Radiant heat

[70staged]

Ok fellas, school me on in floor heat. My parents have it in there garage and I would like it in my garage I’m going to be building soon. The company that installed theirs retired so can’t ask them. Main question is what to use? Water heater or a type of boiler.
Also is it worth it or would I be better off using something else.

 

[78SC4X4]

This should be fun. Subscribed...............

 

[larry_g]

For me with machine tools I think it is the best. With heat radiating up from the floor the machines are always warm. I'm not grabbing cold tools that hurt because they are to cold. For doing heavy fabrication work the floor is warm and the ambient air can be cool making for a nice working environment, warm feet and no sweating from the physical work. When I was only working in the shop on weekends I'd turn on the heater Thursday nite and have a nice warm place to work Saturday morning. Kill the heater Saturday night and still nice working on Sunday. To me it is the best shop heat for comfort.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[Rusty Fords]

Great way to heat anything specially when we get older and our joints start to remind us. Radiant heat like the sun, plus if you fill the need to lay on the floor its nice and warm. I will be putting one in my house when I build hopefully spring 21.
Only problem is the recovery time is longer then an air source system.
I worked for a company a while back we used a normal natural gas w/h to heat the floor in a dog kennel about the size of a 2 car garage. Dogs seemed happy.

 

[tfinniii]

http://radiantdesigninstitute.com/

 

[70staged]

For me with machine tools I think it is the best. With heat radiating up from the floor the machines are always warm. I'm not grabbing cold tools that hurt because they are to cold. For doing heavy fabrication work the floor is warm and the ambient air can be cool making for a nice working environment, warm feet and no sweating from the physical work. When I was only working in the shop on weekends I'd turn on the heater Thursday nite and have a nice warm place to work Saturday morning. Kill the heater Saturday night and still nice working on Sunday. To me it is the best shop heat for comfort.

lg
no neat sig line

This is the main reasons I was going with heated floors. No cold objects and laying on the floor won’t be cold either.

 

[theoldwizard1]

The best thing about radiant heated floors is warm feet.

In general, water heaters do work (if sized properly) but have a shorter life than a real boiler.

 

[70staged]

Ok, then what are my options for boilers?

 

[Rc_Guy]

I have a boiler (or as the neighbor calls it, a broiler) in my mechanical room, one zone for the house, one zone for the garage.

My house in my avatar is not big, house and garage are both about 1600 sqft each.

 

[Randy in Maine]

I did mine because it was the most efficient way to heat my house and garage for the least amount of money. I just have a little Baxi boiler in the house that runs warm water to the shop when called for. I also like not having any flames in the shop.

 

[chinboys]

It is slow to respond as the heatsink is the mass floor or wall. Ex-wife hated it and thought by cranking up the thermostat that it was instantaneous. It will take several hours (overnight- all day) for the room to come up to temps which are cooler than the medium being heated (warm floors for sure).
I can open the front door and come back in a minute and the room would still feel "warm" unlike that of forced hot air heating in the 20 degrees F outside temp.

 

[nadogail]

In addition to an energy consuming water heater how about solar panels? Solar panels can preheat the water going into your water heater.

IMHO, I don't think you want a boiler because you have not indicated a need for steam.

 

[Rc_Guy]

In addition to an energy consuming water heater how about solar panels? Solar panels can preheat the water going into your water heater.

IMHO, I don't think you want a boiler because you have not indicated a need for steam.

Mine uses a boiler and I don't need steam.

 

[78SC4X4]

I found this article very informative about boilers..........

https://www.greenbuildingadvisor.co...d energy-efficient.,-Condensing boilers wring