radiant heat for a small deck? is it possible?

Fred Campbell

I ran some copper fin under spaced decking for a three to four season room conversion. They sealed and super insulated the under deck perimeter. I mixed down the temp and it worked fine on a pumped zone. No glycol.

If you used a flat plate and glycol, used high temp convectors like baseboard element, ran 180*,and kept the deck boards spaced 1/4" you could probably melt snow or keep your toesies warm on a chilly fall night. It could be iffy with 140* or so from a water heater. If you're determined to do this, remember what my dad used to say when I left the door open, "I'm not payin' to heat the outside". Come to think of it...that's what I tell my prospective snow melt customers.

TG

Holowinko

Radiant heat for a small deck? possible or a waste of time?

I am building a 12' x 12' deck on my house. Is it possoble to do a radiant heat system on it? I would think the decking would have to be tight, so no water would would get through, and that all the bays would have to be really insulated. All I have for a heat source would be a brezed plate off of the bock 32e hot water heater. It would only be used a few times of year, here in CT. Any suggestions or am I wasting my time? Thanks

Brad White_108

Why?

Is the function to melt snow or take the chill off autumn evenings? I would submit that unless you have a solid emission surface and relatively high temperatures you will not perceive the benefit of, say, a "gas fired palm tree" radiant heater.

Also if the boards are not left open for drainage the deck will rot. Believe me. Even fir.