Improve Your Home

Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

The decision to get electric floor heating can seem like a big leap, but it really is not. Floor heat systems have been used for over 2000 years, since the ancient Romans first used steam and hot water under the floors to heat their baths and public spaces. Korean homes have been using heated floors using the hot air Ondol system for almost as long. In Norway, some homes that had electric floor heating systems installed in the 1950s still have the original heating systems going strong today. Electric floor warming systems have been in use in Europe since at least the 1930s.

If you have decided to install electric floor heat in your home, you should first make sure that you understand how floor heat works. Many people assume that al
l heating systems work the same way – they warm the air and warm air warms you. This is not entirely the case. A heated floor in fact works is through radiant heat transfer. This works much like an electric blanket. The heat from the heat source is transferred to you, and you use the heat. This is in stark contrast to something like a forced air heating system, which blows hot air about.

One of the biggest differences between heated floors and traditional heating systems is what happens to the heat once it is released. Hot air rises, while heat itself does not. This
means that when your forced air system blows out hot air, it quickly rises to your ceiling. The area near your feet and where you live, meanwhile, remains cool. Since heat does not rise, however, when your heated floor produces heat, it tends to remain close to the floor, keeping you cozy and warm. This is one reason why heated floors tend to cozier and warmer than other types of heating systems. Heated floors are not trying to change the air temperature in your room. They are trying to make you warmer, which is often what you are after on a cool day anyway. You want to warm yourself, not the air in your home.

Keep in mind that when you opt for electric floor heat, you will be will to enjoy:

1) Cleaner indoor air. Electric floor heating systems do not make use of ducts, which are extremely hard to clean and which can contain and store all sorts of allergens. An electric floor warming system also does not blow air around, so it does not distribute allergens all over your home.

2) Room by room heating. Electric radiant floor heating systems come with programmable thermostats that allow you to adjust the heating in every room. It only makes sense. After a
ll, there’s no need for your attic – were no one ever goes – to be as warm as your living room, where your child is playing a board game on the floor. Floor heat recognizes that different rooms have different heating needs and allows you to adjust accordingly.

3) Energy efficiency. With floor heat, hot air does not rise to the surface of your ceiling, pushing you to keep raising the thermostat. In fact, studies have shown that heated floors are more energy efficient than many types of traditional heating systems. This is because with a heated floor system, you c
an often turn your thermostat a few degrees lower while remaining comfortable.

4) A virtually invisible heating system. In floor heat is installed entirely under your floors, and is therefore invisible. There are no ducts, furnaces, radiators, baseboard heaters, boilers, vents, and overhead pipes to contend with. Radiant floor heat is also odor free, and makes no noise. You may forget you even have radiant floor heat – is it weren’t for the superior comfort.

5) Superior comfort. Radiant floor heat systems keep your home cozier and more comfortable. Your floors remain warm and dry, allowing you to walk all over your home in bare feet. Also, research has shown that when radiant heat floors keep your feet warmer, you tend to stay more comfortable over all as well.

6) Less dryness. Radiant floor heat systems dry out the air far less than forced air systems do.

 
7) More room. When you install SunTouch floor heating or another radiant heat system, you can get rid of your baseboard heaters, vents, ducts, overhead HVAC apparatus, furnaces, and other bulky heating equipment, leaving you with much more room for living.