Today's Technology and you

Today's
TECHNOLOGY AND YOU

Keep your feet happy with a radiant floor

Q: We have several chilly rooms. I would like to install warm floor radiant heat for its comfortable and indoor air quality (I have allergies). My budget is limited. What type of electric kits are available? - Carol D.

Comfortable electric radiant floor heat is efficient

A: Installing an electric warm floor radiant kit provides the most comfortable heat available. The warmth from the floor radiates to your body just like standing in the sun on a cold winter day. If you are like I am, when my feet are toasty warm, I feel warm all over.

Electric warm floor radiant systems are also efficient because the heat from the floor radiates directly to your body. This allows you to set the room air temperature several degrees cooler than normal for lower heating bills, yet you feel comfortably warm. It is also healthier not to have the room air overly heated and often overly dry.

In contrast, with a typical forced-air system, the hottest air often stagnates up at the ceiling. This is inefficient. Also, without blowing air through dirty ducts and stirring up dust in a room, electric warm floor radiant heat is great for allergy sufferers. With no moving parts, it is totally silent and maintenance-free.

There are many new designs of low-cost electric warm floor system kits available. Many of these kits are ideal for the do-it-yourselfer. All of them can be laid under tile or other hard floor surfaces and some, like Warm Touch, can be laid on the floor directly under carpeting. Easy Heat sells color-coded kits. You select the proper colored box based on the square footage that you want to heat.

This type of heating is safe. The floor temperature typically stays below 90 degrees. Using wire heating cables with multiple layers of superstrong insulation is very common. Other designs use low-voltage heating elements (8 to 30 volts) which are safe and easy to install yourself. One unique design by Heatizon uses low-voltage bronze screening for the heating element.

For installation under tile or other hard floor surfaces, the heating element wire is laid in a back-and-forth pattern across the floor. The installation of the thin wire barely raises the floor level. This is coated with a thin layer of cement and often finished with tile. The density of the wire pattern is dependent on the amount of heat that the room requires.

One very simple-to-install design uses a fine heating element wire woven through tough Arlyn reinforcing mesh. The mesh is stapled to the floor, covered with thinset and then finished with tile, marble or any other hard surface. It is sold in one-foot wide rolls in 10 to 80-foot lengths and produces about 44 Btu per square foot.

Another simple design has thin heating elements inside a mat material that can be cut to fit with a scissors. You can select either an under-tile mat that is stapled to the floor or an under-carpet mat. Still another design, by Calorique, has the elements sandwiched in a durable film. The film is sized to be stapled between the floor joists and you can choose any floor covering.

If you use warm floor heating in more than one room, each room has its own floor thermostat. This allows you to easily set each room at its most comfortable and efficient temperature without complicated zoning controls. For example, you would not want to keep a workroom, where you are active, as warm as your living room, where you relax after dinner.

As with any heating system, setting back the thermostat saves money. For the lowest heating bills, select a kit with a programmable setback thermostat. For example, the thermostat can lower the bedroom floor temperature after you go to bed. In the morning, it will warm the floor again right before the alarm goes off so you can step down on a warm floor.

Write for (or instant download — www.dulley.com) Utility Bills Update No. 691 — buyer's guide of electric warm floor systems, design types, sizes/heat outputs, comfort controls and installation instructions. Please include $3.00 and a business-size SAE. Mail to: Jim Dulley, Illinois Country Living, P.O. Box 3787, Springfield, IL 62708.

James Dulley is a mechanical engineer who writes on a wide variety of energy and utility topics. His column appears in a large number of daily newspapers.

20 ILLINOIS COUNTRY LIVING FEBRUARY 1999