Hydronic Heating – Energy Saving Comfort
So what is hydronic heating? Why is it becoming expensive to install and yet many people still opt to install this type of heating system.
This heating system uses hot water from a boiler or hot water from a heater. This will serve as a medium to transfer heat. This heating system uses radiators or radiant loops as source of heat transfer. This also utilizes aluminum finned copper tubing, which is very effective in transferring heat.
The hot water can circulate through lengths of tubing that loop back and forth on the sub floor. A slab of concrete or lighter weight gypsum cement usually encases the tubing. Or this is fastened to the underside of the sub flooring.
Hydronic heating uses the concept of warm feet as a vital comfort factor. This makes this heating system popular. Who wouldn’t want to feel warm comfort from their feet up during winter right? But this can be expensive to purchase and install.
This is usually stapled to the underside of the sub-floor, embedded in a concrete slab, or strung between the ceiling joist so heat can radiate from the ceiling. But if you plan to embed this device in a concrete slab, you must be aware that this can result to slow and gradual response time. Thus, if you plan to install this device in this way, the water must circulate constantly and the thermostat should be set at the desired temperature and should be left alone.
The advantage of using this type of heating system is that you have the freedom to choose a variety of energy sources. You can use heated water, gas water heater, electric boiler, wood boiler, heat pump, solar collector, and you can even use geothermal energy. And, if your current heating source becomes expensive, you can opt to change to cheaper heating source. For example if oil for boiler is expensive, then you can switch to solar or other energy source. This is also better to use because water used can retain residual heat longer than heating systems that uses electric wires.
Heated water from hydronic heating can warm your floor to about 85 degrees Fahrenheit. This is similar to walking on a tile floor that is warmed by direct sunlight. Unlike other heating systems, that blows warm air inside your house, this heating system transfers heat from one source to another. Thus, this is a cleaner system to warm your house during winter.
You also have freedom to adjust temperatures in different areas of your house with this hydronic heating system. It has zone control, which allows you to adjust different rooms to your desired temperatures, also allowing you to save energy with hydronic heating.
We provide information on electric radiant heat and other radiant heating systems. It’s time to start lowering your heating bills. Visit our site for more information on this heating alternative!
By M. Applebaum
