What Is Hydronic Radiant Floor Heating

This old house plumbing and heating expert richard trethewey helps guide you through two types of heated floors in terms of cost installation and energy efficiency to select the right one for your house.

What is hydronic radiant floor heating.

Hydronic radiant heating fulfills that need and provides a smart residential heating alternative that will help lower your energy costs and impact on the environment. Hydronic radiant floor systems pump heated water from a boiler through tubing laid in a pattern under the floor. Hydronic liquid systems are the most popular and cost effective radiant heating systems for heating dominated climates. In the simplest terms hydronic radiant floor heating is radiant heat from pipes or electric heating elements embedded in the floor or installed in the joists underneath.

Hydronic systems feature corrosion resistant polyethylene tubes that meet at the home s boiler and circulate hot water throughout the structure. Hydronic radiant heat is the more efficient and popular form of radiant heat in widespread use. In a hydronic system figure b heated water from a boiler or a water heater runs through loops of flexible plastic tubing called pex pex can be used for household water supply lines too the hot tubes then heat the floor. There are three major types of radiant floor heating systems.

Heated water generated by your boiler system circulates through piping installed in the floor throughout a building or home. Just an even blanket of heat right where you want it. Hydronic heating put simply hydronic radiant floor heating uses hot water to warm the floor. The original and largely abandoned in the west method was used most notably in turkish baths and consisted of a raised floor to allow hot air underneath keeping the floor nice and warm.

In a hydronic system a boiler heats up water that is pumped through the pipes under the floor. This piping is also known as pex or crossed linked polyethylene. What is hydronic radiant floor heating. With an rfh system the heat from the floor warms everything it touches and radiates throughout the room from the ground up.