Radiant Heating Systems offer superior performance in practically any area that requires heat - residential, commercial, and agricultural.
The Most Comfortable
Have you have ever been near a cold window in the winter, or taken a shower when the tiles were cold (room temperature)? You may think the cold you feel is caused by cold drafts, but really you are experiencing your body radiating heat to a colder surface. To make you comfortable, it is just as important to control the temperature of the objects and surfaces around you as it is to control the air temperature. Only a radiant panel system can effectively control this surface temperature without overheating the air and blasting hot and then cold air at you all the time as a forced air system does.
With a radiant panel system, the surfaces in the room control your body heat loss, the air temperature is lower and more refreshing, there are no drafts, and the floor is warm. The temperature
difference from floor to ceiling is also much less. Overall you are much more comfortable, and it doesn’t matter if you are on the floor, by the sliding glass door, in the shower, in the basement, or where you are in the house.
Radiant heating is widely regarded as the most comfortable, healthiest, and most natural heating system available.
Heat loss and energy cost are primarily dependent on the difference in temperature between inside air and outside air. Since a radiant system operates with a lower inside air temperature, this heat loss is considerably less. This is particularly true with a hot air system where the hottest air rises to the ceiling and the heat escapes through the roof.
A radiant floor system can be zoned any way you like. You can have a thermostat in every room if you wish. As a result you don’t have to overheat most of the building just to get it hot enough in a single area. This adds up to a far greater comfort level and lower fuel bills.
You can move as much heat through a 1 inch pipe with water as a 8 by 24 duct using air. As a result, the heat lost trying to get it from the source to the area you are trying to heat is substantially less with any hot water system. The heat lost with a radiant panel system operating at 110 degrees is also substantially less than a baseboard system which typically runs at 180 to 200 degrees, and is mostly on an outside wall.
The large thermal mass of typical radiant panel systems means very slow temperature changes, which also increases overall system efficiency.
In almost every case we have studied, the reduced cost of operation has more than offset any increase in installation cost in a short period of time.
The Most Efficient
Energy use in radiant panel heated buildings are typically 10% to 30%less in homes, and up to 60% less in commercial buildings.
Cleanliness
Only a radiant panel system does not induce drafts and doesn’t need ducts.
Every surface of the system is cleanable and can actually be disinfected if necessary.
If you have ever looked inside the ducts of the typical home that’s been lived in for ten years it would scare you to death. The filth and disgusting things you find make it hard to believe you are breathing that stuff every time your hot air furnace comes on. Its even more distressing if you or anyone in your family has allergies or bronchial problems. Even hot water baseboards, which are actually convectors and rely on convecting air around to heat a space, induce air to flow around and create dust patterns on the walls and ceilings. Look inside the cover of a hot water baseboard some time and see what I mean.
Space Flexibility
Because none of a radiant panel intrudes into
a room, interior design is not limited in any way. You don't have to worry
about blocking off registers, or getting furniture too close to a hot baseboard..
Because you are moving heat in small flexible pipes, you don’t have to
worry about making space for big ducts, and trying to figure out how to
get ductwork from one space to another.
Heating
Flexibility
Only a radiant system allows you to control both the air temperature and surface temperatures in different spaces individually to maximize comfort and efficiency. The spa can have warm floors, tub, and tile walls and at the same time the bedroom is cool and the snow is melting off the driveway. All with the same system.
Different areas of a building have different requirements. In a home, the bathroom/spa has completely different requirements
from the master bedroom, family room, kitchen, or basement. In a commercial building, offices, storerooms, garages, and work areas all have different requirements.
