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Electric Radiant Heat

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BillyO
BillyO Member Posts: 277
in THE MAIN WALL
Im putting tile floor in house up North and was looking for some input on electric radiant heating . Approx. 200 square feet. I have never used it before, its for my own house and was hoping to get some feedback, good or bad. Thanks Bill

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  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 23,283
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    Is this for supplemental warmth in the floor, or is it to heat a room? Makes a difference.

    You can figure a maximum for a comfortable floor of around 20 BTUh per square foot of floor -- or around 4000 BTUh for that area. Will that be enough? Have you figured the heat loss of the space, if this is to be the primary heat?

    Also, depending on where "up north" is, keep in mind that electric heat isn't cheap.
    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
    ethicalpaul
  • Zman
    Zman Member Posts: 7,569
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    Electric (in a small area) is cheaper up front and more expensive down the road. I think it makes the most sense for areas like bathrooms and kitchens where you put it on a timer so you get that "warm floor" feeling in the morning without running all day/night and spinning your electric meter.

    If you decide to install it, I would recommend verifying the Ohm readings after every step of construction. The wires are easily damaged.
    "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough"
    Albert Einstein
  • psb75
    psb75 Member Posts: 833
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    Electric is easier to install and more expensive to operate.--"up North." Hydronic (hot water tubing) is more difficult and expensive to install and cheaper to operate.
  • hot_rod
    hot_rod Member Posts: 22,137
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    Electric might be a bit $$ for that size area? I have used kits like this for small bath or kitchen areas.
    The Loud mouth is a handy meter that attaches while you are installing to notify of damage to the cable. A kit like this is probably around 10 bucks a square foot.

    If you can tube the area with pex, you have options for heating down the road.
    Bob "hot rod" Rohr
    trainer for Caleffi NA
    Living the hydronic dream
    HVACNUT
  • BillyO
    BillyO Member Posts: 277
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    I wasn't clear enough, just to warm floor. I have electric baseboard that is sufficient. Up North to me is Lake Ariel , PA.
  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 23,283
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    Up north is Pennsylvania? Hmm. Well...

    But you should have no trouble with electric radiant for that application. You can get either cable or mats. Even Amazon has them -- preassembled floor mats.

    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
  • rick in Alaska
    rick in Alaska Member Posts: 1,457
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    I put Suntouch brand one in my bathroom downstairs just because when I built the house, the bathroom was put on the same zone as the office. I already have radiant in the floor, but with my wife needing the bedroom to be cold, the bathroom winds up being the same way. It is a small bathroom, so i just have a 2' x 8' piece right down the center, and it works great. Since out electricity here runs around 26 cents, I do only have it on a limited time. I need to spend a little time and read the manual, because I am not sure if I can set it up with a timer sequence, but I believe I can. At this time, I am just turning it on as needed.

    Rick
  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 23,283
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    My son did almost the same thing in a house he had in Burlington, VT, @rick in Alaska -- worked very well indeed. He did have it on a heavy duty timer -- Intermatic, as I recall.
    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
    rick in Alaska

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