In Floor heating

[jdobbs]

Building a house in the fall and we would like to go with in floor heating.

Does anyone out there have this? Any comments good and bad?

We are leaning towards using hoses along the joists heated by a boiled instead of electic wiring directly under the floor.

Thanks

[Rickster]

I helped build a home a few years back and the in-floor heating we installed consisted or 'panels' placed under the floor between the floor joists and wired to thermastats. Never heard of running 'hoses' under the floor ? Hope you have some feedback on the 'hoses' because in time the 'hoses may leak due to vibrations that any house goes thru in time.Depending how they are held in place I suppose !?! -Rick.

[jdobbs]

Thanks Rick.

The hoses are a new thing. We will have a sub-basement (crawl space) so i think it would be easier to replace hoses under the house down the road than to rip up the hardwood or the ceramic tile that will be in the kitchen. Plus this would be heated by water instead of electic which from what I've read is more efficient? Anyone confirm or deny.

[eugeneb]

the hose is of a special plastic and is layed between floor joists or incased in concrete then hot water runs through it. it's another form of radiant heat

[oldnugly]

i know of a few places with hot water in floor radiant heat. all of them are of the concrete slab type. and i think that is the way to go. once heated the mass will hold the heat for some time. and i know one guy who was stupid enough not to put anti freeze in his pipes.....toast. i have seen this done with electric boiler, wood fired boiler, used oil and solar. we have it were i work and it is sooooo nice. if you could use a slab i would highly recommend it. i cant see pipes along the joists working as well. i think you need the mass. the pipes alone would cool to quickly. even more so in a long run. have you seen this done before? if so what info do you have on it so far? people have used hot water radiators for ages but they have gone the way of the dodo. heating and cooling can be noisy sometimes.

[puppyluv]

my suggestion would to be to call emco 635-1610 or eddys and ask them what their plumbing/heating contractors suggest.
it is an expensive way to go if you have a crawlspace. Also some flooring can not be used over that.