Hi all,
We’re considering removing two small water heated radiators from our 13’x13′ kitchen during a complete remodeling. We will be insulating the two exterior walls and are considering adding electric radiant floor heating. We plan to tile the floor. The existing floor is vinyl over 1/4″ plywood of some kind over hardwood floorboards over hardwood boards. The floor is solid as.
My two questions are: are we crazy to replace radiators with underfloor heating? We don’t like our house to be terribly warm, although obviously don’t want to freeze in this one room in the house. And secondly, can we install directly over the vinyl? I have no problem laying down a base over the vinyl. But this is a DIY job, so I’m looking for relatively simple.
Ta
mj
Replies
Electric floor heating is for comfort, not heating. They warm the tiles for your feet, but will not convect enough to actually warm the space.
...that's not a mistake, it's rustic
If you have enough BTU's of heat installed in the floo, why couldn't you have warm floors and a heat source also? These are designed to be a heat source and just so happens when they are in heating mode (or slightly thereafter), you get the warm floor effect (but not always, due to cycling).
There is a big difference between a 15 Amp circuit warming tiles and generating heat. Do you know of an electrical system that is a true heat source? Only hydronic systems can provide both,...that's not a mistake, it's rustic
Jeff:
15 amps at 240 volts is 3600 watts or about 12,300 btu's / hour. In our climate of 7500 degree days, with 2x4 insulated walls and average windows, we would install about 1700 watts to meet the heat loss at design temp. Since this is a kitchen with more lighting and waste heat from appliances, the 1700 watts will be more than enough
For in-floor radiant heat? I was only aware of it's use for comfort heating. Threads in the Energey, Heating, & Insulation folder repeatedly state such....that's not a mistake, it's rustic
Problem is we are still in a land reminiscing about 1902 cast iron radiators!! And the crappy heat from forced hot air! Only problem with infloor heat is when people install insulating type of floor covering on them, like carpet.
The Romans were using radiant floors 2000 years ago and it is fairly common in parts of Europe. The last house I built in 1987 (superinsulated, airtight, wood foundation, HRV) had electric radiant ceilings for the main and upper floors.
In the radiant threads, most of the houses have only radiant floors for all their heat. The odd one may have baseboard style rads for the upper floor or basement. If the radiant floors piping and overall heating system is well designed and installed, there is a different feeling of comfort that people speak about and that is the bonus!!! Therefore, they talk about that comfort above the fact that it is their main and only heating system.
These systems are promoted as saving on heating costs due to this comfort but studies have shown little if any savings. The savings are firstly built into the shell of the house.
You might look into this
http://www.warmlyyours.com/
I have no experience with them, I saw an advert for them in a stone fabricators trade publication.
Karl