Radiant or not??

Dave_22

I cant make up my mind on installing radiant or HWBB. House is about 1800sq. Master bedroom w/carpet above unheated garage-huge kitchen, vinyl floor over crawl space-rest of living area carpet w/cathedral ceilings over basement. I will be changing the rug soon and can go with a low R value pad. Will I be able to heat this on a staple up job with heating plates and proper insulation? I know- I still have to do a heat loss. Based on current electric BB there is about 80,000 BTU. .Still need to have another one done since I don't know if I trust the original owner. House built in 89 with decent insulation. Have a few friends with radiant and love it, but I don't want to be cold in winter!! Is this a good application or should I go with BB?

hot_rod

Maybe

You are right to update a heatloss calc. Sometimes carpet over carpet in high load areas isn't a good idea. The numbers will tell you.

I'm not a fan of carpet over radiant. Seems the warmest spot is where the pad touches the subfloor Actually I'm not a fan of wall to wall carpet at all.

Baseboard or panel radiators work well, also, in carpeted areas. Quicker response and close to the same comfort level when combined with reset controls.

Consider a mix. I really like radiant in kitchen and bath areas, or other areas where you congregrate and stand around, then convectors or radiators in the living area.

Lots of choices in the hydronic arena!

hot rod

kevin

ditto...

to what hot rod has said its not an all or nothing deal.Get a good contractor and ta;l it over w/ him as to your needs,desires,got to haves...kpc