Comfort Features

Floor Heating Systems • Radiant Heat Services

Indoor/Outdoor Reset

This feature changes the set temperature of the heating supply to adjust to the lowest effective setting based on the outside temperature and the heat loss of your building. This type of control should be standard equipment on all boilers used for heating. It is not, but it should be. The savings in energy is usually 10-25% with this type of control.  There are some exceptions as equipment must be properly piped and circulated to take advantage of this type of a control.

Injection Mixing

This feature works by utilizing a standard pump or specialized mixing valve. The injection control will raise and lower the temperature from a standard heating system by mixing supply liquid at different rates to the radiant zone. Some type of mixing is necessary for almost every system unless it is a dedicated radiant heat only system. Mixing controls allow us to more exactly match the heat loss, improve comfort, protect the boiler and utilize indoor/outdoor reset control. The mixing system allows us to run at extremely low temperatures without damage to the equipment.

Zoning

Radiant heat is inherently easy to zone because of the way the tubes are distributed into separate rooms and then balanced. The more zoning you do the more potential energy savings you have. It makes good sense to divide your home or building into smaller areas with separate thermostats. The more zones the more costly the system, so don't go overboard, but plan the most effective way to zone by the way you use your home or business.  Common areas and adjacent open rooms can be on one zone, bedrooms and bathrooms on a separate zone.

Thermostats

Radiant heat is not like forced air heat so many standard thermostats do not work well with radiant heat. Try to get a +/- ½ degree differential thermostat for radiant heat. This improves comfort and efficiency by taking out the wider swings and keeping a more constant circulation in your system. Thermostats can be fitted with remote sensors that will measure the temperature of the floor. This is a great option for a hardwood floor that might be more sensitive to high temperatures or for a bath where you want the floor to be toasty warm.

Room Feedback

The best way to describe this system is that the thermostat "learns" what your system is capable of delivering and the characteristics of the way each zone or room heats.  The thermostat uses information from previous run cycles to closely provide even temperatures that are as accurate as anyone would demand.

Staging

When you have a large home or a home with high heat loss it makes good practical sense to have multiple boilers. Smaller efficient boilers can be set to run one at a time or together in a high heat demand situation. The practicality of the multiple unit system usually makes sense from about a 250,000 BTU load range and higher. If you have a snow melt system, high volume massage showers, or if you just want redundancy because you're not able to get emergency service, this is a great option. The staging control will know when to turn on one or more boilers and will alternate between them to keep equal run time if desired. 

Web Interface

There is the capability to monitor and adjust your system from remote locations either from the web or through a dial up analog system. If you have a vacation home or travel frequently and want to keep track of your system, these are a great option. Higher end controls or add-ons will provide the user with more feedback on system operation too. Information such as hours run, frequency of cycles etc. would help a technician in troubleshooting and possibly with determining maintenance intervals as well.