What Is Hydronic Heating?
If you’re considering upgrading your home’s heater, you might be interested in hydronic heating. Also called radiant heating, a hydronic system circulates hot water or another heated liquid through plastic piping installed:
- Beneath the floor
- Along baseboards
- Or through radiators
This type of system is a less common way to heat a home than a furnace, but it could be the exact solution you’re looking for.
How Hydronic Heating Works
The water in a radiant system begins by being heated inside a boiler. The water flows to a plumbing manifold, which sends the correct temperature of water to different areas of your home based on temperature readings across various thermostats. Pumps keep the flow of water moving constantly, sending newly heated water through the piping and returning cooled water to the boiler for reheating. This process allows you to precisely control the temperature in specific zones throughout your home.
Closed-loop piping is most often installed under the floor with concrete poured around it. Recent advancements also allow piping to be installed in floor joist systems for added versatility. Your preferred flooring material (tile, hardwood, carpet, laminate, vinyl, etc.) is added on top so you can enjoy even heat radiating across the entire floor.
Benefits of Hydronic Heating Over Traditional Furnaces
You’re probably accustomed to the way a furnace works, which is by blowing heated air through ductwork to different rooms in your home. Due to imperfections in air circulation, this results in hot and cold pockets throughout each room, with much of the heated air ending up near the ceiling while your toes stay chilly. The roar of the furnace can become annoying as well, and the constant air circulation can upset your allergies.
Hydronic heating works differently. By heating evenly from the ground up, hydronic systems warm not just the air, but also the objects in the room. Tile floors feel comfortably toasty underfoot and the whole house remains an even temperature without swirling up settled dust the way forced-air heating systems do. All the while, running a hydronic heater costs less and works silently for total home comfort without disruption.
Do you think hydronic heating could be right for you and your family? Schedule a consultation with Arctic Air Conditioning to see if your New Jersey home is a good fit for this type of heating system.
