Having in-floor heating in your home is an amazing luxury that provides some great benefits. While in-floor heating is a great option if you’re building a new home, it’s not really practical to install it in an existing home unless you’re already performing a full renovation. Nonetheless, one thing that’s becoming quite popular is to just install it in a bathroom so you never have to deal with cold floors again. In this article, we’ll provide a full overview of in-floor heating installation so that you understand how it works and why it can be such a great choice for your home.
How In-Floor Heating Works
In-floor heating is a unique type of hydronic radiant heating system. The term hydronic refers to the fact that the system relies on hot water to provide the heat needed to keep the entire building sufficiently warm. Some systems instead use a mixture of water and glycol (antifreeze). Using a water/glycol mix is common in places where the winters are much colder since it ensures that the water can’t freeze no matter how cold it gets.
The way an in-floor heating system is designed is that it has pipes sandwiched between the subfloor and the overlying flooring in each room. Whenever the system is running, a pump moves hot water through these pipes. The result is that the flooring quickly gets quite warm and then heat continually radiates off the floor to raise the temperature throughout the entire space. The in-floor heating also makes furniture and walls warm, and heat then continues emanating off these things as well so that everything in the room feels warm and toasty.
Most in-floor heating systems rely on a gas or electric boiler to produce hot water. Some systems instead use an air-source heat pump or a geothermal heat pump. A system with an air-source heat pump boiler is typically more energy efficient than a system with a boiler. However, this type of system actually uses a hybrid heat pump boiler that also has electric heating elements. The reason is the heat pump itself heats water more slowly, and there will be times when it may not work fast enough to meet all of the system’s hot water needs. The issue is if the electric heating elements have to run frequently since this can result in the system using more energy compared to a system that just has a gas boiler.
One of the best options for in-floor heating is to use a combi-boiler. Regular boilers can only supply hot water to a radiant heating system, which means you still need a water heater for your plumbing. A combi-boiler can supply hot water for both systems, which saves money and space by eliminating the need to also have a water heater.
One important thing to understand about in-floor heating is that it is usually a zoned system. That means different rooms or parts of the house have their own thermostat. When the thermostat senses that the area it sends a signal to the boiler so that it starts running, and the pump then starts sending hot water through the pipes in that area. This provides you with more customizable control over the temperature in every part of your house and also makes it easy to save on energy by keeping the heat set lower in some areas you’re not currently using.
Benefits of In-Floor Heating
While in-floor heating can’t raise the temperature as fast as a furnace, it provides much more even temperatures and helps the temperature stay more consistent. One issue with a furnace is that it only heats the air, meaning the walls and floors tend to stay colder. Air also doesn’t retain heat all that well, which is one reason why the temperature quickly starts dropping once the furnace stops running. The bigger issue with just heating the air is that all of the hot air coming out of the vents rises and settles up at the ceiling.
In-floor heating also causes the air temperature to decrease, but it doesn’t just directly heat the air. By instead heating the flooring and then all of the other objects and surfaces in the area, you end up with a fairly even temperature all across the space from wall to wall and floor to ceiling. The space also stays warm for a fairly long time after the boiler shuts off due to everything in the space absorbing heat.
In addition to providing more even and consistent heating, another major benefit of an in-floor heating system is that it typically costs much less to run. In fact, some radiant heating systems use 40-50% less energy compared to a furnace and forced-air heating system.
PJ's Plumbing & Heating is a local, family-run company that’s dedicated to providing top-tier plumbing, heating and air conditioning services. We have locations in Belgrade, Polson and West Yellowstone and serve all of the surrounding communities in the Gallatin Valley. Our team specializes in all types of heating services, including radiant in-floor heating and boilers, and can also help if you have a traditional HVAC system.
To schedule a consultation or service call and get the expert advice and assistance your home and family deserve, contact us today.
