Has anybody used this? I did a search of the archives and couldn’t find much mention of it. This is a polymer based radiant floor heat. It’s electric so the entry fee is lower, especially when on a remodel of a room or two such as we are doing. We have a heating problem that the HVAC guy says they are pretty much unable to fix given the current configuration of the house. In our forced air system there are 4 rooms all being heated by one duct (there is a massive 4 way splitter). There is just no way to add more ducting, so I’d like to remove the two bathrooms from the ducting alltogether. This will either a) give us room for proper ducting to the remaining rooms, or b) just cut down the number of rooms that one poor duct is heating.
So if you’ve used it – is the system as efficient as they say? Is it as easy to install as they say? This isn’t a DIY project, but the contractor has never used it either, so the easier the better.
Thanks for any info you might be able to provide.
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Our electrican said he's trying to figure out what to do with his electric radiant heat since it quit working. I told him that's why hydronic heating makes more sense--you don't have to scrap the system when it shorts out.
:-)
With the small tankless water heaters available for small hydronic installs, there are few situations where that wouldn't work more reliably than an electric install.
Beer was created so carpenters wouldn't rule the world.
Thanks for the suggestion. How does that work? I'm guessing it would need a pump as well to start the demand for the water heater? What's the efficiency on those little tankless when they are electric, what sort of electrical demand?
Thanks for any info you can provide. My understanding was that hydronic was too expensive for a small install, so we hadn't really looked into it.
http://www.jlconline.com/cgi-bin/jlconline.storefront/43f4cec6001c9f0d27177f00000105da/UserTemplate/82?s=43f4cec6001c9f0d27177f00000105da&c=41a20082b6184377041c4fd97905abde&p=1
this article is on gas heatersbobl Volo, non valeoBaloney detecter
Edited 2/16/2006 2:19 pm ET by bobl
Thanks. Unfortunately, we can't do gas for this space - our gas supply is maxed out on btu's and that is a can of worms that we don't want to get into.
For a small area the size of tankless water heater is smaller than the size of a desktop computer cpu case. There is also a small pump, thermostat, a backflow prevention valve from the watersource, and a few other minor items. All together it would fit in most sink cabinets, although it's much easier to work on in a closet.
If it's at all possible to run the pex lines from a slightly larger area it's much less expensive up front since a standard small size water heater can be used as a heat source.
Beer was created so carpenters wouldn't rule the world.