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Heat strip in air handler w/radiant floor heat system - needed?

Jim Kaczmark
Jim Kaczmark Member Posts: 3
in THE MAIN WALL
I'm reviewing my bids for my HVAC system for my home (new construction). All bids are for a hydronic radiant (floor) heat sytem, with A/C thru-out the home. All bids came back with a heat strip in the air handler in addition to the radiant floor heat. Is this redundant? I live in northeast washington state and are a mildly cold climate. What are the reasons for having this and would you recommend one?

Comments

  • Mike Thomas_2
    Mike Thomas_2 Member Posts: 109
    I would

    In late spring and early fall, when maybe you only need a little heat in the morning to take the chill off the house, a heat strip can be used to warm the air. The other option is to ask the radiant floor to do this. The radiant floor is like a freight train because of all the thermal mass. By the time the radiant floor brings the house up to temperature, and even though the thermostat turns off the boiler, that mass of heat continues to radiate heat into the room and the room gets to hot. You won't be happy. Trust your contractor, he knows what he's doing.....
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    Find out...

    what will cause the electric to run unnecessarily and take great care to not let that happen.
  • hot_rod
    hot_rod Member Posts: 23,398
    It's nice to have a back up

    system and strip heat is a fairly inexpensive addition when done at the time the air handler is installed.

    Nice for shoulder season weather where maybe a few hours of heat in ythe morning is required. Go for it.

    hr
    Bob "hot rod" Rohr
    trainer for Caleffi NA
    Living the hydronic dream
  • Unknown
    Unknown


    the system you describe is a horribly controlled radiant system.

    with bang-bang water temps and simple thermostats that can happen. with real controls, radiant can handle almost all conditions very smoothly. Though if you are bouncing around the WWSD cut-off, it can be a problem for efficiency if you have a high mass radiant system.

    Solution; turn up WWSD.

    In short, if the contractor does know what he's doing, additional heat in the air system would only be possibly required for the air conditioning system itself, or in very high load situations where real supplemental heat is needed.
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