Radiant Floor Heat Will Make Your Furnace Work Less
June 1, 2009 by Stacy42
It’s cold here. The wind is biting, the chill in the air is significant. Unfortunately it’s not really officially winter yet and there isn’t even any snow on the ground. How are we supposed to deal with sub zero temperatures when I don’t feel like I can even handle the 30 degree weather we have now?
One of my least favorite things about winter is how cold it is when you get up in the morning and stepping on a cold floor getting out of bed or getting out of the shower. Then you walk around the house and the warmth you previously had fades away because your house is never quite warm enough. Well, unless you have unlimited funding for heating your house then it’s not a problem. But we’re pretty frugal so we have the thermostat set lower.
I heard there was a way to prevent some of these chill problems by putting in the radiant floor heating system that uses radiant heat. If you’re house is already built its kind of a pain because you have to rip up your floors but if you’re remodeling anyway or building new then definitely consider one of these. The pipes and tubes under the floor are flushed with water, or sometimes they are just electrical, and they heat the floor, which in turns heats everything touching the floor by radiant heat. Pretty cool really (oops, I meant hot!). With a warm floor and warmer furniture, the furnace doesn’t have to work so hard to keep up with heating the air. This in turn drops your energy bill and you’re able to enjoy a warm house without suffering through cold feet.
A friend of ours even went about installing radiant floor heat in his garage to keep his vehicles warmer, and a few of our local businesses put it in under their new sidewalks so the snow would melt faster. It’s a pretty awesome system and should be considered by those who are looking for more efficient ways of heating.
It actually will most likely be a savings over time…..if the US uses 30% less oil…the world price of oil will fall……
Americans gripe all the time about breaking our dependance on foreign oil…yet arent willing to do anything to accomplish it.
Didnt claim it would lower chinas consumption…here let me re-read my answer real quick…….nope never mentioned china……
its pretty simple….. Say you and your neighbor sit down every night and drink and share a 12 pack…then you decide you are going to cut back to 4 beers instead of 6….so every night you and your neighbor now only drink 10 beers between you…..although your neighbor still drinks six….between the two of you consumption still went down.
I use 30# roofing felt as a moisture barrier under wood floors.
A water heater will work fine, just make sure it is a powervent or higher efficiency model. The main thing you need to do is replace the relief valve on the water heater with a boiler relief valve! Very important! Also be sure to install an expansion tank in the system and it will work fine and be safe. Also when buying the tubing be sure it has an oxygen barrier on it otherwise you will need a stainless or bronze pump and all copper or brass fittings which can get expensive.
it is spelled P a t r i o t i c, And no one has died so that i may live, they died so i could be brainwashed just as they have been. Conditioned to believe the usa is the sole power in this world and anyone who disagrees is Un-patriotic and a scourge to america
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You need to find out what is the cheaper fuel source in your area. Depending on the gas price it may be cheaper to get electric heaters or wood. They also sell wood chips you could burn.