#Radiant floor heating systems canada install

Heated floors can be done with electric wires, hydronic tubes, but there is also one company that installs air-heated tubes in slab on grade foundations, powered either by electricity or gas. If you are planning on doing it yourself, watch some DIY videos and see which you find to be easier, here is our video of a hydronic tube installation, it is really quite easy but gets a little more complicated hooking up a manifold and boiler.

#Radiant floor heating systems canada install

An Ontario resident installing a radiant floor would probably choose hydronic with a gas boiler.Īs for install cost, you may find electric wire systems to be a bit cheaper, but get a quote for each to be sure. Quebec electricity rates are among the lowest, while Ontario rates are among the highest, for that reason very few people are currently installing electric heat sources in Ontario, but it is the most common heat source in Quebec. Keep in mind that a boiler for a hydronic floor can be powered by either electricity or gas, so any difference in operational cost would be determined by your local gas and electricity rates. Any form of electric resistance heat generation (heated floors, furnaces, hair dryers, kettles, baseboard heaters etc.) would cost the same on a ‘BTU per watt’ scale. Good question, but a tough one, so I’ll start with the easy part first - When powered by electricity there would be virtually no difference in operational cost between those two systems. A bit of real estate is required in the basement as well for a storage tank. It is a simple matter of running a normal 4 inch plumbing pipe from your attic to your utility room.īy doing so, installing solar panels (thermal or photovoltaic) is a simple matter of fishing wires or tubes through the pipe rather than an expensive remodelling project involving opening walls. New homes can be made 'solar ready' which is very inexpensive, adds value for resale, and is worth LEED points. Solar water heating is much less expensive than solar power generation (photovoltaic). One advantage to hydronic heating systems is the ability to convert to thermal solar in the future. Worth noting that noisy baseboard heaters can be fixed, whether electric or water heated, so don't let this irritating trait put you off them. So for comparison shopping, efficiency of heat generation isn't as much an issue as installation cost and the lifespan of mechanical equipment. Hydronic radiators and baseboard heaters will transfer heat in the same way as electric resistant heat sources. Combination solar water heater and boiler.Heating the liquid in a hydronic system can be achieved in many ways: Though different from electric resistance heating, hydronic systems are ultimately still using electricity to generate heat, so all the same environmental realities apply. Similar to electric baseboards, hydronic heating systems facilitate zone heating as you can keep different rooms at different temperatures.