thread, in the field: warm floors

Radiant floors were a desire from the start of the project. This type of heating is perhaps the most comfortable, and combined with a thermal mass can be one of the most efficient as well. How does it work? Hot water is pumped through the floor - in this case a 3" cast concrete slab - through a series of PEX tubing arranged and spaced to provide the right amount of BTU's per square foot. The hot water heats the slab, and then radiates into the space. Because your feet, and body are in direct contact with the floor, you are able to sense the heat through conduction; as opposed to furnaces or convective heating, which tends to be uneven in a space with ceilings being warm, and floors being cold (hot air rises!) Surfaces in the room of radiant systems will be higher, so typically the air temperature can be cooler, and therefore the thermostat can actually be set to around 65-68degrees instead of 68-72degrees.

The radiant tubes are connected to a combi boiler, a wall hung unit that is mounted in a closet in the hall which provides hot water for both the heating and domestic needs. Each apartment is outfitted with their own - the space efficiency, and individual control are the reasons we chose to install these over a single building system which would have been less expensive. There are several brands on the market such as Baxi, Rinai, Buderus and Rheem. Ours are condensing boilers - discussing condensing boilers could be whole other post - but the important factor to take into consideration with radiant and condensing boilers is to ensure that the returning water temperature is below 120degrees, in order to ensure that the efficiencies of the boilers are their max. The radiant works well in conjunction with this, creating long heating runs that allow the outgoing 180degree temps to be dropped to 120 on the return.

One other important aspect is that radiant floors help simplify a space and its uses. There are no visible mechanical heating units that are typical in apartments. Lack of radiators or baseboards allows for flexibility in the room layouts, and a visually is cleaner. Our windows are able to go to the floor without disruption. In addition, the radiant prevents dust from moving through the house in the winter time.