Concrete Floor Heating And Cooling

Hydronic floor heating systems use hot water pumped through plastic tubing laid out in a serpentine pattern to heat the floor.

Concrete floor heating and cooling.

Materials with high thermal resistance such as carpet cork or timber should never be laid over concrete floors that are to provide thermal mass. This creates a hollow concrete floor providing both radiant and forced air heating and cooling with the ability to locate registers anywhere in the floor without conflict or coordination. Floor temp for 13 btu hr ft2. Warm water systems run hot water through pipes to create heat whereas electric underfloor heating heats wiring beneath the floor to generate heat.

Typically radiant heating systems warm floors to temperatures of 75 to 80 degrees f. As warm water circulates through the tubing or as electricity warms the heating elements the concrete flooring turns into an efficient inconspicuous radiator. Below suggests that the floor surface temp might be 66f with a supply temp of 55 58f. Like sand concrete is an ideal carrier of radiant heat because of its inherent thermal mass.

In arid climates the cool floor can be used to supplement or replace standardducted air systems. Radiant cooling from a slab can be delivered to a space from the floor or ceiling. In the 1930s architect frank lloyd wright piped hot water through the concrete floors of many of his structures. There are two types of radiant floor heating electric and water based systems.

Although the concrete floor is pressurized with air the entire floor acts like a giant duct so air is delivered to the registers at a low velocity. Thousands of tract homes built at levittown on long island and in the san francisco bay area during the 1950s also used a system that circulated heated water through steel. The floor temperature is held at 68of 20oc by using either a small cooling machine chiller connected to the floor tubing or thesteady 55of 13oc temperature of the ground by means of an earthloop. This gives an idea of what outdoor dew points are condensation safe without dehumidification.

Heretofore in building constructions employing reinforced concrete slabs as structural units for the floors and the like in order to provide the necessary services for the building such as electric lighting telephones radio inter communications radiant heating and cooling air conditioning and soundproofing and the like many expedients have been followed. Suspended concrete upper floors in two storey construction may be used effectively as thermal mass. Heating concrete floors hydronically isn t a new technology. They re ideal for whole house heating but professionals suggest installing them during the home s construction because they can be difficult to retrofit if the home isn t already outfitted with the proper equipment.