In a previous post, I addressed the issue of why radiant heating systems were not as popular as other heating systems with homeowners. In this post, I’ll look at the same issue as it pertains to the professionals such as architects and engineers.
Regardless of the profession, individuals are influenced by their own experiences. They have grown up in homes that were heated with convection systems.
Architects are very receptive to using radiant heating systems. Most radiant heating systems don’t interfere with their designs. The systems are often hidden or can be easily blended in with the decor. Traditional heating and ventilation systems often conflict with the design requiring new drawings and/or modifications to the building.
Mechanical engineers are responsible for the heating and cooling (HVAC) of a building. Their education and training has been based on convection systems. The process and use of such systems are widely accepted and there is a strong support network of manufacturers and installers. To get them to change to a radiant heating system has been slow. This has been made more difficult because of the lack of studies by independent third parties to verify the claims made by radiant heating manufacturers.
Aside from the ease of design considerations mentioned earlier, there are two other key benefits of radiant heating systems:
- Comfort
- Energy efficiency
Only in the last few years has comfort been identified as an important design consideration. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design http://www.usgbc.org) recognizes comfort in its point system. Studies or case profiles of actual radiant heating installations need to be done regarding operating efficiencies. Radiant heat doesn’t heat the same way a convection system does. It’s how the heat is used that makes the difference.
Our experience is that when a standard HVAC system will not perform properly for a number of reasons, then radiant heating systems are the choice. That begs the question – if they can solve hard to heat projects, then why not use them right from the beginning? Well, see paragraph 2. It’s like the movie Groundhog Day – it’s a vicious circle. Many mechanical engineers would like to use radiant heating systems but they lack the independent engineering support. Manufacturers need the projects to provide the support but can’t get the projects.
However this is starting to change rapidly. The green, sustainable and energy efficiencies issues are top of mind of everyone in the construction industry. We are finding a very strong favorable reception to using radiant heating in many varied types of projects.
My theory for this change – current HVAC systems do a poor job in addressing comfort, energy efficiency, design considerations and sustainability. In the meantime, there’s still a lot of education required to overcome the unknowns.