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[mlappin]

Gonna remodel the bathroom again one of these days, doesn't need a lot of work, need to strip the floor and get cement board down like it should of had in the first place, gonna move the door far as I can to the west so I can get a wider tub in, then gonna move the east window north at least 14 inches so I can get a long tub in, plan on a 34x72 whirl pool tub in, then install ceramic tile with radiant heat.

Made the comment in a off hand way that if we lost the carpeting in the last two rooms downstairs that need remodeled we could go with radiant heat on the first floor and dedicate the furnace/heat exchanger for the upstairs, could just about have it on a separate thermostat upstairs in the winter. I mentioned this a few weeks ago the to the wife and she never commented much on it.

Then last night out of the blue she says "thats a good ideal", of course no preamble so I had to ask what? She likes the ideal of losing all the carpet as it would be easier to clean.

The big question is this, how long does it take for radiant heat to raise the temp? We keep the house at 72 during the day and 67 at night as we both like it cool when sleeping, how long would it take in a average insulted home to raise the temp 5 degrees with radiant? Depending on outdoor temps  and wind it takes my current setup anywhere from a little less than 1 1/2 hours to 2 1/2 hours.

[AirForcePOL]

I don't have much experience with radiant.  I would think the recovery time would be a lot longer than with forced air.  I could be way off but that's just my assumption.  I just added a 500 sq ft master bedroom to our place last fall.  It has a loft in it and the ceiling is all open and very tall.  I'm gussing from the floor to the highest point in the ceiling it's probably 22 ft high.  It's hard as hell to keep warm!  I was thinking about putting radiant in the room to help keep it warmer.  All of the hot air just get's stuck in the top and I don't have a fan up there to push it back down. 

[hoardac]

I have radiant and it takes quite awhile to warm it up or cool it down but it is the best heat out there. I have had forced air, radiators and woodstoves. It usually takes us about 4-6 hours to bring it up 5 degrees depending on the outside conditions.

[hockeyguy]

We have radiant under hardwood in parts of our house on it's own zone. Best advice I can give is set it and forget it. Buy a good Uponor tstat and leave at one temp.

[caper]

hey there, I have in floor in my basement and garage, I have a love hate relationship with it, my cast rads heat up fast and the room is warm right away, however my in floors call for heat for hours at time, mine you the rooms are warm and the temps are fine, cons are when the rooms don't call for heat for a day or so, it takes sometimes 10 hrs or so to get that hot water thru the loops , and one more thing is that once the loops finally do fill up with hot water, man o man does the temps rise, spring is brutal, too hot....I find I gotta play with the mixn valves sometimes too, just my two cents bro....its awesome under tile tho

[atvalaska]

reply to above ...u need different/ the right t-stats imo ....... don't worry about how long it take to raise the temp 5 degs .....like hockeyguy saz get the uponor/telmar stuff ,an run with it, a outdoor reset is your friend    > once the temp is where u want it  will work find  unless of course  if u have a bathroom door the goes right outside     . imo  anyway

[fireman69lfd]

We have radiant on first floor, love it. But you best bet is to find what is comfortable as was said earlier an leave it. Depending on how it is installed you should be able to regulate different areas on same zone. I paid to have mine installed, but I did ask a lot of questions. Sure is nice on the feet !

[Cabo]

Just my $.02 worth as a builder.  If you are going to turn the thermostat up and down then radiant isn't for you.  I can't tell you how many times I get calls from people with 2nd homes that they are cold all weekend.  We explain to people with radiant heat to set the thermo and LEAVE it.  You ask them what it was set at when they arrive on Fri. night and they say "62.  We figured it wasn't worth wasting the oil when we're not here during the week".  Well, to bring a house from 62 to 68 takes quite a while and these are 5 Star Energy Homes so the efficiency is quite good.  You're trying to bring everything up to temp. (walls, flooring, appliances, counters, masonry, the list goes on and on).  Another consideration with radiant is how much solar gain you may have as this can issues especially during the fringe seasons.  Lots of things to look at before going radiant in my opinion.

[mlappin]

Not a whole lot of solar gain in the winter, have a 12 foot deep porch on the south side of the house, do get some natural light of course but nothing like before the porch went on, on the flip side makes it MUCH easier to cool in the summer.

So possibly my best bet would be to just install a small loop in the bathroom and leave that at 72 and keep the rest of the house on forced air? Like I said once, me and the wife both like a cool room to sleep in. We could leave the bedroom door shut most of the time but then her pets would be scratching to get in most likely, gonna get ugly if one of them scratches up the new oak door I installed.

[RSI]

If you already have forced air, why not just leave it and add the radiant? Use the forced air to raise the temp quick and let the radiant hold it there.

It is likely you won't want the temperature set as high with radiant anyway so you might not even end up using it much.

[atvalaska]

I feel like stirring the pot ...tell your wife that a hot water  heated towel rack is a great idea .....it WILL NEVER end ...them things cost like 500 bucks  ...before u install !

[mlappin]

I feel like stirring the pot ...tell your wife that a hot water  heated towel rack is a great idea .....it WILL NEVER end ...them things cost like 500 bucks  ...before u install !

I used to like you, used to...

[mlappin]

If you already have forced air, why not just leave it and add the radiant? Use the forced air to raise the temp quick and let the radiant hold it there.

It is likely you won't want the temperature set as high with radiant anyway so you might not even end up using it much.

I could, but wouldn't be getting much heat upstairs then.

One of these years I swear I'm going to split the system, separate heat and A/C for each level. Never seems like enough heat upstairs in the winter and definitely not enough A/C.