Radiant Floor Heating ~ Western Suffolk

[monty1970]

Anyone know anything about the uponor radiant floor system? or synergy baseboards? Plumber telling me the synergy baseboards 3 times price of regular baseboard?

[sci]

I installed radiant heat in my addition about 8 years ago. I installed 3/4 thick 3 1/4 wide solid hardwood flooring over that. I did put down sleepers to raise the floor about 1 inch, installed the tubing between the sleepers and installed concrete between the sleepers. The wood flooring was nailed down to the sleepers. The flooring is long lengths of Ipe. The floor is still beautiful with no issues at all. This is a high mass system.
I have installed a low mass system for a friend of mine on the first level of his house. It consisted of a grooved plywood with aluminum heat transfer plates laminated onto it. He installed random length oak flooring on to it. He has had no problems and it has been about 5 years.
I have also installed electric matts in a few small bathrooms. Easy enough to install but electric here is not cheap so if its a large area I would shy away from electric.
The system has to be designed with wood floors in mind. What is very important is the water temp circulated in the tubing. This is directly related to the heat loss of the room and the spacing of the tubing. Controlling the heat is also very important. Better systems have an outdoor reset incorporated into them and floor sensors. The simple on and off thermostat will do but you might experience over shooting of temps and slow starts when things start to cool off.

Done right radiant heat is great and very affordable