Radiant Floor Heating Guide

As you may know, there are three main types of radiant floor heating, electric, air, and hydronic (liquid based).  In this article, we’re going to talk about electric radiant floor heating, how it works, and why you might want to choose it.

So, how exactly does electric radiant floor heating work?  Well, you can pretty much picture it like an electric blanket that sits underneath your floor.   Electric cables run underneath your floor, and provide heat from underneath.  It’s a fairly simple concept to understand, but there a few things you should understand before taking the plunge.

First of all, since electricity is rather expensive, you need to make your electric heating system as efficient as possible.  This generally means using the system over a concrete floor base.  The concrete will soak up the energy, and radiate it out over time.  If you just put an electric radiant heating system in a wood floor, you’ll always have to have keep the power on to get heat.  This is rather expensive, and those in this situation should probably check into getting a hydronic based system instead.

One area where electric heating systems do shine, though, is for additions where running the main heating system over is not practical.  Since no boiler is needed, electric radiant heating system can be installed anywhere, without any consideration for the heating system in the rest of the house.  However, keep in mind that these systems do not offer cooling, so you’ll need a separate cooling system if you’re in a warm climate.

So, you can see that there are pros and cons to choosing an electric radiant floor heating system.  On the one hand, they are very cheap and easy to install, and provide a warm, luxuriant heat.  On the other hand, the high price of electricity coupled with their thermal inefficiency (if no heat storing thermal body is present) make them more expensive to operate in the long run.  Still, though, they can make a great choice when it comes to heating those hard to reach areas in your house.  Give it a look.