subject: A Look At The Origin And Benefits Of In Floor Heating [print this page] If you've ever attempted having a discussion about in floor heating with people, you'll no doubt have received some really strange looks? The reason for this being, there are countless people who have never imagined they could heat their homes in such a manner. On the other end of the scale, you get those who are familiar with the concept, but they believe it's very costly, and therefore out of reach for most home owners.
Even though many people aren't aware of it, people have used this type of heating technique for hundreds and hundreds of years already. For example, many of the bath houses in ancient Rome were heated in this manner. Another example would be Korea, where this type of heating was routinely used for heating traditional homes, and even royal palaces. Nowadays, in floor heating has become popular in many countries, and the trend certainly looks set to continue.
Most conventional heating systems work by increasing the temperature of the air in a room, whereas in floor heating warms the room itself, including everything in the room. For this reason, it's often referred to as radiant heating.
A lot of home owners think that you can only benefit from radiant heating if you have the system installed during the building phase of a home. While this might have been the case in the past, its certainly not the case nowadays. If the original design of your new home includes in floor heating, it will in most case be installed underneath the floor. If on the other hand you want to have this sort of heating installed in an older property, you can get various types of flooring made specifically for this purpose.
When it comes to in floor systems, there are different types - hydronic floor heating heating, electric heating, and air based heating. With electric systems, therell a network of wires running either below the floor or within the floor. Generally speaking, electric systems work along the same lines as a regular toaster.
If opting for an air based system, you'll have an elaborate network of tubes beneath your floors through which hot air can be pumped.Hydronic systems on the other hand rely on the use of hot water, Water is heated and fed through a network of pipes, giving off heat as it progress from the starting point to the end point.
By the time the water has finished circulating, most of its heat will have been lost, so its then reheated, and redistributed. Unfortunately, these systems took far longer than they should have to catch on, simply because of the average person's affinity towards carpets. Most people would choose carpets in the past in order to help insulate their homes, but even if you do want to keep your carpets, you can still reap the benefits of these amazing radiant heat systems.
Compared to conventional heating systems, in floor heating wins hands down in terms of cost effectiveness. Finally, in floor systems don't carry half as much risk in terms of fires when compared to regular heaters.
