Hydronic Heat

Radiators are really boring things. They fill up with hot water from your hydronic heat system, then they cool down. They warm your room, they sit their, usually under a window, and they occasionally get damp underwear draped over them.

But it really doesn’t have to be that way, there are an ever increasing number of clever and unique designs on the market for radiators, and they’re becoming more readily available to everyday people at large retail stores. Radiator art? Not as far out as it may sound. Lets face it, if you’re going to have a huge chunk of hot metal in your living room, you may as well make it attractive too, even eye catching and interesting.

Radiators have been appearing in design magazines and blogs for some time now, but its only recently that they became available to regular people at regular prices. Designer and unique radiators do not always have to be cutting edge either, there’s an increasing demand for reclaimed and reproduction ‘retro radiators’, basically anything to get away from the run of the mill we’ve all become accustomed to.

This post includes some extreme examples, no doubt we’ll feature more, in more depth, at Hyrdonic Heat in the not too distant future.

Hydronics and radiant heating systems go hand in hand not only in most people’s minds when they’re thinking of installing a system, but also in day to day applications. But, even though we focus on hydronic heat, we cannot deny that electric does have it’s place and can be a very good solution too.

The advantages of electric radiant heating when compared to hydronic are really three fold.

Installation ‘after the fact’ can be easier with electric. Due to the nature of hydronic heat and the piping required to be embedded under heated floors, electric under floor radiant heating can be much less complicated to fit in a house after the main heating system is in place, for example in a refurbished room (who wouldn’t want a warm bathroom or bedroom floor) or for an extension.

Instant heat, less waste. When you switch on electrically heated floors the heat is more quickly felt, due to the fact that the water in a hydronic system is heated as it passes around the system, which takes time, then it heats the floor, which then heats the room. Electric systems are much faster to warm up. They also cool faster, which can mean less wasted heat and energy, therefore reduced heating bills.

Better for small rooms, as above with installation in extensions or refurbished rooms, electric floor heating can be more cost effective in smaller spaces, not only due to the nature of the heating, but because the cost of an electric system is steady, but hydronic heating systems value increases with the size of the area you need to heat. Meaning for larger spaces and whole house heating systems, hydronic often offers better value.

In short, electric radiant heating offers low start up cost, fast heat and great levels of control. Hyrdonic heat on the other hand offers greater value in larger installations and a more stable heat supply over time, and more flexibility with regards of energy supply.

There’s a large list of pros you could reel off when considering a hydronic heat system for warming your home, office, or even garage! Hydronic heating, particularly when compared to a forced air system, can be said to be ideal for a warm and comfortable home.

For starters, radiant heating systems are quieter than a forced air system, the only source of noise you will tend to notice will be the pump and boiler, and if positioned with consideration this should not be an issue in itself.

Hydronic heat systems, particularly under floor heating, warms objects as much as it does the air, this means you don’t loose all the heat when you (or some inconsiderate so-and-so) opens a door or window and lets out all the ‘warm air’.

Heated floors feel great. When you crawl out of bed or leap out of the shower you just cant beat the feeling of a warm floor under your feet. Once you’ve experienced this advantage you’ll never, ever want to lose it!

Radiant heating systems are generally the most efficient way of heating your home, although this can vary from situation to situation and different installation and fuel types. Again the main reason for this is the way heat is dissipated and stored, rather than blown around a property.

Unlike warm air systems hydronic heat systems to not blow around dust or allergens in the home, for those with asthma, hayfever and other allergies this can be a real godsend, and could offer fantastic every day health benefits.

Hydronic heat systems are also flexible in the variety of heat sources that can be used to warm the water in the system from gas heaters and boilers, electric boilers, the increasingly popular wood boiler as well as solar and geothermal energy in hydronic pump systems.

Hydronic under floor heating doesn’t waste energy heating the air above your heads. Warmer air rises, so heating from the ground up makes perfect sense. It keeps you and your family cosy, but doesn’t heat the room above your heads so much.

As you can see there are many pros to the various hydronic heat systems available, and we’ll be looking at them all in the future.

Lets get down to basics, and introduce you to hydronic heat pumps.

Hydronic heat pumps are relatively uncommon at the time of writing, but have the potential to be one of the most efficient types of electrical central heating. They take advantage of the refrigeration cycle to extract heat from the earth or even water into and around a building.

Closed loop hydronic heat pump systems are probably the most widely recognised and take heat from the earth using large loops of pipe buried in the ground. These loops move heat from the earth to your home using water in the pipes to pump the warmth from the soil around the loop in your home, and then the cooled water returns to the pipes in the earth.

Hydronic heat pump systems that extract heat from water, for example from a lake, are less common and referred to as “open loop” systems as the system is open to the atmosphere.

Hydronic heat pumps are, perhaps unsurprisingly, best suited to well insulated, airtight homes. This is due to the heat they provide being of a relatively low temperature, meaning they simply cannot compensate for the heat loss of more inefficient homes. Put simply hydronic heat pumps are not currently capable of producing the high temperatures most radiators and convection heater require. In contrast, other heating methods, in particular radiant floors, are ideally suited for use with hydronic heat pumps.

We’ll be exploring various forms of hydronic heat systems in the near future.

Hydronic heating utilises heated water as a provider of whole home heating. Hydronic Heat can be an economical and highly effective method of centrally heating your home.

In the majority of hydronic heat systems, cold water is heated in a boiler which can be powered by a number of fuel sources, then pushed through piping to panel radiators positioned in each room via a pump.

The heat is transferred from these radiators to the air in each room, this is referred to as radiant heating.

An alternative form of hydronic radiant heating are floor coil systems. In which the hot water is pumped through pipes that are set in a concrete slab during the floor’s construction. The heat from the pipes radiates into the surrounding concrete, and subsequently into the room above.

Floor heating provides a comfortable, and well balanced heat, but due to relative complexity and high costs is still not as commonly installed domestically as radiator heating systems.

Welcome to your independent source of information on hydronic heat technology.

We aim to be a leader in independent information on hydronic heating and associated (and competing) heating systems, including hot water radiator central heating, steam heating, and of course under floor radiant heating.

We intend to update this site frequently with useful information on all hydronic heat topics, so keep dropping by for more information on what’s going in in the market and heating industry at large.