My Radiant System Is Costing Me An Arm And A Leg…
Posted By: admin // Category: radiant heating systemsThis came in from someone who unfortunately, was never a client of mine. The problem boils down to lack of proper hydronic heating design…
I had radiant floor heat put in my new home (2850SF) in Oklahoma City. It is run by propane. The propane tank was installed in Sept 2008. I moved in during Jan 2009. Since then (12 months), I have blown through 3000+ gallons of propane! The gas people are blaming the floor heat and the floor heat folks are blaming the propane company. I’m at a loss as to where to go next. I’ve spent more than $8000 for propane since last Jan. Can you give me any advice?
There are a few possible reasons:
1) The structure/poor insulation or excessive infiltration – you may want to have a local HVAC or mechanical contractor perform an energy audit to see if your structure has infiltration or insulation issues.
2) Heat source inefficiencies – for systems I design and sell, I typically recommend the heat source be set up and fired off by a local pro – where applicable, a combustion analysis should be performed on gas and propane-fired heat sources to insure they are operating within manufacturer tolerances and at peak efficiency.
3) System installation issues – depending on your system design, there may be issues with the amount of tubing, spacing of tubing, water temperatures, water flow rates, floor coverings with high r-values.
Bottom line – it sounds like your system is working hard to keep your structure at temperature – and it sounds like it’s working. (You don’t mention being uncomfortable or cold) – your home loses “x” amount of BTU’s per hour – and your system needs to put out “x” amount of BTU’s per hour to keep up.
If it’s fighting poor insulation or thick floor coverings – well, that makes it the structure, not the system.
If it’s inefficiency at the heat source – a local pro should be able to test and adjust for that.
If it’s a design/installation issue – there may be some things you can adjust like water temp and flow rate…and some other things that would be less practical to go back and change – like amount and spacing of tubing.
Bottom line - it sounds like this could have been either avoided or explained to you by a competent radiant heat designer. Hopefully, you’ll be able to use these answers as talking points with your local contractor - hope you can get your radiant system working better soon!
