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December 18, 2008 00:12 AM  BY STACEY BARRUS
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The home improvement world has seen many recent
developments in heating, making hydronic systems
more convenient and possible radiant
heater solutions for major home remodeling projects.
Today we’re going to discuss one form of
radiant
heaters: hydronic floor heating.
Hydronic floor heating is the
oldest and most popular type of radiant
floor heating. These systems are comprised of a
boiler or hot water heater, pumps, manifolds,
PEX tubing, thermostat, and either gypcrete (a
concrete-like material) or wood panels. Hydronic heating
is the most complex of all radiant heat systems.
These systems require trained professionals to
design and perform the installation. Your best
economies of scale are achieved for hydronic systems in
large areas or entire homes because of their
expensive components and operational costs.
Hydronic systems can be installed under any type of
flooring.
Most hydronic systems require
hot water tubing to be installed in a
2-4″ bed of light concrete and are best installed
during the initial construction because of its
weight load demands and adjustments to floor
height.
If you’re wanting to
heat smaller areas such as a bathroom or kitchen,
a hydronic floor radiant
heating system may not be the best value for your
project. The complexity and cost of installing
the system, along with the long-term maintenance
and up-keep required, might not be worth the small
amount you will save in operational costs.
Radiant Heaters Tip:
Radiant
heaters for your home or business come in a variety
of forms – all efficient and providing
reliable, cozy warmth
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December 11, 2008 00:12 AM  BY STACEY BARRUS
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Have you ever
gone on a ski vacation for the weekend and stayed at a
little ski lodge? A lot of the times, they’ll have a
huge fireplace in the main room with smaller bedrooms
up in the loft area or second-story. But the problem
is that when you’re in the main room with the roaring
fire, you’re often overwhelmed by the heat and
retreat to the bedroom, where it’s far
chillier. You see, many vacation or weekend homes
weren’t built with air conditioning ducts with
which to deliver the heat to the different rooms of
the house. However, there is a solution to adding
heating to homes that have not been built for traditional
forced air systems: radiant heaters.
As opposed to warm air systems (such as a forced
air unit heaters), radiant heaters deliver the source
of heat to the floor level, not the ceiling. Radiant
heaters or radiant energy is the oldest form of heating
used to provide comfort and is the basis for all
heating systems.
Additionally, radiant heaters also offer more
comfort than forced air heating by heating the
atmosphere from the ground up. Since heat rises, the
heat will be more evenly distributed, providing a much more
comfortable atmosphere.
Radiant Heaters Tip: Radiant energy is
totally pure radiation and is absorbed by an object
without physical contact with the heat source or by
heating the surrounding air, as is the case with
convective, forced air systems.
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December 13, 2008 00:12 AM  BY STACEY BARRUS
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Recently John Thiffault of Carriage Lane
Homes wasrecognized by the Canada Mortgage
and Housing Corporation for building homes that
maximize health and efficiency.So what is
it about Thiffault’s homes that set them apart
from other homes, and make them safer and more
efficient?Well, Radiant
Heaters are one way.
Health Benefits.
Radiant
heaters improve the air quality, which is important,
especially for anyone who suffers from either
dust allergies or asthma. The heated towel rails
provide ample heat alleviating a breeding ground for
germs to multiply not to mention the added
benefit of not having change filters or clean
heat ducts.
Health experts also claim that
radiant heaters can help in eliminating dust
mites that live in our homes, and since dust mites love
a warm moist environment, towel heaters aid in
maintaining a consistent room temperature and
keep it moisture free. Furthermore, mold and mildew are
also caused from excessive moisture especially in
bathrooms with insufficient
ventilation.By placing radiant heaters or a
radiant heat towel rack in the bathroom you can combat
the spread of germs for only pennies a day.
Efficiency. Radiant
heaters are the most efficient form of heat
available. Significantly less operating time is
required to maintain the desired warmth compared
to furnaces and other methods of heating keeping
operational costs to a minimum. High efficiency boilers
or electric radiant floor systems makes radiant
heat one of your most efficient ways to heat
your home. Coupled with a well insulated home these
systems can quickly warm your home and then shut down or
wait idle for long periods of time before being
called upon by the thermostat to operate.
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December 23, 2008 00:12 AM  BY STACEY BARRUS
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Even though
it’s now Springtime (and forecasted high energy
bills), homebuilders, househunters, and home
renovators alike are looking for energy-efficient
heating options for houses. In fact, as builders
and homeowners look for new ways to add value to homes
in a weak housing market, they often look for upgrades
that will add value and efficiency to their homes,
which will help them sell. We say they need look no
further than radiant heaters for their ideal home
heating solution.
In a nutshell, radiant
heaters are the most efficient form of heat available in
today’s market. Significantly less operating
time is required to attain and maintain the desired
warmth compared to furnaces and other, traditional
methods of heating, which keeps operational costs to a minimum.
High efficiency boilers or electric radiant
floor systems makes radiant heat one of your most
efficient ways to heat your home. Combined with a
well-insulated home, these radiant heater systems can
quickly warm your home and then shut down or wait idle
for long periods of time before being called upon by
the thermostat to operate.
Radiant Heaters
Tip: Being more environmentally friendly
doesn’t have to involve major renovations. Many
people waste a lot of energy by not sealing cracks, doors
and windows. Checking to make sure a home’s
insulation is in good shape and replacing it if
it’s not is another good surefire way to stop,
prevent, and reverse energy waste.
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November 03, 2008 00:11 AM  BY RILEY PETERSON
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Danfoss offers a
myriad of cables for all kinds of projects, but figuring
out the differences can be pretty tricky. I won’t go
into technical details here, rather go over some basic
differences that will help you choose which cable to
use for which project.
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Danfoss LX Cable
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Interior Cable, best for
tile, marble, and slate flooring |
A thin 3/16-inch diameter
electric radiant heating cable made
specifically for tile installations. Because of the
thinness of the cable, it can go directly
into the tile thin-set (thin-set must not
be more than ¼” thick or else it will
crack the tile). |
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Danfoss TX Cable
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Interior Cable, tile, marble,
hardwood, slate |
A thicker ¼-inch
diameter radiant heating cable, made to be installed
directly into concrete slab. The thickness of the
cable makes it more durable to withstand
heavier concrete pours. |
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Danfoss GX Cable
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Outdoor Cable, concrete,
asphalt, brick pavers |
A thick ¼-inch diameter
radiant heating cable, made for use in
outdoor driveway, walkway, and sidewalk snow
melting. Heavy cable built to withstand
concrete pours and hot asphalt. |
All of the
Danfoss products give you the option of choosing between
individual cable in lengths (it comes on a roll) or in
woven mats, which has the cable rows pre-spaced and
makes installation much quicker and easier. The only
difficulty with the radiant mats is that it works best
with rectangular areas; however, the mat can be cut to
accommodate corners and custom layouts. (Just don't
cut the heat cable!) If you have a
complicated, odd shaped area to heat, you may
be better off with installing the individual
heating cable.
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November 29, 2008 00:11 AM  BY STACEY BARRUS
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With the current housing market being so
unpredictable, we’re seeing an increasing
number of homeowners are opting to stay put in their
homes, rather than buy a new home. They find
that one way to make their current home a better
fit for them is to remodel the kitchen or
bathroom, or upgrade the home’s heating systems.
While there isn’t a single heating
system out there that is an ideal fit for every
project, there is an ideal system for every
project. Warmzone.com can provide you with the
heating
systems you desire, as well as consult with you on
which systems would be the best fit for your
project.
Hydronic under floor heating
systems are some of the most popular forms of
radiant heat. In the most recent hydronic
heating systems, PEX radiant tubing has been
installed in a concrete mass called Gypsum Concrete or
“Gypcrete.” This method of heating
system installation works very well in most
applications, but there have been developments
in the installation process of hydronic under
floor heating that make it easier to install for certain
situations. This new development is known as a
low-mass or modular board underlayment system.
Rather than embedding the hot water tubing in
concrete, the PEX tubing is laid in the grooves of
pre-cut wood panels. This new method is ideal
for remodeling and most new construction
projects.
Heating System Tip: The hydronic
under-floor heating
system was first used by the Romans; there have
obviously been significant developments since
that time.
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November 20, 2007 00:11 AM  BY WARMZONE
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Heating systems
for homes and businesses are faced with an increasing
number of options to consider for their primary and
secondary heating. While fire places and coal burning
stoves become less popular, other alternative heating
methods are quickly becoming more common. Traditional
furnaces as a primary heating system are now being
challenged from radiant baseboards, radiant floor
heating systems and even radiant ceiling heaters. Many
of these new heating systems are using electricity
instead of natural gas or heating oil.
Space heaters are
also becoming a less expensive option to upgrading a
poorly insulated home or to add supplemental heat to cold
areas. Thermostone heaters and
heated
towel warmers
from
Climastar
mount to a wall and are a couple of heating
systems that have been commonly used in Europe for decades
are now gaining acceptance in the United States. Many
interior designers are adopting these electric heating
systems as fashionable accessories to bathrooms,
basements and home offices.
A common
challenge to traditional heating systems is the inability to
zone your home for specific areas of the home without
heating the entire home. Electric radiant heating
systems can be easily designed to be independently
controlled by zone which enables a home owner to increase
the temperature for defined areas of the home during
occupancy and conversely allows a particular zone to
remain off during down times. This strategy not only
saves the home owner money, it gives you complete
control to efficiently warm you most used living spaces
without comprising cost.
Choosing the best
heating system for a new home or to add supplemental
heat to a cold spot in your home now takes a little
homework. The radiant consultants and designers at
Warmzone have been trained in all of the latest
heating systems to properly assess your project and
prescribe a system that will add value to your home
inside of your budget. Contact us by phone or email to
learn more about your home heating goals and we will
sell you a heating system that works for you.
About Warmzone
Warmzone provides consumers with
energy-efficient, radiant heating solutions for homes
and businesses. Based in Salt Lake City, Utah,
Warmzone's electricians and radiant heat experts will help
you determine the best radiant heating solution,
ranging from electric heated floors to large
commercial snow and ice melt projects. Send us a plan or
drawings and we'll be happy to provide you with a
FREE estimate
and options for your
roof
heating and ice melting
project.
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December 28, 2008 00:12 AM  BY STACEY BARRUS
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If you are looking to warm your floors with radiant
heaters and are trying to research what kind of
radiant heaters to install you might find
yourself scratching your head at this point.
There are dozens of products available to purchase, and
there are even more companies telling you that
their product is the best.
So which product is the best?
Should you install a hydronic heating system
that pumps hot water through your floors, an electric
cable heating system, or a low-voltage screen
system? The answer lies in the type of project
you are doing. Not every system is ideal for every
project, but there is an ideal system for every project.
Hydronic Heating Systems
Hydronic floor heating is the
oldest and most popular type of radiant floor
heating. These systems are comprised of a boiler or hot
water heater, pumps, manifolds, PEX tubing,
thermostat, and either gypcrete (a concrete-like
material) or wood panels. Hydronic heating is the most
complex of all radiant heat systems. These systems
require trained professionals to design and
perform the installation. Your best economies of
scale are achieved for hydronic systems in large areas
or entire homes because of their expensive
components and operational costs.
Hydronic systems can be installed under any
type of flooring. Most hydronic systems require hot
water tubing to be installed in a 2-4″
bed of light concrete and are best installed during
the initial construction because of its weight load
demands and adjustments to floor height. Recent
low-mass products have been developed to avoid
these challenges by fitting the tubing into pre-cut
wood panels, making hydronic systems more convenient and
possible for most major remodeling projects.
If you want to heat smaller areas
like a bathroom or kitchen, a hydronic floor
heating system may not be the best value for
your project. The complexity and cost of installing the
system, along with the long-term maintenance and
up-keep required, is not worth the small amount
you will save in operational costs.
Electric Cable Heating
Electric cable heating
systems, often called line- or high-voltage
systems, are gaining popularity and are ideal for
heating smaller areas (10-300 square feet) like
bathrooms, kitchens, and sun rooms. These
systems are comprised of a thermostat and a heating
cable. On some systems, the cable will be
shipped to you as a large spool of cable. These
systems are oftentimes less expensive, and give you the
ability to space the cable how you want and
customize a layout that will heat every square
inch of your floor. Other systems have the cable
attached to a plastic mesh or tape to create a
mat to maintain its proper spacing.
Every available cable system is equally effective, so when
determining which system to purchase, you should look
at the warranty of the product, along with the ease of
installation. Some cables must be embedded in a
separate layer of concrete or mortar, whereas other systems
can simply be installed in the thinset. Most cable
systems can only be installed under tile. However, on
others, if the cable is embedded in mortar or concrete,
any flooring can be installed on top of the concrete. When
heating smaller areas, it is nearly impossible to beat
the simplicity and price of an electric cable heating
system.
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October 10, 2008 00:10 AM  BY STACEY BARRUS
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Have you ever
gone on a ski vacation for the weekend and stayed at a
little ski lodge? A lot of the times, they’ll have a
huge fireplace in the main room with smaller bedrooms
up in the loft area or second-story. But the problem
is that when you’re in the main room with the roaring
fire, you’re often overwhelmed by the heat and
retreat to the bedroom, where it’s far
chillier. You see, many vacation or weekend homes
weren’t built with air conditioning ducts with
which to deliver the heat to the different rooms of
the house. However, there is a solution to adding
heating to homes that have not been built for traditional
forced air systems: radiant heaters.
As opposed to warm air systems (such as a forced
air unit heaters), radiant heaters deliver the source
of heat to the floor level, not the ceiling. Radiant
heaters or radiant energy is the oldest form of heating
used to provide comfort and is the basis for all
heating systems.
Additionally, radiant heaters also offer more
comfort than forced air heating by heating the
atmosphere from the ground up. Since heat rises, the
heat will be more evenly distributed, providing a much more
comfortable atmosphere.
Radiant Heaters Tip: Radiant energy is
totally pure radiation and is absorbed by an object
without physical contact with the heat source or by
heating the surrounding air, as is the case with
convective, forced air systems.
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December 19, 2008 00:12 AM  BY STACEY BARRUS
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Sometimes can be
hard to narrow down what kind of radiant
heaters to install. There are dozens of products
available to purchase, and there are even more
companies telling you that their product is the best.
For many homeowners, electric cable heating systems,
often called line- or high-voltage systems, are
gaining popularity and are ideal for heating smaller
areas like bathrooms, kitchens, and sun rooms. These systems
are comprised of a thermostat and a heating cable.
These radiant
heater systems are oftentimes less expensive,
and give the ability to customize a layout that will
heat every square inch of your floor.
Every available radiant heater cable system is
equally effective, so when determining which system to
purchase, you should look at the warranty of the
product, along with the ease of installation. Some cables
must be embedded in a separate layer of concrete or
mortar, whereas other systems can simply be installed
in the thinset. Most radiant heater cable systems can
only be installed under tile. However, on others, if the
cable is embedded in mortar or concrete, any flooring
can be installed on top of the concrete.
Radiant Heaters Tip: When heating smaller
areas, it is nearly impossible to beat the simplicity
and price of an electric cable radiant heating
system.
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