Warmzone Blog

It’s that time of year when people start escaping wintry weather for vacations in warmer climates.  But what about enjoying warmth when at home? Many people’s homes have areas that are practically freezing while other areas are comfortable and warm. It’s a common problem with traditional heating systems, but is easily solved by installation and use of electric radiant heating systems.

One great thing about such electric radiant heating systems can be easily and independently controlled by zone, enabling a homeowner to increase the temperature for defined areas of the home during occupancy and conversely allows a particular zone to remain off during down times. It might remind you of a programmable thermostat on traditional heating systems. It is similar to that, but actually far more efficient and controllable.

Remember, not only does the use of electric radiant heat systems not only saves the homeowner money, it gives complete control to efficiently warm your most used living spaces without fearing an enormous utility bill at the end of the month.

Electric Radiant Heat Tip: The radiant consultants and designers at Warmzone have been trained in all of the latest heating systems to properly assess your project and prescribe an electric radiant heat system that will add value to your home inside of your budget.

It might be a bold statement to say that we firmly believe that radiant heaters are the most efficient form of heat available. Significantly less operating time is required to maintain the desired warmth compared to furnaces and other methods of heating keeping operational costs to a minimum.

High efficiency boilers or electric radiant floor systems makes radiant heat one of your most efficient ways to heat your home. Coupled with a well insulated home these systems can quickly warm your home and then shut down or wait idle for long periods of time before being called upon by the thermostat to operate.

Not only is radiant heating is one of the most comfortable ways to heat your home, but radiant heaters also offer a diversity of applications. We’d hazard a guess that after that first winter with the radiant heaters in place, you may find yourself wondering how you ever got along without them in the past.

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.

Are you expecting a tax refund this year?  Perhaps you’re thinking about using the refund to upgrade the heating system for a small space in your home. You’ve probably been putting that project off, thinking that a traditional heating system may cost you far more than it’s worth. This is almost always the case for those who may live in small or older homes and apartments.

Older homes often times don’t have the necessary heating ducts needed to install a traditional forced air system, and installing these ducts is very expensive. Due to the cost associated with installing these systems, many people choose not to heat smaller rooms and instead suffer through the winter, chilly and miserable. However, there is a very cost-effective and efficient solution to this problem: electric radiant heat. Electric radiant heat systems are very cost-effective solutions for smaller spaces (1-5 rooms) because they are easy to install and have a very low start-up cost. An electric thermostat is all that is required and costs only about $100-$200.

Here’s yet another advantage that electric radiant floor heating offers over a warm-water system is the floor build up or height. Floor build up can be from as little as 2mm. The electric cables are usually installed onto an insulation board or directly onto the subfloor or padding (under carpet or laminate), then the floor covering is placed directly over the heating system or thinset.

Electric Radiant Heat Tip: Your electric radiant heat system could use 30% less fuel than the average new forced air heating system

Radiant heaters improve the air quality, which is important, especially for anyone who suffers from either dust allergies or asthma. The heated towel rails provide ample heat alleviating a breeding ground for germs to multiply not to mention the added benefit of not having change filters or clean heat ducts.

Health experts also claim that radiant heaters can help in eliminating dust mites that live in our homes, and since dust mites love a warm moist environment, towel heaters aid in maintaining a consistent room temperature and keep it moisture free. Furthermore, mold and mildew are also caused from excessive moisture especially in bathrooms with insufficient ventilation. By placing radiant heaters or a radiant heat towel rack in the bathroom you can combat the spread of germs for only pennies a day.

Rather than warming the air, radiant heaters are a type of heater that warms objects. 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: If you’re looking for efficient, comfortable heat for your home, radiant heating could the solution you’ve been looking for.

The last time you enjoyed a sit-down Sunday family dinner, or a special dinner at a restaurant where you shared platters, you might have found that the food platters were hot to the touch, or you’ll hold a warm mug of cocoa — it’s then that you’ll be feeling radiant heat. Objects absorb radiant heat until they are the same temperature as the heat source, after which the heat slowly escapes to other areas that are colder, such as the air. The same principle is available to heat your home, using electric radiant heat.

So how does it work? Electric radiant heat is a unique transfer of energy that naturally searches out colder objects to warm. Instead of rising like warm air, radiant heat starts by warming the coldest and closest objects from its source. This is why radiant heating systems are generally placed under floors.

You may not be aware of this, but heating a bathroom can be responsible for a significant amount of your utility bills year-round. Bathroom heating is one such energy consideration because you want the heat quickly, but for only a short period of time. Therefore traditional forced air heating systems for a bathroom can be very inefficient, and waste a lot of energy. However, electric radiant heat can make you feel comfortably warm without having to heat all the air in the bathroom.

Electric Radiant Heat Tip: It’s not a cost-efficient heating system that’s limited to bathrooms and kitchens, electric radiant heat can also increase the comfort level of these rooms because they concentrate the heat in the areas that are generally the coolest, such as tile floors.

Were you like me and got a huge shock to the system (and your wallet) when your most recent energy bill arrived? It’s pretty scary how high those bills can get, we know. Well, we’d like to let you know that new technology in radiant heating can help you cut electricity costs. Now electric radiant heating systems offer you a choice of a thermostat that is controlled by a floor sensor. This allows you to measure floor temperature or with an ambient sensor to control the actual temperature in a specific room. Radiant heat can be used and controlled as a primary source of heat or used as a supplemental heating source to add comfort to your living spaces.

When an Electric Radiant Heat system is turned on, energy is forced through a conductive material to create resistance or heat. For most areas an electric line-voltage system is used. These systems use a special thermostat that has an integrated breaker for safety right at the power source. They are available in 110 or 220 voltage.

Low-voltage systems use the same voltages and consume the same amount of power as line-voltage products. The use of a step-down transformer reduces the voltage supplied to the heating materials. Due to their safe low-voltage current (8-30v) products like Zmesh can be nailed and stapled down to secure the electric radiant heat product to the floor and are therefore useful for installation under hardwood and carpet.

Electric Radiant Heat Tip: One of the low-voltage product recommended by warmzone.com is Zmesh.