Residential Solar Solutions for
Radiant Floor Heating
Why people love it:
Radiant floor heating is an efficient home heating system that turns entire floors into radiators, warming living spaces with gentle, even warmth, without uncomfortable hot or cold air pockets.
Many people say it's by far the best way to heat homes with cold winters, like midwestern towns such as Kansas City.
What are the options:
There are two ways to supply this gentle, even warmth: electricity or hot water.
Electric radiant uses zigzagging loops of resistance wire and is generally retrofitted to a single room. Generally, this is not a good use of energy created from solar panels.
Hot-water "hydronic" systems are the most popular and cost effective way to heat an entire house. In this system, water is circulated from a boiler or water heater through loops of 1/2-inch polyethylene tubing. Special solar panel collectors are the most cost effective way to produce energy for these systems. Once the radiant heating system is in place, you can cover it with most types of flooring, including hardwood and tile.
Hot-water radiant is a little more to install than other types of heating systems. Costs are usually from $6 to $15 per square foot, depending on the method and several other variables (new builds with the tubes buried in concrete slab are usually the least expensive).
You'll still need a separate air-conditioning system.
How hot-water radiant works:
Solar panel collectors heat water that is pumped through a loop of flexible tubing under the flooring.
Why you want this:
This type of heating eliminates the discomfort of cold floors and, at the same time, slashes energy bills.
It’s easy to fine-tune the amount of heat being delivered to different rooms.
What it costs:
Generally, expect to pay 50% more for a hydronic radiant flooring system over what a conventional forced-air heat system costs - $6 to $15 a square foot installed. Keep in mind that with this type of heating, energy costs will be significantly reduced and overall comfort will be higher.
More information:
The best home heating system is one that you don’t realize is there: no radiators clanking, no vents whooshing air, no ductwork blowing dust - just an even blanket of heat, right where you want it. That's what radiant floor heating provides.
It's also a highly efficient way to heat a house, increasing comfort as it reduces energy costs. A radiant system can be up to 30 percent more efficient than forced-air heating: it's the most comfortable way to heat a house.
In radiant floor heating, warmth is supplied by hot-water tubes or electric wires buried under the floor. As heat rises from below, everything around is warmed up, and those objects then radiate that captured heat. The air temperature remains fairly constant, allowing you to stay comfortable because surrounding surfaces aren't stealing warmth from your body.
In a conventional forced-air heating system, air blows out of the registers at about 120 degrees, rises to the top of the room, then drops back down as it cools. The air in the room becomes stratified: your head may be warm, if you’re standing up, and your toes could be a different climate. Then when you turn on the furnace, it takes you to 68 or 70, and then shuts off and the result is a cold 70, which is how it feels right after the hot air stops pumping from the registers.
Warm air still rises with radiant floors, but it does so evenly over the entire floor, so the coolest air stays up at the ceiling. Those ups and downs don’t happen with radiant floors.
Technical considerations
Outdoor reset control:
Slowly raises and lowers the amount of hot water flowing through the tubing in response to varying outdoor temperatures.
Pex tubing:
Specially treated polyethylene carries the hot water for hydronic systems. This inert plastic won't corrode and can be installed in long runs with just a couple of fittings, reducing the chance of leaks.
Contact a Radiant Floor Heating Expert for More Information or an Estimate
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