Heating Questions Oil to Gas Converstion, Radiant Heat Flooring.
I have an oil boiler and am planning to upgrade to gas. I also wanted to update to a radiant head scenario. Question 1. I installed a new plywood subfloor over the existing wide board plank subfloor, and have access to the floor joists underneath. Will this affect the efficiency of radiant heat and will…
I have an oil boiler and am planning to upgrade to gas. I also wanted to update to a radiant head scenario.
Question 1. I installed a new plywood subfloor over the existing wide board plank subfloor, and have access to the floor joists underneath. Will this affect the efficiency of radiant heat and will it affect the choice of wood floor finish? (I’m concerned about warping, but probably using either bamboo or laminate)
Question 2. If I am going to a full radiant systems, would the conversion be to a boiler or a gas fired water heater since the temperature requirments would be substantially less for the radiant system?
Thanks.
We changed to gas heat; and we’re happy with it. A friend’s co op has a bifurcated furnace feed which allows them to switch from oil to gas. They are happy with their choice. It’s up to you.
I had radiant heat put undet my kitchen floor. Do yourself a favor and use what the specs are for finish flooring. Ours has a separate furnace. This too, is bifurcated, since it supports the kitchen flooring, and the basement’s radiators and circulates hot water between to the two.
I insisted upon wood strips for the flooring, which we have still. The contractor said ceramic tiles or laminate; but I knew better. Now my floor’s finish, along the seams, is split and unsightly because of the expansion and contraction of the wood. One of these days I’ll pickle it, or just remove the wood and change to tiles.
And, lastly, I wish I’d also run it under the driveway so I never have to shovel it!
Even with the wood/kitchen issue we like it. It was worth the investment–
I would think twice if I were you. I did this last year and the savings were truly minimal. Plus, I now have to pay something like $70 a month in WARM weather months just for delivery of gas. I mean, I partly did it for environmental reasons, but have a vaguely bitter feeling. That old oil furnace is sitting somewhere in a landfill..
It is illegal in NYC to use a water heater to make space heating, and anyway the temperature requirements of a staple-up-from-below radiant heat installation isn’t substantially less than what you’d use for radiators.
We used this system on top of our sub flooring:
http://www.roth-usa.com/usa/pdf/5A_RadiantPanelManual-Sep04.pdf
It added about 1.5 inches but it is a very efficient system. We installed laminate flooring over the system because it was much more stable than wood and would expand and contract with fewer problems. What ever you choose you will need to install a floating floor (to handle the expansion and you do not want to nail through the water tubes!). I would highly recommend radiant floor heating–it is fantastic!
Since you are planning to do a boiler upgrade to gas my recommendation would be to install a modulating/condensing boiler like a Buderus or Viessman. Couple that with an indirect water heating tank. For the ultimate in efficiency you could consider a solar thermal system. Feel free to e-mail me heat@moltenmechanical.com for some more details.
-SteamMan
The more layers the heat has to go through will make less eff. Best is to use a system that runs on top with the recommended type of flooring on top.