Can A Water Heater Be Used For Radiant Floor Heat

Water heaters are good for radiant floor heating because they maintain a low temperature.

Can a water heater be used for radiant floor heat.

The system designer may have to increase the size of the radiators to account for the lower water temperature. Every heating unit that radiant floor company recommends and offers is designed rated for space heating. Certainly cost is important but there are many other important factors as well. You really only need a maximum of 120 f for your floor.

However once installed they are exponentially cheaper to operate than electric heaters and as such after the second year recover their initial cost. That temperature is safe and comfortable as well as being efficient. This is called a dual purpose system. Radiant floor company pioneered the use of on demand tank less water heaters for radiant floor heating nearly 20 years ago when many in the heating industry believed that on demand water heaters would never work for radiant heat we disagreed.

Water heaters on the other hand are perfectly happy being fed 55 f supply water and chugging along at 110 f to 140 f perfect for radiant floors and more than adequate for many baseboard and panel radiator applications. Dual purpose systems a dual purpose system relies on only one water heater to supply both the hot water requirements for the home and the warm water needed for the radiant floor heat. A hot water heater saves money when used in this way. The saving are extraordinary.

For most residential applications you can use the same hot water heater to heat water for the radiant heat system and for domestic drinking water showers cleaning etc use. You will need to be aware of the incoming groundwater temperature as cold water will drop the overall water temperature. Since most conventional boilers are designed to produce super hot water 185 degrees radiant floor company builds what we call split manifolds for multiple zone closed systems that use radiant floor heat in combination with standard baseboard radiators fan coils cast iron radiators or any other hydronic heating device that requires super hot temperatures. Use a water heater to make radiant floor heat instead of a boiler many people use a water heater instead of a boiler for radiant floor heat because it costs less.

Water based radiant floor heaters are expensive to connect since they require a water source a boiler and pump unit. Water heated by the tankless heater flows directly through the floor tubing while a heat exchanger provides heat for the dhw supply. We ve been doing this longer than anyone with great success.