installed in in my bathroom.. it is simply great... cost of unit was 399.00 Home depot..and installation was 200.00 and i tiled the flood myself...i baught the tiles at discounted price..cost me 50.00 ... best mony spent... i never have cold feet in the bathroom.. it has not addd any real extra expence to my heating bill... i baught the one that you lay the cable down with the thinset morter..for get the name... there are small displayes in the depot...
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
Radiant Flooring
- Thread starter CUPID
- Start date
Rub, as always you're a wealth of knowledge. I haven't actually been present when a system has been installed, but have seen a video of one or two.
One of the systems I saw didn't use a buried coil of any sort, the installer stated that you dig a well type hole, measure the volume of water per minute that enters it (this will be your source) then another for your return. A main pump draws the water from the well, through the system then back into the ground. The house in the video was using in floor heating and the ground water was circulated through this network. The source water was 68 deg F (that's where I got the 68 deg from).
They did state in the vid that the system could be hooked up with a heat exchanger where inside air blew across a plenum/radiator and then the air was cirulated through the house. This was (I gathered) more for retro fitting to a forced air home.
One of the systems I saw didn't use a buried coil of any sort, the installer stated that you dig a well type hole, measure the volume of water per minute that enters it (this will be your source) then another for your return. A main pump draws the water from the well, through the system then back into the ground. The house in the video was using in floor heating and the ground water was circulated through this network. The source water was 68 deg F (that's where I got the 68 deg from).
They did state in the vid that the system could be hooked up with a heat exchanger where inside air blew across a plenum/radiator and then the air was cirulated through the house. This was (I gathered) more for retro fitting to a forced air home.
rubmeister100 said:Well you'd have to be in southern Louisiana or Florida to have a 68F ground temp.
Or Iceland where raw geothermal heat is used rather than a geothermal heat pump.
Good article on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_source_heat_pump
There are many places in canada which use geothermal energy to cool & heat homes
Last edited:
rubmeister100 said:Well you'd have to be in southern Louisiana or Florida to have a 68F ground temp.
Or Iceland where raw geothermal heat is used rather than a geothermal heat pump.
Good article on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_source_heat_pump
I believe the vid I saw was in Maine....and if memory serves, the one using an abandoned mine in Halifax produced water heated to 65 deg. I tried to find a reference to it online but couldn't.....
I found this reference: it supports Rub's info about ground temp but they are only referring to 6 feet below grade. The system I saw going in used water 100 ft down as a source.
http://www.welldrillingschool.com/courses/pdf/geothermal.pdf
Look on page 12, this is the system I saw being installed on the vid.
skidor said:Electric is the way to go !
I'm in the flooring buisness , and having sold Easy Heat,Flextherm and Warm wire , electric is the way to go.
They can be purchased at Centura, Durox , etc.
They can be purchased there.. if you want to pay more for the product.
Check the website for the product and make sure you are buying it from an "authorized Distributor".. otherwise, you are just paying extra markups to a middleman
Just my 2 cents worth. I've been doing a bit of research on it as I want to retrofit my basement and main floors (floor joists are accessible from basement).
For a small area like a bathroom and kitchen I would go with the electric mats that have been mentioned. Only problem I have heard from contractors that do RFloor heating is that there is a tendancy for the wires to give out over time and at that point you need to rip up and redo the job.
For a larger area I would go with hydronic system. I am going that route although I am just going to use a nat. gas hot water tank to run the system (and as a bonus, preheat the water going to the household hot water system).
My dad's house uses the well water system to heat and it works very well.
My sister's warehouse was built with in-slab heating and it is wonderful, you don't even feel like you are standing on bare concrete. It allows her to keep the temperature set lower on the the furnace but still feel comfortably warm.
Should I ever get to the point where I can afford to build a new home it definately will be designed with radiant heating.
For a small area like a bathroom and kitchen I would go with the electric mats that have been mentioned. Only problem I have heard from contractors that do RFloor heating is that there is a tendancy for the wires to give out over time and at that point you need to rip up and redo the job.
For a larger area I would go with hydronic system. I am going that route although I am just going to use a nat. gas hot water tank to run the system (and as a bonus, preheat the water going to the household hot water system).
My dad's house uses the well water system to heat and it works very well.
My sister's warehouse was built with in-slab heating and it is wonderful, you don't even feel like you are standing on bare concrete. It allows her to keep the temperature set lower on the the furnace but still feel comfortably warm.
Should I ever get to the point where I can afford to build a new home it definately will be designed with radiant heating.
