David Wilson asked:


If you’re looking at building a new house, or adding an addition, you’ll need to consider how you’re going to handle heating and cooling. You’ve probably looked at your typical forced air systems, but you heard about something called in floor radiant heating, and are intrigued. You can get warm, even heating, without having to deal with allergen carrying ducts. You’re pretty interested in the idea, but you may still be worried about the cost.

How do you determine the cost of radiant floor heating? As it turns out, it depends on a lot of different factors that you need to be considering. In this article, we’ll cover these factors, and explain how you can decide if radiant floor heating fits into your price range.

First of all, let’s talk about the two most common radiant heating systems out there, electric and hydronic. Electric systems place what is essentially a large electric blanket underneath your floor, which provides the heat. Hydronic systems employ a boiler to heat water which is then pump through a thin network of pipes underneath the floor.

These systems have two types of cost, the initial cost, and the ongoing cost. the initial cost is what you have to pay when you get the system installed. The ongoing cost is how much it takes to keep running the system.

Simply put, electric systems have a much lower initial cost than hydronic systems do. This is because a hydronic system requires the installation of a boiler and plumbing, whereas on electric system just uses the wire you already have hooked up. This make electric systems ideal for smaller areas, such as bathrooms and additions, where the cost of installing and hooking up a boiler would prove quite expensive.

However, these electric systems are far less efficient, meaning you’ll pay more in electricity as time goes on than you would with the more efficient hydronic system. This makes hydronic systems ideal when you need to heat your entire house, since you will save a lot of money in the long run over most electric systems.

Another confounding factor is the installation. Installing these types of systems isn’t easy, so most opt for professional installation. However, if you’re a die hard do it yourselfer, its fair to say that an electric system will be much easier to install than a hydronic system. Something to take into account, for sure.

So, you can see that there are many factors that go into pricing a radiant floor heating system. Of course, the best way is to find a company that specialize in in floor radiant heating, and get a quote from them. This should give you a good start, though, and help you understand how these things are priced.



Rodney