Radiant Heat vs Forced Air

Troy Keener

I would appreciate if someone could provide me with the benefits of using radiant hot water heat over forced air. I like the idea of having warm floors; however, I am concerned about the system having the ability to keep the air at head level warm. In addition, can one expect the radiant system to be more expensive to install? Please advise. Thanks, Troy

ernie_3

rad v air

I beleive this to be a no brainer. Radiant has it all over air. From a comfort level radiant is DEFINITELY an even, comfortable heating medium. No obtrusive baseboard, radiators or air grilles. Certainly more up front cost....but you can pull your domestic hot water from the hydronic boiler. Will certainly heat to head level, unless Larry Bird's you best friend. The upside of forced warm air is adding A/C for 'year round comfort'. By the way I'm a big fan of air as heating medium, so it gets me to plug radiant, (I do radiant too). But you had to ask which is better!

GMcD

Radiant

There is a big difference between radiant heat exchange and warm air blowing around. Human comfort requires all three factors to be balanced: mean radiant heat exchange, convection (air movement), and humidity/evaporation. A radiant system with a 100% outdoor air heat exchanger system provides the best comfort, and depending on the climate, humidification or de-humidification can be added as required. You can also add cooling via the air system, as well as the radiant system. Radiant floor systems running at say 64F in the floor (above ambient dewpoint), can provide around 10-12 btuh/sq.ft. depending on floor coverings. Look up "resultant temperature" - with a radiant system, the temperature you actually "feel" is a combination of the mean radiant temperature and the air temperature.

The key is to pay the money for high performance glass/windows with good solar control, so that you don't need much heating or cooling, thus allowing the radiant/ventilation system to be optimized and you'll get all the comfort at half the energy use.