radiant heat

Brad White_191

Ask that and you may put your mind to rest.

Radiant floors for heating a home are not the same thing as "Warm floors for the sake of warm floors". In fact, if your floors feel perceptibly warm, your space will probably be over-heating.

What you are experiencing, assuming that the house temperature is even and comfortable, is ideal; very little difference between floor and ceiling temperatures.

Typically and depending on floor type, heat loss, indoor and outdoor temperatures, the floor temperature range will be anywhere from one to 15 degrees warmer than the room. A normal range in a 68 degree space will be between 69 and 82 degrees. Rarely would you want a floor warmer than 85 degrees.

I have designed radiant homes where the occupants complained of "cool floors" yet had ideal room temperatures. The difference was "expectations". Why were the floors "cool"? Different floor coverings in different rooms, different floor temperatures to suit the heat loss, but most of all, the soles of their feet were warmer than the floor which was heating the room.

Kara

Is radiant heat working right?

I am suspicious that the radiant heating system in my recently purchased patio home is not working correctly. The floor isn't quite as warm as I would expect. Is it normal for a thermometer placed on the floor to read only 1 degree warmer than the air temperature taken 6 feet off the floor?

If not, how much warmer should the floor be on average?