What is radiant heat?

Heres a modern radiator. Hot water flows through this device… (Tribune Media Services…)
March 23, 2012|By Tim Carter, Tribune Media Services, Ask The Builder

DEAR TIM: I'm looking to buy a house, and I've seen online descriptions saying a house has radiant heat. What in the world is that? The house I grew up in had hot air that blasted out of ducts. What are the pros and cons of radiant heating? Is it expensive to operate? Would you own a home with radiant heat? --Lucy B., Goochville, Va.

DEAR LUCY: Radiant heat is by no means new. It's as old as our solar system. When you go outdoors on a sunny late-winter morning and feel the warmth of the sun when it's invisible infrared rays hit you, that's the oldest and most basic form of radiant heating. It's time tested, and in my opinion, the best form of heating you can have.

Radiant heat uses invisible electromagnetic infrared waves to heat you. It doesn't heat the air, as the system did in the house you grew up in. The objects that are in the direct pathway of the infrared rays absorb the energy immediately. Once they heat up, they radiate heat to other objects in the room. It's a fascinating way to transfer heat very efficiently.



There are many pros and few cons, in my opinion, when it comes to radiant heating. As for the pros, here are a few. It's nearly silent, it's clean, it's comfortable, there are no ducts to clean, it's efficient and requires minimal maintenance.



You don't have to install wall or baseboard radiators. People choose them as that's almost always the cheaper alternative. It's possible to have a radiant heating system totally invisible with all the piping hidden in floors or ceilings.

The cost to operate a radiant heating system that uses a central boiler and one or more recirculating pumps can be minimal. Even with this in mind it's a very hard question to answer because there are many types of radiant heating systems and each one might have a different fuel source.


Keep in mind that your house may be much different than other houses in your neighborhood. The Btu heat loss of your house is a function of its size, insulation, window and door openinngs, compass direction it faces, etc. Each house has a distince Btu heat loss per hour. To keep a house comfortable, you must replace the lost Btus with new ones each hour.



Radiant heat can be installed in an existing home, but it can be very expensive. It's probably best to use wall radiators that deliver exceptional results.


You can watch a very fascinating radiant heat video that shows new radiant heat transfer plates at www.AsktheBulider.com. Just type "radiant heat transfer plate video" into the AsktheBuilder.com search engine.


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