Radiant floor heating can be up to 30% more efficient than forced air. No more creaking systems every time you turn the heat on and no more cold floors. At Cape Tech, we have implemented this very efficient system at our new REC building. This system is made up of PEX tubing, a durable and flexible material that runs across both levels of the building. Inside the tubes, water is run throughout and will be heated by flat plate solar thermal collectors, along with HVAC’s and the Plumbing shops’ systems. On the very cold months, a bio-diesel boiler will also help heat the building.

Radiant heating is so effective you won’t even know its working. No fans blowing, no heaters creaking, and no dust sweeping back into your breathing air. The system is truly invisible. Unlike a conventional heating system, the radiant floor heating will heat your whole house or a whole room at once. So, unlike conventional heating systems, we won’t have one side of the room be warmer than the other. What happens in a radiant floor heating system is: the PEX tubing is run below the floors of your house. After that, they are essentially hooked up to your boiler system, being a solar thermal; bio-diesel; or oil boiler. The boiler will heat and circulate hot water through the tubing throughout a room. In other words, the water in the tubing will be the same temperature throughout and since hot air rises, the room will be evenly heated.

In a conventional system, air blows out of the heaters at a scorching 120 degrees Fahrenheit. As the air rises it quickly loses heat and comes back down as it cools. In this system, you can have a hot head as you walk around your house, and very cold feet as you climb into bed. In a radiant floor heating system, the water running through the tubes are at a max of 85 degrees on a very cold day, and heat from the ground up. The colder air is forced to the ceiling, while the colder air in a conventional system sits right at the bottom.

For people with allergies, there is no vent blowing the hot air along with all of the dust and who knows what else. The heat that comes from the system is a comfortable heat not toasty in one side, and cold on the other. The house is heated evenly throughout. And what I like most about it is when I walk through my kitchen and bathroom, the marble flooring that is usually cold is very comfortable and warm.