Under Floor Hydronic Heating: Money Saver and Comfort?

[heaterman]

A quote from "the Bean".

"I say, if building codes dropped the reference to controlling air temperatures and switched the requirements to controlling mean radiant temperature, building performance specifications would have to change overnight.
Bad buildings have low MRT’s in winter and high MRT’s in summer; this contributes to large differences in the vertical air temperature; creates excessive drafts and increased radiant asymmetry. Bad buildings also have uncomfortable floor temperatures and are challenged to maintain reasonable levels of humidity." Bean, R., The Big Picture, Beyond the Benchmarks: Better Buildings, August 2011

He is dead on. If you can hit a MRT of 65-68* you will be fully as comfortable there, probably more so, as in a house with a MRT in the 50's and an air temp of 72+.

 

[ihookem]

Hey Stihlhead, Aren't you Windthrown on another sight????? Gotta be you. Anyway I have hydronic in my living room and Hx in the rest of the house. I have some questions about this cause most is over my head. Does hydronic use less energy by 30%? Also, How can I find out how to design a hydronic system? Is there anywhere on the net I can design a system for my house. I ask cause my plumbers fried said he would do it but he charges 90 bucks an hour. Not exactly bad for a guy who know what he is doing but he is 1 hour each way. How do you all figure out the pump sizes, mixing valves, ect.??