Blog
The Case For Radiant Heat
If you are a Coloradan you are well familiar with our weather. A couple of things are a given, it will snow, a lot, and it will be cold during the winter months. Myself, being a transplant from the mid-west, I had to learn the hard way. The first piece of advice I was given was never buy a house on the North side of the hill. (more about that in the Snow Melt blog). The next thing was that in homes built in Denver Air Conditioning was an option and homes built in the Foothills or Mountains were not Air Conditioned at all. What? No Air Conditioning? It still gets down right hot here doesn’t it? What I learned rather quickly was yes it does get hot, but as soon as the sun goes down the temperature plummets due to our dry climate.
So what does that have to do with Radiant Heat you ask? Well for starters that means Air Conditioning is truly not needed. If the temperatures are 50 to 60 degrees at night just leave the windows open and your house will cool off in short order. Okay, but again what does that have to do with Radiant Heat? Hang on, we’re getting there and here’s where it gets a little technical.
So we’ve convinced you that Air Conditioning is not needed here in Colorado. In practicality that means that the compressor is not needed nor the cooling element that lives in the homes duct work. The duct work is there to supply heated air from a Forced Air Furnace to the home. We still need to heat the house correct? Why not use a Forced Air Furnace like everywhere else in the country? Here’s Why.
There is this thing called air pressure in our world and as it turns out air pressure is a pretty big deal. Standard air pressure at sea level is 14.6 PSI. At 5,000 ft. in elevation air pressure drops to 12.3 PSI or 16% less than at sea level, and at 8,000 is drops further to 11.1 PSI or 25% less than sea level. It only gets worse from there. In practical terms that means that your Forced Air Furnace is heating 25% less air than it would at sea level. That also means that the air it does heat is going to cool off quicker, making the heater work that much harder. It will still do the job but much much less efficiently and from a comfort standpoint, you will notice the difference.
Radiant Heat is what you feel when you step outside on a cloudless and cold Colorado winter day. It is the warmth of the sun. The radiant heat in your home is exactly the same. The heat from the warm water is transferred to the floor which transfers it to everything resting on that floor and you are surrounded by a gentle blanket of warmth. It does this quietly, efficiently and much more comfortably than a Forced Air system.
The benefits of a Radiant system don’t stop there. They are much more flexible in that we can provide the ability to control the heat in rooms that are seldom used or have a northern exposure. Do you like your bedroom to be a tad colder? We can accomplish that by putting that room on its own thermostat or zone. Have a room that is on the north side of the house that may require more heat than a north facing room. We can zone that room on its own as well. Like the bathroom to be warmer? We can install a motion sensor and zone the room on its own so that the room is provided additional heat only when someone is in the bathroom. The possibilities are endless.
Let JLA Plumbing & Heating help you design your Radiant Heating system.
Plumbing
Plumbing Definition, system of pipes and fixtures installed in a building for the distribution and use of potable (drinkable) water and the removal of waterborne wastes. “Plumbing” is derived from the Latin word for Lead which is “plumbum”. During Roman times pipes for both potable and wastewater were made from Lead.
In today’s home that definition means there is one pipe coming into your home which carries clean potable water and one pipe exiting your home which carries away the waste water. The potable water can come from a local water utility or a well and the waste water is conveyed to a local water treatment plant or a septic system located on your property. What we are responsible for are all the pipes and fixtures in between those two points. So let’s continue with describing the wastewater system.
If you have ever put a straw into your soda, put your finger over the end and then pulled the straw out of the soda you know a great deal about plumbing already. What that experiment tells us is that in a sealed pipe (straw) without the introduction of air the liquid will stay in the straw. It is the same in your home. There are many rules and regulations that we must know to make certain that there is enough Venting to ensure all liquids flow out of the straw. Even if the wash machine is draining, all the toilets are flushed and the bathtub is draining all at the same time there has to be enough air entering the system to ensure proper operation. This is one of the many reasons to hire a licensed plumbing contractor on your next project.
For the other side of the equation let’s look at the potable water system. In today’s home, distribution of potable water is accomplished with plastic pipe, better known as PEX. Some homes are still built using copper pipe but due to lower cost and ease of installation PEX has won over the market and, according to some industry sources, is used in 63% of all construction. If you are building a new home or putting on a new addition you will more than likely not be asked “Plastic or Copper?”. But, as we all know we have a powerful tool at our disposal known as the internet. Even before PEX people were asking, “Is it safe to drink water, milk, soda…etc from a plastic bottle.” There are a wide variety of opinions on the matter and all likes of people can be found expressing their opinion on the internet. Some have strong opinions on both sides of the issue and whereas we here at JLA Plumbing & Heating will not join the debate we also feel that you, the customer, should do their homework if it is a concern and arrive at their own decision. As a default though, we will Plumb your home with PEX tubing.
Although the final phase of the plumbing process is installing the plumbing fixtures you have chosen it should not be thought of that way, Choosing fixtures should be done before the Rough-In stage early on in the building process as the type of fixture you choose can dictate where we place our pipes. Your builder will help you in the process of choosing fixtures but JLA Plumbing & Heating in that process.
Snow Melt Systems
If you’ve lived in Colorado you are already well aware that it snows in March, April and yes even May. When I moved here the best advice I received was to buy a house that has a driveway with Southern exposure. Whether you are building a home in town or in the foothills, a driveway with southern exposure is a must. Having said that it won’t solve all your snow problems all winter and sooner or later you’ll be looking at snow blowers, hiring someone to plow your driveway or entertaining the idea of installing a snow melt system. If you elect to install a snow melt system all of a sudden having a driveway that faces south is no longer a major consideration. JLA Plumbing & Heating has years of experience in designing and installing systems that can keep your driveway free of snow under the most extreme Colorado winters. Give us a call today.