Golden40
Active member
I was thinking about building a 40x60 Pole Barn, and would like to get your all's idea about radiant floor heat. Good investment or not? Pro's / Con's, Entire shop or partial.
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Radiant Floor Heat?
- Thread starter Golden40
- Start date
jklingel
Well-known member
No simple answer, as I am learning. It depends on your heating degree days, how well you are going to insulate, what temp you'll keep the place, how long you'll be there, what the cost of fuel is, blah, blah. Without doing a heat loss analysis (which you can do yourself pretty accurately, IMO; it ain't rocket science) and looking at all the variables, no one really knows. Is it efficient? Yes, there is no doubt about it. Is it nice to have your feet warm and your head cooler? Yes. Is it nice to work on the floor and be warm? Yes. One guy I just read about says he loves it because his machines are warm to the touch! The only argument I have ever read AGAINST radiant floor is if you have a super-insulated, tight house, and even then it is debatable. (It may leave you with cool floors; long story.) I'd suggest you run some numbers and let them decide. It is not always a slam dunkie to go with it. j
One thing to consider for sure with a barn. If you arent staying there all day every day, it will just be heating all the time if it works at all. There is no fast recovery with floors. If I lose 5 degrees in my house floor temp, it can take 4 days to catch up depending on how cold it is.
You can set a floor sensor to keep it warm even if the air temp is the temp you want.
You can set a floor sensor to keep it warm even if the air temp is the temp you want.
Last edited:
tdkkart
Well-known member
Go to the top of the page, click search and type "radiant". You will get more information, specs, opinions etc than you could ever imagine.
Personal opinion, if you want a very comfortable shop to work in every day radiant is the only way to go, if you want something where you can work 3 times over the entire winter you need to look at a different design.
Personal opinion, if you want a very comfortable shop to work in every day radiant is the only way to go, if you want something where you can work 3 times over the entire winter you need to look at a different design.
GaryRoushkolb
Well-known member
I've got a 30X50 and have floor heat, shop stays at temp all the time. I keep the thermostat set at 57 and it's located about waist level. You need a sweat shirt for the first 30 minutes or so but by then your working and you don't notice the chill. This is in the mornings when it's under 25 outside. I have a auxiliary heater that I don't use unless open the door and get the air cool.
The shop has R30 insulation on the walls and the roof and has metal siding inside instead of sheetrock. It's almost the same price and is fireproof and cleans quickly. The floor used 1/2 PEX tubes space in grids aboit 6 inches apart and goes into a manifold to adjust which I have never changed from wide open. The heat is supplied by a boiler which heats the water but I have a friend that used a big hot water tank also. My shop boiler only comes on about every hour or so and runs for 5 minutes. The best part is my feet do not hurt from standing on the cement as the did in my last shop that didn't have floor heat. The mill and lathe don't get cold either and sweat and they used to do. Everything in the shop stays the same temp.
The shop has R30 insulation on the walls and the roof and has metal siding inside instead of sheetrock. It's almost the same price and is fireproof and cleans quickly. The floor used 1/2 PEX tubes space in grids aboit 6 inches apart and goes into a manifold to adjust which I have never changed from wide open. The heat is supplied by a boiler which heats the water but I have a friend that used a big hot water tank also. My shop boiler only comes on about every hour or so and runs for 5 minutes. The best part is my feet do not hurt from standing on the cement as the did in my last shop that didn't have floor heat. The mill and lathe don't get cold either and sweat and they used to do. Everything in the shop stays the same temp.
jklingel
Well-known member
Gary: How high are your ceilings, and what is your annual heat bill? Your being pleased w/ the radiant floor heat sounds typical; I've never heard anyone complain about it. j
GaryRoushkolb
Well-known member
my ceiling is 10 foot and I don't know what my heating bill is as my wife takes care of paying them. I'm getting ready to add a air purifier system which will move the air around and clean it of dust and smoke. I hope this doesn't upset the balance that i have now.
You'll love your floor heat and like I said your ankles won't hurt from cold from the floor. The older I get the more I dislike the cold, especially when you are running a lathe or mill that you stand still.
You'll love your floor heat and like I said your ankles won't hurt from cold from the floor. The older I get the more I dislike the cold, especially when you are running a lathe or mill that you stand still.
HoosierBuddy
Well-known member
Radiant heating in a garage is the berries if you do it right...however:
1. It is more expensive to install than other options.
2. It is not the correct solution for "part time" heating, as you have to leave it on at some level at all times to keep it from freezing up AND it won't recover as fast as some other solutions if you want to keep a low temperature in your building and then crank it up 25 degrees when you are working.
I love my hydronic heating in my garage...but it was expensive to install and I don't mess with the thermostat too much.
Phil
1. It is more expensive to install than other options.
2. It is not the correct solution for "part time" heating, as you have to leave it on at some level at all times to keep it from freezing up AND it won't recover as fast as some other solutions if you want to keep a low temperature in your building and then crank it up 25 degrees when you are working.
I love my hydronic heating in my garage...but it was expensive to install and I don't mess with the thermostat too much.
Phil
GaryRoushkolb
Well-known member
Totally agree. I would forget to reset the thermostat so I don't change mine and just use a sweatshirt or my auxiliary heater. Insulation and floor heat is a combo that's great. Plus your feet won't hurt from absorbing the cold from the floor, this is important when you get older.
IONH
Well-known member
I can't imagine using radiant floor heat in a garage, attached or otherwise. But this is because I live in the Northeast where we can get below freezing temperatures for days at a time and my garage use varies from multiple days on end to not even going in it for 2 or 3 weeks.
If you live down south somewhere where you don't usually get long cold spurts, I can imagine radiant heat would probably be great on the feet in general but also when laying on the floor under a car.
If you live down south somewhere where you don't usually get long cold spurts, I can imagine radiant heat would probably be great on the feet in general but also when laying on the floor under a car.
nate379
Banned
I have not been around that many radiant floor setups, but 4 days for 5* sounds like something isn't setup up right!
To give you an idea, I was gone for a couple weeks and got back last weekend. Was 50* in the house, air temp and floor temp. It took roughly 24hrs to get stabilized at 68*. Wasn't that cold outside though, maybe 20*.
To give you an idea, I was gone for a couple weeks and got back last weekend. Was 50* in the house, air temp and floor temp. It took roughly 24hrs to get stabilized at 68*. Wasn't that cold outside though, maybe 20*.
One thing to consider for sure with a barn. If you arent staying there all day every day, it will just be heating all the time if it works at all. There is no fast recovery with floors. If I lose 5 degrees in my house floor temp, it can take 4 days to catch up depending on how cold it is.
You can set a floor sensor to keep it warm even if the air temp is the temp you want.