Comments for Furnace Also Required?

Mar 20, 2008
Rating

Furnace required? - it depends. NEW
by: Ed

Supplemental heat is sometimes needed if the radiant heat is not adequate to heat your home on the colder days.

The only way of knowing this is to have what is called Manual J heat loss/load analysis.

This shows how much heat will be needed to maintain comfortable levels in your home.

Once the heat loss is known (on a room by room basis) you have to divide the floor area (that is served by the radiant heat) into the heat loss.

This will give you the BTU's per square foot of heated floor area.

There are charts from the radiant heat manufacturers that show what the heat output per square foot is.

It should be at least equal to the BTU's per square foot heat loss that was calculated.

If not, you would need supplemental heat.

I'm assuming you are using a boiler for the radiant heat.

If so, you should use what's called a hydro-air approach rather than a warm air furnace.

Here is a link for detailed information about this type of system:

http://www.heating-and-air-conditioning-guide.com/support-files/hydro-air.pdf

If you haven't already done so you should get our FREE radiant heat guide at http://www.heating-and-air-conditioning-guide.com/radiant-floor-heat.html

Just fill out the form at the bottom of THAT page.

Hope this was helpful.

Ed