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February 15, 2008
Radiant Heat as Only Source of Heating in a North-Facing Room
Has anyone done that?
My kitchen faces north, has several windows and detached walls, and I am planning on having radiant heat in it. Will it be enough? Did you install a extra radiator in case? Do you need to use it?
Thanks all. Any advice is highly appreciated!
Ray
Comments
Extra radiator?
I have radiant heat in a very dark garden apartment and it works freaking great.
I can't imagine putting in an extra radiator--this defeats the whole purpose of radiant heat, doesn't it?
Posted by: guest at February 15, 2008 4:29 PM
I think in the past, when people were installing radiant heat who did not know what they were doing, they ended up having to install radiators after the fact. Just make sure you use someone who knows what there doing and radiant heat will be more than sufficient.
Posted by: guest at February 15, 2008 4:55 PM
OP here, thanks for your postings.
My kitchen is in the parlor floor, has a huge volume and several windows that face North. My mechanical engineer said he thinks radiant heat under stone floors will be enough *most* of the winter. When pressed, he suggested adding a coil to my AC, which I think would be a really inefficient way to add heat.
Do you know of a way to measure heat added (through floor), heat loss (through windows and doors), and use volume in the room to measure heat dynamics?
Thanks again.
Posted by: Ray at February 15, 2008 6:59 PM
Yes, a heat loss calculation.
Free software is available online or at heatinghelp.com. You put in info about the room size, windows, insulation, walls, etc. for that room.
Then find out what BTU/hr at what boiler temp the radiant floor provides.
Once you have the #s, you and your contractor should be much more confident about your heating requirements instead of just eyeballing it. Best of luck!
Posted by: ohiise at February 15, 2008 9:46 PM
Radiant floor heating only provides about 15 BTUs per square foot.
Many rooms in our typical homes require twice that amount so it's not unusual to install supplemental heat to a room heated with RFH.
A common approach to this is to install a hot water coil in the ductwork of an existing central air system to blow some warm air into the room on a very cold day when the RFH is not keeping up. This is called a hydro-air system.
It should be controlled with a two-stage thermostat wired to both systems. Stage one turns on the RFH, if it doesn't warm the room to the desired setting in a specified amount of time it activates stage two: the hydro-air system.
Stage two can also be a radiator or anything else for that matter.
Posted by: Master Plvmber at February 17, 2008 7:43 AM
Thank you all. And do you know how to compute the number of BTU required given the design of the room?
My space is very unusual and I want to make sure the advice given really applies to it.
Posted by: Ray at February 18, 2008 1:07 PM
Radiant heat is actually very efficient in rooms with high ceilings since the heat radiates from the floor and tends to dissipate as it reaches 6-7 ft. So you do not need to take into account any additional volume created by high ceilings.
Posted by: guest at February 19, 2008 1:00 PM
A properley designed radiant system is all you need to heat your house. I design all copper systems with 1/4 parallel circuits 6in on center for evenness of heat.
Posted by: guest at May 27, 2008 2:50 PM
A properley designed radiant system is all you need to heat your house. I design all copper systems with 1/4 parallel circuits 6in on center for evenness of heat.
Posted by: guest at May 27, 2008 2:53 PM
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