Monolithic Domes and Radiant Floor Heat
By mati. Filed in Monolithic Dome Planning Tips |Tags: Construction of a Monolithic Dome, heating systems, Monolithic Dome, monolithic domes, radiant floor heat
Radiant floor heat seems to have become a fad that is here to stay. In my opinion, radiant floor heat is like the emperor’s new clothes, basically useless. Why? For many different reasons:
1) Radiant floor heat is 40% less efficient than for example hot water radiators. It takes enormous amounts of hot water to heat a huge slab, and the boiler will run for maybe 2-3 hours to fully charge it with heat.
2) Radiant floor heat has lag time. If you feel cold, it can take several hours before the temperature in the room gets up to a comfortable level.
3) Huge heating bills every month.
4) You have to put up with hard, uncomfortable floors.
5) If you decide to cover the floors with carpets and rugs, you get even less heat out of the floor and have to pay even higher bills.
The only way radiant floor heat makes sense, is if you can hook it up to a solar water collector with a small circulating pump, or you can hook it up to a system that is heated by a wood stove. Otherwise, if you use propane to heat your floors, you just need to know that it is a highly inefficient and expensive way to heat your dome, and that there are better alternatives out there, such as hot water radiators.
More about that tomorrow.
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