floor heating advice

James Con

Hey all
I have a 13x13 bathroom that is part of my homes new addition. There is 3/4 osb t&g subfloor on the floor now. I just can't figure out what type of heat to put in, Electric or hydronic radiant. I have hydronic baseboard now so the means to heat the pex is there. But is electric better or not. I will be putting ceramic down on the floor. I know it sounds like this belongs in the HVAC forum, but I figure you flooring guys see more of this stuff.

Steven62

Electric radiant floors put out no more than about 50btu/hr heat@ 15 watts (max allowed). This can be enough for primary heating, but since you already have hydronic, I would assume that it would be the logical choice unless there is some good reason why not. Electric is the lowest profile, being around 1/8" thick (Suntouch) and hydronic is substantially thicker.
If your pump and boiler can handle the expansion, and you can live with a couple inches increase in floor height, I would go hydronic. My 2 cents.
If you are not sure of the capabilities of your boiler and pump, write the numbers down and call Watts Radiant for some good tech info.
800-276-2419

Clutchcargo

The temperature that hydronic baseboard runs is too hot for radiant floor. The hottest water temp for radiant floor can be for a comfortable floor is 120-130F which will heat the floor to about 80-85F. Baseboard heat runs between 150-180F. Ouch, hot, hot, hot.

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pcampbell

In general I am very ANTI-electric heat (cost here is 0.15 KW/H), but want to really change the feel of our bathroom.

We currently have force hot air through the ceiling. It does an OK job, but I want to run a high efficiency direct vented space heater to space heat the house. This would be a single unit that would give us a very warm living room, slightly colder kitchen, 2 bedrooms and bathroom the coldest. Our basement is not heated either, so the floor of the bathroom is especially cold.
Floor area is 24 sq ft. I was thinking a combination of heated toilet seat for my wife (not kidding!) and electric radiant heat would make a great difference. I see the NuHeat 6x4 matts are 288 watts. Do you normally set this on a thermostat or just turn it on when you enter the bathroom?? I could see cranking it up before wife gets up, then off when she leaves for work. Etc. Even if we ran the thing 24x7 it'd be ~$30/month. My wife's biggest heating complaint is a cold bathroom and cold toilet seat!

Is NuHeat a good brand and can we tile on top of that?

billie_t

you can install radiant heat under the floor if you have access with pex tubing and aluminum fins stapled to the floor..you can use a mixing valve to lower the water temp from your normal boiler water and use a zone valve and thermostat to control the room temp