In-floor radiant heating has been in use for thousands of years, though advances in the technology in recent decades have now made it an affordable, reliable, efficient, comfortable, and high quality alternative to traditional forced air HVAC systems.

Comfort:
The primary benefit of an in-floor heating system is the increase in comfort over traditional forced air heating systems. Floor surfaces (and surfaces of objects in the room) remain warm to the touch. An overall warm ambient temperature creates the feeling of a comfortable warm summer day in the dead of winter. With warm floors you no longer need slippers to keep your toes from getting cold.

Air quality:
Since heat is generated within the floor in a radiant system, conditions are extremely unfavorable to molds, viruses, dust mites, and other bacteria. Combined with the fact that dirty and/or dusty air is not being circulated around a home as it often is with forced air, a radiant in-floor heating system is the most hypo-allergenic heating system available for your home or building. There is a growing consensus in the medical community that in-floor heating has greatly reduced allergens and irritants present when compared with other heating systems.

Efficiency & Sustainability:
When designed properly, an in-floor heating system can heat a building much more efficiently than other forms of HVAC. Modern natural gas and propane boilers can operate at upwards of 96% efficiency, and their electric counterparts operate at still higher efficiencies. In addition to being sustainable and renewable, heat source solutions such as solar hot water collectors and geothermal heat pumps can further reduce the operating costs of a radiant system.

Safety:
The relatively low temperature of surfaces in an in-floor heating system as compared with forced air, eliminate the risk of burns sometimes present in other heating systems. In-floor heating installed under baths, showers, and garage slabs helps those areas to dry more quickly, reducing the risk of slippery floors. In addition, heat registers are eliminated for a cleaner look.

Low maintenance:
If properly installed, the maintenance of a hydronic in-floor radiant heating system is minimal compared with other types of heating systems.

Flexibility of installations:
Radiant heating can be installed in numerous different ways, making it a viable possibility in both new construction and retrofit applications. Tubing can be embedded in a concrete slab, stapled down to a subfloor with a lightweight topping pour, installed over the subfloor with a system of engineered plywood and heat transfer plates (such as the RHT Floor Panel System), or stapled up between joists below the subfloor with heat transfer plates. When these installations aren't an option, radiant heating can be installed in walls and even ceilings. For information about determining the size and spacing of PEX tubing in your project, see our article on tube sizing and spacing here: PEX Tube Spacing and Sizing