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December 18, 2008 00:12 AM  BY STACEY BARRUS
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The home improvement world has seen many recent
developments in heating, making hydronic systems
more convenient and possible radiant
heater solutions for major home remodeling projects.
Today we’re going to discuss one form of
radiant
heaters: hydronic floor heating.
Hydronic floor heating is the
oldest and most popular type of radiant
floor heating. These systems are comprised of a
boiler or hot water heater, pumps, manifolds,
PEX tubing, thermostat, and either gypcrete (a
concrete-like material) or wood panels. Hydronic heating
is the most complex of all radiant heat systems.
These systems require trained professionals to
design and perform the installation. Your best
economies of scale are achieved for hydronic systems in
large areas or entire homes because of their
expensive components and operational costs.
Hydronic systems can be installed under any type of
flooring.
Most hydronic systems require
hot water tubing to be installed in a
2-4″ bed of light concrete and are best installed
during the initial construction because of its
weight load demands and adjustments to floor
height.
If you’re wanting to
heat smaller areas such as a bathroom or kitchen,
a hydronic floor radiant
heating system may not be the best value for your
project. The complexity and cost of installing
the system, along with the long-term maintenance
and up-keep required, might not be worth the small
amount you will save in operational costs.
Radiant Heaters Tip:
Radiant
heaters for your home or business come in a variety
of forms – all efficient and providing
reliable, cozy warmth
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December 23, 2008 00:12 AM  BY STACEY BARRUS
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For homeowners or
renovators, it’s worth taking a look at several kinds
of radiant heaters for residences or
businesses. Today we’ll discuss the electric
cable heating system kind of radiant heaters.
Electric cable heating systems, often called
line- or high-voltage systems, are gaining popularity
and are ideal for heating smaller areas like
bathrooms, kitchens, and sun rooms. These systems are
comprised of a thermostat and a heating cable. On some
radiant
heater systems, the cable will be shipped to
you as a large spool of cable. These systems are
oftentimes less expensive, and give you the ability to
space the cable how you want and customize a layout that
will heat every square inch of your floor. Other
systems have the cable attached to a plastic mesh or
tape to create a mat to maintain its proper spacing.
Every available radiant heater cable system is
equally effective, so when determining which system to
purchase, you should look at the warranty of the
product, along with the ease of installation. Some cables
must be embedded in a separate layer of concrete or
mortar, whereas other systems can simply be installed
in the thinset.
Most cable systems can only be installed under
tile; on others, if the cable is embedded in mortar or
concrete, any flooring can be installed on top of the concrete.
Radiant Heaters
Tip: When heating smaller areas with a radiant
heater, it is nearly impossible to beat the simplicity
and price of an electric cable heating system.
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December 03, 2008 00:12 AM  BY STACEY BARRUS
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When replacing a
home heating system, there are a lot of questions that
people have in regards to new home heating
systems. Here is a questions that was recently
asked.
Q: My 1,200
square foot home used to be heated by a furnace from 1949
that ran at 25,000 BTU. Recently I changed the system to a
newer, 7,000 BTU system. I thought this newer heater
would be more efficient, but I find that it takes much
longer to heat the house than the older system did. Is
there something wrong with my furnace or do I need one that
has a higher BTU?
A: It’s a good idea to replace old heating
systems with newer, more efficient models. These new
models can work just as well or better than old
systems, but they do work differently. Where old
furnaces could be turned on and heat the house within a
matter of minutes, new heating systems can take
longer. If you want your home to be warm at a certain
time, set the heat to go on about 45 minutes prior to that.
Another important factor is whether your home is
“weather-tight.” Make sure all doors and
windows are properly sealed. If not, you may be losing
heat at the same rate your heating system is producing it.
Check with a heating contractor who can tell you
whether the new unit is sized correctly for your
home’s square footage.
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November 20, 2007 00:11 AM  BY WARMZONE
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Heating systems
for homes and businesses are faced with an increasing
number of options to consider for their primary and
secondary heating. While fire places and coal burning
stoves become less popular, other alternative heating
methods are quickly becoming more common. Traditional
furnaces as a primary heating system are now being
challenged from radiant baseboards, radiant floor
heating systems and even radiant ceiling heaters. Many
of these new heating systems are using electricity
instead of natural gas or heating oil.
Space heaters are
also becoming a less expensive option to upgrading a
poorly insulated home or to add supplemental heat to cold
areas. Thermostone heaters and
heated
towel warmers
from
Climastar
mount to a wall and are a couple of heating
systems that have been commonly used in Europe for decades
are now gaining acceptance in the United States. Many
interior designers are adopting these electric heating
systems as fashionable accessories to bathrooms,
basements and home offices.
A common
challenge to traditional heating systems is the inability to
zone your home for specific areas of the home without
heating the entire home. Electric radiant heating
systems can be easily designed to be independently
controlled by zone which enables a home owner to increase
the temperature for defined areas of the home during
occupancy and conversely allows a particular zone to
remain off during down times. This strategy not only
saves the home owner money, it gives you complete
control to efficiently warm you most used living spaces
without comprising cost.
Choosing the best
heating system for a new home or to add supplemental
heat to a cold spot in your home now takes a little
homework. The radiant consultants and designers at
Warmzone have been trained in all of the latest
heating systems to properly assess your project and
prescribe a system that will add value to your home
inside of your budget. Contact us by phone or email to
learn more about your home heating goals and we will
sell you a heating system that works for you.
About Warmzone
Warmzone provides consumers with
energy-efficient, radiant heating solutions for homes
and businesses. Based in Salt Lake City, Utah,
Warmzone's electricians and radiant heat experts will help
you determine the best radiant heating solution,
ranging from electric heated floors to large
commercial snow and ice melt projects. Send us a plan or
drawings and we'll be happy to provide you with a
FREE estimate
and options for your
roof
heating and ice melting
project.
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December 29, 2008 00:12 AM  BY ROBERT COHEN
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The Mystery
Warranty
How much
do you really know about the warranties offered
by manufacturers? Sure it may say “25 Year
Warranty” on the package, but what exactly does that
mean? Most manufacturers of radiant heating systems
offer a warranty, but a 25 year warranty isn’t
always better than a 10 year warranty and this is why:
I chose the
Danfoss GX electric radiant heat cables to build an asphalt
heated driveway at my residence. The heat of the asphalt
combined with heavy weight, caused me to wonder how
the GX cables were going to hold up, and what would
happen if a problem occurred. I was pleased to
discover that Danfoss products have a 10 year warranty, that
covers up to 5 times the cost of original
installation. Why is this exciting? Because the
failure of a radiant heating system isn’t like a
vacuum cleaner breaking down, you can’t throw
it in your car and bring it back to the store for a
refund. Fixing a severed cable requires tearing up the
surface of the driveway – or in the case of indoor
radiant heating, tearing up your brand new tiles or
wood flooring. The process of tearing up a floor or
driveway is time consuming and costly, not to mention
annoying. Many manufacturers will replace the bad product,
but you still have to pay out of your own pocket to
tear up the floor and hire someone to fix the problem.
Danfoss is so
sure that you won’t have any problems, their warranty
is the best offered by radiant heat manufacturers. Not
only do you get brand new Danfoss product, but they
will cover the cost of floor removal, and
reinstallation (up to 5 times the cost of the original
installation). So when you install your radiant floor
or driveway, you can rest easy knowing that unexpected
problems are already covered.
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December 14, 2008 00:12 AM  BY STACEY BARRUS
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If you are looking for a great way to save
energy, and maximize comfort, then radiant
heaters may be the perfect solution. Installing radiant
heaters in a home under construction or in an
existing home is proven to cut heating costs. It
works by putting water lines in the
home’s concrete floors or under existing floors
and running hot water through them. Radiant
heaters help to keep the whole house at a more
constant temperature. In this way, our regular heaters
don’t have to do as much to keep things
warm and toasty during the winter.
Switching to radiant
heaters will not only help save energy, and lower
heating costs, but it ads to comfort as well.
That is because it put the heat at our feet,
which are generally cold, and offers cooler air near
head level, where we are generally a little
warmer.
Many times, what first springs
to mind when people think of eco-friendly energy
and heating is solar power. While solar panels are
expensive, there are other eco-friendly ways to cut your
power bill. In fact, energy savings can be found
right beneath your feet:
radiant
heaters.
Radiant Heaters Tip: Many people waste a
lot of energy by not sealing cracks, doors and
windows; checking to make sure a home’s
insulation is in good shape and replacing it if it’s
not is another good way to stop energy waste.
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December 11, 2008 00:12 AM  BY STACEY BARRUS
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In today’s housing market, it’s
not a bad idea to add value to your home in new
and innovative ways.For example, don’t
just think about renovating a bathroom, consider
using radiant
heaters to warm towel racks in the bathroom, or a
heated floor.Can you think of anything
cozier on a chilly winter morning than toasty
toes when you step out of the shower?
Not only is radiant heating is
one of the most comfortable ways to heat your
home, but radiant heaters also offer a surprisingly wide
diversity of applications. Radiant
heaters can be used in a number of applications,
including in tiled areas, hardwood flooring,
carpeted areas, cement floors, basements, and
garages. You see, radiant
heaters are a type of heater that warms objects
instead of air. Radiant heat uses objects, such
as the floor, to heat a home. The air in the
room is warmed when it comes into contact with the
warmed objects. Heat loss is reduced and the
radiant heat remains in the lower part of the
room, warmer near feet level and slightly less so at
head level, creating the perfect climate for
comfort.
Radiant Heaters Tip:
whether you’re building a new home or
updating your current home, you owe it to yourself to
check out the comfort that radiant heat has to offer.
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September 20, 2007 00:09 AM  BY WARMZONE
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With a name like
Warmzone, we have an unspoken obligation to live up to
the task of matching our customers to the best available
system of warmth and comfort. We strive everyday
to ensure that our products and our knowledgeable,
dedicated staff will leave memories of service that is
second to none, and products that will provide years of
enjoyment.
A brief history
of Warmzone allows consumers to understand why Warmzone
was created. Warmzone realized the growth in the radiant
heat industry was causing problems for consumer and
contractors due to the abundance of technical
information and product choices. Making the right choice for
a radiant heat system is crucial and carries serious
implications to its cost and effectiveness.
Serving as an intermediary between manufacturers,
contractors and consumers, Warmzone’s role is to
match individual needs of a project to a heating
system that makes the most sense. We strive to
match our customer’s needs with the finest
radiant heating systems available. Warmzone.com offers
non-biased, individualized solutions that factor the
installation, durability, performance and operational
investment as the key criteria for our customers.
There are several
variables that Warmzone considers when looking at a
project. Some of these variables include: square
footage, the type of floor covering, the amount of
heat needed for a given area, whether that heat will
be the supplemental or primary source, how well
insulated that environment is, and if it is a major remodel
or completely new construction.
Based on this criterion, we can then discuss the benefits of
a radiant heating system and which technology would be
most appropriate for a consumer in terms of
effectiveness, efficiency, operational costs and
overall upkeep and maintenance.
Because radiant
heat is relatively new in the United States, there is a
continuing need to educate consumers about a wide variety of
radiant solutions. In the interest of avoiding
confusion and finding the best possible application,
Warmzone has done most of the homework for our
prospective customers. Our professional consultants
learn the details regarding your heating goals and
then propose a system that can be easily installed and
will fit your budget. Warmzone continues to
strive toward being viewed as the premier radiant
provider. “We want customers to feel
confident in this market and receive honest
information and pricing regarding the best available
products,” says Brandon Weaver, Vice President
of Sales.
With so many
options in the radiant industry, Warmzone.com is helping
contractors and consumers with the pros and cons of each
system. Representatives of Warmzone suggest the
best possible system for any project. We are not
tied to any one manufacturer and will provide the very
best in pricing and information available. Warmzone
has a very direct relationship with select
manufacturers thus eliminating the ‘one size
fits all’ sales pitch normally received by
homeowners. Using various forms of technology,
Warmzone’s focus is to provide customers with
the most pertinent information in record time. We know this
is the key to establishing trust and long term
partnerships.
As heating costs
skyrocket, radiant heating continues to come to the
forefront. We at Warmzone excel in providing options
that are affordable, convenient and specifically
tailored to the needs of individual consumers.
As we match products with needs, we continually strive
to provide our customers with “warm,
pleasurable” heating experiences. After
all, feeling warm IS a wonderful thing!
We would welcome
the opportunity to serve your needs. Visit us at www.warmzone.com, or call
us directly at
1-888-488-WARM.
About Warmzone
Warmzone provides consumers with
energy-efficient, radiant heating solutions for homes
and businesses. Based in Salt Lake City, Utah,
Warmzone's electricians and radiant heat experts will help
you determine the best radiant heating solution,
ranging from electric heated floors to large
commercial snow and ice melt projects. Send us a plan or
drawings and we'll be happy to provide you with a
FREE estimate
and options for your
roof
heating and ice melting
project.
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December 20, 2008 00:12 AM  BY STACEY BARRUS
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Not traditionally
used in heating homes, flat panel radiant
heaters are used to heat objects via radiant heat
transfer. These radiant heaters have traditionally
been used in a variety of industries and applications,
such as space heating, drying, curing, and water
evaporation. More recently, these heating systems are also
gaining popularity in home heating applications as well.
Radiant
heaters use different types of emitter surfaces. Choices
include: quartz, high-temperature glass, stainless
steel, and ceramic tiles. These are all materials that
are easily and efficiently used in home applications
such as flooring, countertops, and towel racks. Because
these items are easily turned into emitter surfaces for
radiant heat, they can easily and beautifully be
incorporated into home heating applications such as
heated floors, walls, and towel racks.
To find out about radiant heaters for your home,
check with the folks at warmzone.com. They have a
complete product catalog of radiant heating solutions
that can accommodate almost any application or budget.
Radiant Heaters Tip: radiant heaters a great way
to efficiently heat a home, while maximizing your
home’s beauty, but they are very cost effective
and easy to install.
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November 11, 2007 00:11 AM  BY WARMZONE
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Radiant heaters,
as opposed to warm air systems (such as a forced air
unit heaters), deliver the source of heat to the floor
level, not the ceiling. And since warm air rises,
heating the floors proves to be the most efficient
means of heating living areas.
Radiant heaters
or radiant energy is the oldest form of heating used to
provide comfort and is the basis for all heating systems.
Radiant energy is totally pure radiation and is
absorbed by an object without physical contact with
the heat source or by heating the surrounding air, as is the
case with convective, forced air systems.
Under floor
heaters were first used by the Romans. Initially the
preserve of the rich, under floor heating became
increasingly commonplace in public buildings and
villas, particularly in the colder regions of the
Roman Empire. The Roman system was based on hypocausts,
comprising ducts that underlay the floor (itself built
on raised brick piles) and flues that were built into
walls. Hot air or steam from fires circulated up
through this system, warming the floor and walls, with heat
passing into the rooms.
More
specifically, the floor was laid out as series of concrete
slabs acting as radiant heaters supported by columns
of layered tiles, with a furnace at the bottom of one
exterior wall. By placing the fire here, the draught
would take the radiant heat under the floor, and up through
the walls to radiant heater chimneys located in the
corners of the room.
Today we
recognize the brilliance of the Romans and Koreans as early
adopters of radiant heating, as the technology is still a
desired method for delivering comfortable and
efficient heat in our homes. Now we have radiant
heaters using electric resistance cables that are
constructed of highly rated materials and feature
manufacturer warranties of up to 25 years.
About Warmzone
Warmzone provides consumers with
energy-efficient, radiant heating solutions for homes
and businesses. Based in Salt Lake City, Utah,
Warmzone's electricians and radiant heat experts will help
you determine the best radiant heating solution,
ranging from electric heated floors to large
commercial snow and ice melt projects. Send us a plan or
drawings and we'll be happy to provide you with a
FREE estimate
and options for your
roof
heating and ice melting
project.
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