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December 24, 2008 00:12 AM  BY STACEY BARRUS
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You may not know that radiant
heaters for your home or business come in a variety
of forms – all efficient and providing
reliable, cozy warmth. Today we’re going to
discuss one form of radiant heaters: hydronic floor
heating.
Quite a name, isn’t it?
Hydronic floor heating is the oldest and most
popular type of radiant floor heating. These systems are
comprised of a boiler or hot water heater,
pumps, manifolds, PEX tubing, thermostat, and
either gypcrete (a concrete-like material) or wood
panels. Hydronic heating is the most complex of
all radiant
heat systems. These systems require trained
professionals to design and perform the
installation. Your best economies of scale are achieved
for hydronic systems in large areas or entire homes
because of their expensive components and
operational costs. Hydronic systems can be
installed under any type of flooring. Most hydronic
systems require hot water tubing to be installed
in a 2-4″ bed of light concrete and are
best installed during the initial construction because
of its weight load demands and adjustments to
floor height.
For heating smaller areas such
as a bathroom or kitchen, a hydronic floor
heating system may not be the best value for your
project. The complexity and cost of installing
the system, along with the long-term maintenance
and up-keep required, might not be worth the small
amount you will save in operational costs.
Radiant Heaters Tip: Many recent
developments have made hydronic systems more
convenient and possible radiant
heater solutions for major home remodeling projects.
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February 01, 2010 00:02 AM  BY WARMZONE
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Of Water and Wires: Hydronic Heated Driveways vs.
Electric Heated Driveways
'Ride the Current' or 'Go With the Flow'?
If
you’ve finally put down the shovel and decided to
purchase a heated
driveway system, will you be going
hydronic or electric? If you’re a newcomer to the
concept of driveway heating, hydronic and electric
are both popular, and extremely viable forms of
driveway heat, and Warmzone has the expertise, and
experience, to help determine which is best for
you. What these systems share in
common—four key components you should be familiar
with before purchasing a heated driveway system:
Of the components mentioned above, the
heating element and the control source distinguish
hydronic heated driveway systems from electric
heated driveway systems.
Hydronic Heated Driveway Systems: Going with the Flow
The heating
element for a hydronic snowmelt system, as you may have
guessed, involves water. Specifically, hydronic heated
driveways use what is known as closed-loop tubing
to heat the surface of the driveway. The tubing is
generally made of a flexible (and quite durable) polymer
or synthetic rubber to circulate a mixture of hot
water and propylene glycol (antifreeze). The fluid
is warmed to temperatures between 140 to 180
degrees F to deliver enough heat for snow melting.
A water
heater or a boiler is the chief source of heat for a
hydronic driveway heating system, which can be
powered by any energy source that satisfies the
btu requirements, including natural gas, electricity,
oil, wood, or even solar collectors. A circulating
pump and supply and return manifolds, installed in
an easily accessible location, transfer the water
between the heat source and tubing.
Electric Heated Driveway Systems: Riding the Current
Unlike
hydronic systems, electric
heated driveway systems use hot wires to
heat paved surfaces. These wires are surrounded by
layers of insulation, copper grounding braid and a
protective outer layer of PVC or polyolefin to
form a flexible cable about ⅛ to ¼ inch in
diameter. What’s great about the heat
cables is the flexibility of the application.
Cable is available on spools as well as pre-spaced and
woven into mats, and can be customized (cut) to
suit virtually any type of layout, including
odd-shaped driveways, common walkways and sidewalks,
etc.
After being
triggered by the snow
sensor, the control
unit then powers the heat cable to warm the
driveway. To reduce the power demands (and operating
costs), you can install cables in just the tire
tracks of a driveway rather than the entire area.
Warmzone provides complete system
design services to ensure that you receive
the best system layout and products
for your project.
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Do You Have Warm Air, but Cold Toes?
Heating
from the Ground Up, Just Makes Sense
If
you’re like most folks, the first thing
you reach for as you get out of bed in the
winter are your slippers. Then you check the
thermostat to see if the room is really as
cold as it feels. The problem isn’t in
your furnace, and it isn’t your circulation;
it’s your floors. The simple fact is
heat rises.
Heated
floors, however, allow heat to start where
it’s most needed and then radiate up through
the room. With radiant heated floors, the
first thing to get warm are those cold toes,
followed by the rest of the room. If you have
small children or pets, they spend a lot more
time close to the floor than you do. They’ll
feel the difference of a heated floor right away.
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Radiant floor heating cable, pre-spaced
and woven into an
easy-to-install mat.
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The other
thing you’ll notice or won’t notice
with radiant
heated floor systems, is the constant
white noise of the furnace. A heated floor
silently goes about it’s job of heating the
room without a lot of noisy commotion from
burners lighting up and fans blasting autumn dust
throughout the house.
Do
yourself and your toes a favor and look into how
easy and affordable it can be to install
heated floors this year. You’ll love the way
you feel, and you’ll love not having to
hunt around for your slippers.
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Radiant Heat for Custom Applications
Finding a
Radiant Heating Solution as Unique as You Are
As
temperatures plummet and heat bills skyrocket, consumers
everywhere are turning to radiant heating systems.
As the most affordable and customizable option out
there, radiant heating is quickly making a name
for itself as a titan in the heating market.
So
radiant heating
is the latest and greatest, but what exactly
is so great about it and what can it do for you? One
word: customization.
When it comes
to radiant heating, the possibilities are endless.
Warmzone can design
a radiant heating system completely
customized for your home and lifestyle, and it's as
easy as one, two, three!
Choose
The first
step of your radiant heating revolution is choosing the
type of radiant heat you want.
Indoor Radiant Heating
Radiant heating can be installed under just
about any surface, including tile, carpet,
wood, etc. Put it in your bathroom, your kitchen,
your living room—anywhere you need heat. Each
room, or zone, can be controlled with its own thermostat.
giving you great flexibility along with
outstanding efficiency. Radiant
floor heating is an affordable way to keep
your house perfectly warm without racking up the
electricity bill.
Outdoor Radiant Heating
You can also
enjoy the benefits of radiant heating outdoors. Exterior
snow melting systems keep your property safe by
preventing pesky snow and ice buildup. There
are several outdoor radiant
heating products and options, including
heated driveways, sidewalks, roof heating, pipe tracing,
and portable
heating mats; all of which will make your
life a little easier in the harsh winter months.
Design
We realize
that your radiant heating system isn't the same as the
next customer's, so we'll work with you to come up
with a radiant heating system tailor-made to your
needs.
Once we assess your project's requirements,
our team will design a custom CAD drawing of your radiant heating
system telling you exactly what you get, where
you'll get it, and how much it will cost you.
Enjoy
With radiant
heating, your only job is to sit back, relax, and enjoy
your custom radiant heating solution. Let your heated
floors warm your home evenly and efficiently.
Sit back and watch from the warmth of your living room
as your radiant heated driveway does the shoveling
for you. And sleep in peace knowing that your
gutters and pipes are safe from nasty and
potentially devastating snow and ice buildup.
Why settle
for an out of the box heating solution? Let us help you
customize a radiant heating system that meets your
needs, fits your budget, and keeps you and your
family warm and safe.
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December 18, 2008 00:12 AM  BY STACEY BARRUS
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The home improvement world has seen many recent
developments in heating, making hydronic systems
more convenient and possible radiant
heater solutions for major home remodeling projects.
Today we’re going to discuss one form of
radiant
heaters: hydronic floor heating.
Hydronic floor heating is the
oldest and most popular type of radiant
floor heating. These systems are comprised of a
boiler or hot water heater, pumps, manifolds,
PEX tubing, thermostat, and either gypcrete (a
concrete-like material) or wood panels. Hydronic heating
is the most complex of all radiant heat systems.
These systems require trained professionals to
design and perform the installation. Your best
economies of scale are achieved for hydronic systems in
large areas or entire homes because of their
expensive components and operational costs.
Hydronic systems can be installed under any type of
flooring.
Most hydronic systems require
hot water tubing to be installed in a
2-4″ bed of light concrete and are best installed
during the initial construction because of its
weight load demands and adjustments to floor
height.
If you’re wanting to
heat smaller areas such as a bathroom or kitchen,
a hydronic floor radiant
heating system may not be the best value for your
project. The complexity and cost of installing
the system, along with the long-term maintenance
and up-keep required, might not be worth the small
amount you will save in operational costs.
Radiant Heaters Tip:
Radiant
heaters for your home or business come in a variety
of forms – all efficient and providing
reliable, cozy warmth
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December 16, 2008 00:12 AM  BY JEN BAKER
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A lot of people out there might hear about
allergies and asthma and assume that they're
only warm-weather maladies–I sure did once upon a
time. But the sad and uncomfortable truth is,
they’re very often year-round! Allergies
and asthma affect at least 60 million Americans
in one way or another, generally making the sufferers
rather miserable. Many allergy and asthma
experts will advise certain changes in
housekeeping habits to help alleviate allergy- or
asthma-causing conditions in your home. In
addition, you might consider changing your heat
source to radiant
heaters.
It could come as a surprise to learn that radiant
heaters could be such a simple solution to
helping keep your home healthy. In reality, radiant
heaters improve the air quality, which is
important, especially for anyone who suffers from either
dust allergies or asthma. Not having to change
air filters or clean heating ducts should also
cut down dramatically on dust or other allergens in
your home’s air.
Allergy experts agree that another way to keep
your home healthy is to eliminate the dust mites
that live in your home. Since dust mites love a
warm moist environment, towel heaters and other radiant
heater systems aid in maintaining a
consistent room temperature and keep it
moisture-free…and dust mite-free, too.
Furthermore, mold and mildew are also caused from
excessive moisture especially in bathrooms with
insufficient ventilation.
Radiant Heater Tip: Did you know that
simply 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?
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December 25, 2008 00:12 AM  BY STACEY BARRUS
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For anyone who is looking for a great way to
save energy, and maximize comfort, then radiant
heaters may be the ideal solution. Installing radiant
heaters in a home under construction or in an
existing home is proven to cut heating costs. It
works by putting water lines in the
home’s concrete floors or under existing floors
and running hot water through them. Radiant
heaters help to keep the whole house at a more
constant temperature. In this way, our regular heaters
don’t have to do as much to keep things
warm and toasty during the winter.
You’ll find that
switching to Radiant
heaters will not only help save energy and lower
heating costs, but it will certainly add to
comfort as well. That is because it put the heat
at our feet, which are generally cold, and offers cooler
air near head level, where we are generally a
little warmer.
Many times, what first springs
to mind when people think of eco-friendly energy
and heating is solar power. While solar panels are
expensive, there are other eco-friendly ways to cut your
power bill. In fact, energy savings can be found
right beneath your feet:
radiant
heaters.
Radiant Heaters Tip: It is reported that
many people waste a lot of energy by not sealing
cracks, doors and windows; checking to make sure a
home’s insulation is in good shape and replacing it
if it’s not is another good way to stop energy
waste.
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December 11, 2008 00:12 AM  BY STACEY BARRUS
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In today’s housing market, it’s
not a bad idea to add value to your home in new
and innovative ways.For example, don’t
just think about renovating a bathroom, consider
using radiant
heaters to warm towel racks in the bathroom, or a
heated floor.Can you think of anything
cozier on a chilly winter morning than toasty
toes when you step out of the shower?
Not only is radiant heating is
one of the most comfortable ways to heat your
home, but radiant heaters also offer a surprisingly wide
diversity of applications. Radiant
heaters can be used in a number of applications,
including in tiled areas, hardwood flooring,
carpeted areas, cement floors, basements, and
garages. You see, radiant
heaters are a type of heater that warms objects
instead of air. 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:
whether you’re building a new home or
updating your current home, you owe it to yourself to
check out the comfort that radiant heat has to offer.
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October 26, 2008 00:10 AM  BY STACEY BARRUS
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Winter weather is on the way. Start thinking
about heating
system solutions for the coming winter months or
spend the season shivering and wishing
you’d planned ahead. Leaving decisions like this
to the last moment (for example, when your furnace up
and dies in the middle of a brutal
Nor’easter) causes unnecessary stress, expense,
and, most obviously, a freezing cold house.
Whether you are building a new home from the
ground up, preparing to replace your heating
systems are using electricity instead of natural gas
or heating oil. Not only does this cut down on
heating costs, but it is also more efficient and
eco-friendly as well. Radiant heating
systems are quickly replacing traditional furnaces.
Heating Systems Tip: Choosing the best
heating
systems for a new home or to add supplemental heat
to a cold spot in your home now takes a little
homework. The radiant consultants and designers
at Warmzone have been trained in all of the latest
heating systems to properly assess your project
and prescribe a system that will add value to
your home within your budget.
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December 25, 2008 00:12 AM  BY STACEY BARRUS
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As demands for
lower energy costs increase, homebuilders, househunters,
and home renovators alike are looking for energy-efficient
heating options for houses. We say they need
look no further than radiant
heaters for their ideal home heating solution.
In a nutshell, radiant
heating is among the most efficient forms of heat
available in today’s market. Significantly less
operating time is required to attain and maintain the
desired warmth compared to furnaces and other,
traditional methods of heating, which keeps 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. Combined with a
well-insulated home, these radiant heater 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.
Radiant Heaters
Tip: Being more environmentally friendly
doesn’t have to involve major renovations. Many
people waste a lot of energy by not sealing cracks, doors
and windows. Checking to make sure a home’s
insulation is in good shape and replacing it if
it’s not is another good surefire way to stop,
prevent, and reverse energy waste.
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December 20, 2008 00:12 AM  BY STACEY BARRUS
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Not traditionally
used in heating homes, flat panel radiant
heaters are used to heat objects via radiant heat
transfer. These radiant heaters have traditionally
been used in a variety of industries and applications,
such as space heating, drying, curing, and water
evaporation. More recently, these heating systems are also
gaining popularity in home heating applications as well.
Radiant
heaters use different types of emitter surfaces. Choices
include: quartz, high-temperature glass, stainless
steel, and ceramic tiles. These are all materials that
are easily and efficiently used in home applications
such as flooring, countertops, and towel racks. Because
these items are easily turned into emitter surfaces for
radiant heat, they can easily and beautifully be
incorporated into home heating applications such as
heated floors, walls, and towel racks.
To find out about radiant heaters for your home,
check with the folks at warmzone.com. They have a
complete product catalog of radiant heating solutions
that can accommodate almost any application or budget.
Radiant Heaters Tip: radiant heaters a
great way to efficiently heat a home, while maximizing
your home’s beauty, but they are very cost
effective and easy to install.
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December 18, 2008 00:12 AM  BY STACEY BARRUS
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Quite simply put, radiant
heaters are the most efficient form of heat
available in today’s market.
Significantly less operating time is required to attain
and maintain the desired warmth compared to
furnaces and other, traditional methods of
heating, which keeps 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. Combined 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.
More than ever before, homebuilders,
househunters, and home renovators alike are
looking for energy-efficient heating options for houses.
We say they need look no further than radiant
heaters for their ideal home heating solution.
Radiant Heaters Tip: It might take a
little effort, but being more environmentally
friendly doesn’t have to involve major
renovations. Many people waste a lot of energy by not
sealing cracks, doors and windows. Checking to
make sure a home’s insulation is in good
shape and replacing it if it’s not is another
good surefire way to stop, prevent, and reverse
energy waste.
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