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[justinb]

Now that I have 1 year with my OWB under my belt, I'm thinking of adding to my usage.  Currently, my incoming line runs to DHW and then to forced air furnace.  My house is fairly new,  and had them install lines in the basement floor for future heating.  The basement has an exposure( if that matters) and is unfinished.  The duct work in the basement is always closed and it is still plenty warm.   The stair case from the main floor to the basement is open and the subfloor is not insulated.  My question is: Is it going to help me out from an efficiency level to hook up my floor heat in the basement?   Or is it better to wait until I finish the basement and just enjoy the warmth on my feet then?  If you feel that a lot of heat from the basement floor would rise to my main floor and be more efficient than solely running the forced air furnace, then I feel it would be worth it.

[hoardac]

I am not sure about efficiency but I heat my basement floor just because I can and I love it. The kids are all gone so there is no real need to heat it but we find warm floors awesome. Hooking it up and having it ready is just one step done that you will have to do later. I do know that the basement will keep the house warm even with the boiler off for a day at least. There is a lot of thermal storage in the concrete. If you find it does not serve your purposes now after a trail run you can always shut it off. But make sure you fill it with antifreeze.

[cartod]

Don't hook it up, I come to you with first hand experience.  While you will have a nice warm basement floor radiant heat does not rise, hot AIR does.  You will increase the amount of wood you burn noticeably with no transfer or minimal transfer to your upstairs.   The closer you get to a radiant floor the warmer it is so in order to have a 70 degree room (at 5'-6'), your floor temp will be around 75 degrees.  Your ceiling temp will be even lower, because again radiant heat does Not rise! 

Maybe someday I will fire my floor back up just to circulate the water but until I finish my basement it stays off.

[willieG]

wouldn't hot air be the opposite? (just wondering) to be 70 degrees at 5'6 your ceiling would be much hotter and your floor much cooler?
if the floor is warmer than the ceiling I would think you would feel warmer and may get by with a cooler room temp?
just throwing it out there for professional oppinions??

Don't hook it up, I come to you with first hand experience.  While you will have a nice warm basement floor radiant heat does not rise, hot AIR does.  You will increase the amount of wood you burn noticeably with no transfer or minimal transfer to your upstairs.   The closer you get to a radiant floor the warmer it is so in order to have a 70 degree room (at 5'-6'), your floor temp will be around 75 degrees.  Your ceiling temp will be even lower, because again radiant heat does Not rise! 

Maybe someday I will fire my floor back up just to circulate the water but until I finish my basement it stays off.

[mlappin]

I’ve heard the same about heated floors in shops, nice and toasty if your working at floor level or under something, but can be cold up by the ceiling if your on top of a combine or something working. Would certainly think the floor should heat the air and the warm air should rise and eventually warm it up by the ceiling.

[oaky]

If this is the case, then means this means in floor heating would be more effeceint for that room. You,re heating only the area, within 6 feet from the floor.. it becomes a disadvantage if it,s important if you would like to heat the next floor level, or else move the heated air with a ceiling fan. Just curious.

[willieG]

I never noticed a big difference in wood consumption but I do know I keep the thermostat at 68 on the wall and upstairs it is at 71, when my wife comes down here she tells me the room is hot?

 I have had someone in the business tell me radiant heat moves in all directions towards cold..so i guess if your slab is well insulated it should reflect most of that heat back into the room. What i was told by this man was that your slab should have 2 inch min underit and also up the inside wall to where your studs start (then of course the wall would be insulated as well) this was for a slab in a basement. if on grade then insulating the outer walls would be different

[justinb]

This is all good info.  I wasn't planning on filling the lines with antifreeze??  Is this necessary.  I have radiant in my garage(also not hooked up) that I was going to fill with antifreeze, but not the basement.

[atvalaska]

Heat goes all-ways ...did I read rite that u have no insulation under the slab?...that's to bad ...turn the heat on/fill her up ,u can shut it down like the others have said, u will luv it . I had r heat in my last place and then stant fin on the 2up stairs floors it worked great ...just like I had the whole house sitting on the back bunker/ hot plate. It does rise as all heat rises..them shimmers rising off the black top hwy  ...they are there...and its rising ain't it !

[hoardac]

This is all good info.  I wasn't planning on filling the lines with antifreeze??  Is this necessary.  I have radiant in my garage(also not hooked up) that I was going to fill with antifreeze, but not the basement.

If you ever have to leave for the winter and have the furnace quit or any scenario that could allow the floor to freeze it can bust your concrete all to hell, for the price of a few buckets 60 bucks each it eliminates that. I have mine a 50/50 mix so burst protection to -40. You could dilute it even more if you live in a warmer climate. That is as cold as I have ever seen it here and only for a few nights.

[willieG]

my basement floor is about 6 feet below grade, I don't think I would worry about it freezing? I have a loop in my garage that I made a closed loop and use a home made water to water heat exchanger to heat it, and I do have antifreeze in the closed loop, this allows me to shut it off when I am not going to be out there and then turn it on the night before I plan on working in it.

[coolidge]

I have radiant in my shop floor, my laser thermometer says its 6 degrees colder at the peak 20 ft from the floor.

[cartod]

I’ve heard the same about heated floors in shops, nice and toasty if your working at floor level or under something, but can be cold up by the ceiling if your on top of a combine or something working. Would certainly think the floor should heat the air and the warm air should rise and eventually warm it up by the ceiling.

Bingo. If you are trying to heat the second floor with radiant heat  from the 1st floor it becomes inefficiant.   My slab is insulated underneath and once warm will stay that way for days.   I took the basement floor up to 85 degrees last year with minimal transfer to the upstairs.  My mistake was not putting radiant heat under the main floor when I built the house.  I'm going to go back and do underneath the master bathroom floor. 

[cartod]

This is all good info.  I wasn't planning on filling the lines with antifreeze??  Is this necessary.  I have radiant in my garage(also not hooked up) that I was going to fill with antifreeze, but not the basement.

I don't even think it necessary to do the garage if it is attached.  I guess it depends on what part of the country you are in. 

[caper]

just keep it simple, hook it up and heat your home, that's why we are all burning wood, good cheap heat, and its good for your home to keep everything heated, some times too many calculations,charts,etc....just hook the floor up and in my opinion I wouldnt add any antifreeze.....I also have a attached heated garage, no antifreeze, its no issue......just my two cents