The most cost effective system for medium to larger homes is hydronic since the amount of power it would take to heat a whole home with electric would be substantial.
Hydronic radiant floor heating in concrete slab.
This is the best choice for new construction and areas receiving new slabs.
Home products hydronic systems concrete.
Embedding your radiant heating system into a concrete slab is one of the most cost effective ways to install it and most energy efficient being that concrete is a great thermal mass.
Due to it s density and low conductivity concrete retains heat very well.
Sometimes the tubing and reinforcing mesh it is attached to gets lifted into the thickness of the slab as the concrete is placed.
Other times the masons trample over the tubing and mesh as if it is not even there.
The system works via pex pipe a small pump a water heater and a thermostat.
Another option for radiant floor heating that is energy efficient are systems that circulate hot water through small tubes under the floor.
Anyone who has installed hydronic floor heating has likely watched as his or her neatly placed tubing circuits get buried in concrete.
This is about installing hydronic radiant floor heating in a slab floor system.
There s two basic types of concrete floor heating hydronic and electric.
For concrete floor radiant heating systems the warm water tubing or electric heating elements can either be embedded within the slab on grade anywhere from the bottom of the slab to within 2 inches of the surface depending on the design and installation technique or fastened to the top of a concrete subfloor and then covered with an overlay.