Radiant Heat with Best Plumbing Heating & Air Inc (845)471-3626

Have you ever enjoyed standing in front of a sunny window in winter soaking up the sun’s warmth while the temperatures outside were freezing? Radiant heating, in this case from the sun, is so comfortable because it heats objects, including your body, and not the air. Building Biology teaches us that radiant heat is not only the most comfortable and energy efficient form of heat, it is also the healthiest for us. Although forced air heating and cooling is the most prevalent way to adjust temperature indoors in North America it is far from ideal in terms of health, comfort, or energy efficiency.

Radiant heat has the following advantages from a health and comfort perspective:

• It is a gentle heat that does not fry dust and other pollutants

• It is silent

• It doesn’t require ductwork which is prone to leakage, dirt and mold accumulation

• It doesn’t blow air around creating drafts and a constant climate from too hot to too cold

• It produces an even comfortable heat

There are many options for radiant heating to choose from. Hot water or steam radiators of various configurations, radiant in-floor (hot water)heating, masonry heaters, in-wall heating and passive solar heating are examples.

Radiant heating systems supply heat directly to the floor or to panels in the wall or ceiling of a house. The systems depend largely on radiant heat transfer -- the delivery of heat directly from the hot surface to the people and objects in the room via infrared radiation. Radiant heating is the effect you feel when you can feel the warmth of a hot stovetop element from across the room.

When radiant heating is located in the floor, it is often called radiant floor heating or simply floor heating.

Radiant heating has a number of advantages. It is more efficient than baseboard heating and usually more efficient than forced-air heating because it eliminates duct losses. People with allergies often prefer radiant heat because it doesn’t distribute allergens like forced air systems can. Hydronic (liquid-based) systems use little electricity, a benefit for homes off the power grid or in areas with high electricity prices. Hydronic systems can use a wide variety of energy sources to heat the liquid, including standard gas- or oil-fired boilers, wood-fired boilers, solar water heaters, or a combination of these sources.

Despite its name, radiant floor heating depends heavily on convection, the natural circulation of heat within a room as air warmed by the floor rises. Radiant floor heating systems are significantly different from the radiant panels used in walls and ceilings. 

For all your radiant heat needs, contact Best Plumbing Heating & Air Inc. at (845)471-3626 or by filling out and submitting the form below: