coils, etc is the cat's meow on the system.