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cbenton184
cbenton184 Member Posts: 2
in Radiant Heating
Hello. We just purchased a new home with radiant heating. Our home inspector said we'd love it and use much less oil. Well, we are wondering if it's working? We seem to be burning a lot of oil, the forced air runs a lot. The sellers agent told us that he said the radiant heated the home 95 % of the time and only the furnace/forced air was needed for below 10 or so degrees. Now, it has been below that recently however the problem has been since before.

My big question is.. Is there a special thermostat or switch for the radiant as opposed to the forced air? Do we not maybe even have it on? Thanks!

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  • Ironman
    Ironman Member Posts: 7,376
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    We'd need a lot more info about your system and some pics to see what kind of setup you have.

    Generally, the radiant is controlled by one of two ways: either it has its own thermostat, or, it's on the first stage of a two stage stat. The forced air would be the second stage.

    Depending upon how the floor was done, and what the actual heat loss of your house is, the realtor's statement may be true.

    Radiant floors don't get hot; they should actually feel about neutral to bare feet.
    Bob Boan
    You can choose to do what you want, but you cannot choose the consequences.
  • cbenton184
    cbenton184 Member Posts: 2
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    I'll head down to the furnace room to take pics of the set up. I have 2 thermostats in the main area, but We think one is for the central air? I'm pretty clueless. I just wasn't sure if there was such thing as an "on switch" to get it moving. Oddly we have several thermostats around the house that seem to be not working? Or maybe they are the radiant? It's all so foreign to me.
  • STEVEusaPA
    STEVEusaPA Member Posts: 6,506
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    So rather than guessing, can you contact the previous owner and see if you can get some instructions. Or usually the installer left a sticker on the boiler, maybe they can help.

    Better yet, you are going to need maintenance on the system, probably annually. Why not search for your qualified tech, have the tech go over the system, and explain everything to you.

    Home inspectors aren't hvac professionals. Their job is to (try) to turn the system on and see if it works, offering no expertise other than it's 'working', and assuming no liability the second they walk away.
    steve
    Gordy

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