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naturalLiving ❙ Fall-Winter05
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naturalLiving ❙ Fall-Winter
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Heating and Power
Options for Your Home
Want to reduce your utility bills? Find out how radiant
floor heaters, snow-melt systems, blue-flame space heaters,
water heaters and backup generators can help.
By Amy E. Lemen
Radiant Floor Heating
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to feel warmth and comfort
throughout your home without air blowing into the room —
or without looking at an unsightly radiator? Homeowners are
discovering how radiant floor-heating systems — which are
all but invisible — can maintain constant temperatures from
room to room, even upstairs.
“As radiant flooring gets less expensive and there are more
options and styles, it’s really exploding in popularity, even
in places like Texas and Florida,” says Dan Chiles from Watts
Radiant in Springfield, Mo. “It’s a dash of color. We encourage
people to see it with a designer’s
eye, because it’s getting so much
more sophisticated.”
It’s also a more efficient way to
heat an area, or even an entire home.
Gas-powered radiant systems consist
of tubes installed under a slab, or if
you’re replacing existing flooring,
under the floor. A small circulator,
acting as a pump, pushes heated
water through the tubes, essentially
heating objects in the area and mak-
ing them warm to the touch. The re-
sult is that when you sit down on that
normally cold-as-ice-in-winter leather
couch to watch a football game, it’s
actually warm.
“It’s a whole different heating phi-
losophy,” says Chiles. “You’re not trying
to heat the room like in a typical forced
air system, but the things in it, so it’s a
much more efficient use of energy.”
T
here’s an incredible variety of money-saving products to
choose from when it comes to home heating and power
options. Whether you’re looking for a whole-house
heating system, a convenient way to get rid of treacher-
ous ice and snow, an efficient water heater or a system to ensure
your family has power in the event of a weather emergency, there
are many popular and energy-efficient options.
Blue-Flame Space Heaters
Blue-flame space heaters are just what the name
suggests: space heaters that give off a sapphire-blue flame,
which heats the air around people and objects for
atmospheric warmth.
Most have controls on the unit that are simple to oper-
ate: Just push a button to ignite the pilot light (no matches
needed), and the heater begins to instantly warm the room
or area. They’re a good option when it doesn’t make sense
to crank up a whole house heating system, or to add a lit-
tle extra heating oomph to a room that doesn’t get quite as
warm as the rest of the house.
Most of the new blue-flame space heaters are vent-free,
working much like a central heating system. Because
they’re ventless, each unit is required to include an oxygen-
depletion sensor (ODS) that shuts the unit off if there isn’t
enough fresh air to avoid the danger of carbon monoxide
poisoning. According to the Vent-Free Gas Products Al-
liance, all U.S. gas code groups and 49 states, as well as
British Columbia, Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan,
allow the sale and installation of vent-free appliances.
“Homeowners throughout the United States are discov-
ering that vent-free gas appliances are a smart and eco-
nomical answer for safe supplemental heating,” says Sue
Walker, chairman of the Vent-Free Gas Products
Alliance. “Manufacturers are investing more than ever in
cutting-edge designs and technological breakthroughs that
are exceeding consumer expectations.”
Finally, keep in mind that older gas-fired space heaters
may not have the ODS mechanism, so before you settle in
for a chilly winter, be sure you have a newer model.
“Radiant floor heating is a different heating philosophy. You’re not trying to
heat the room like in a typical forced air system, but the things in it, so it’s
a much more efficient use of energy.”
Most new blue-flame
space heaters are
vent-free and feature
sensors that shut
off the unit if there
isn’t enough fresh
air, thus preventing
the risk of carbon
monoxide poisoning.
Instead of using
forced air, radiant
floors heat objects
in the room, spread-
ing warmth through-
out and adding a
designer touch with
a splash of red color.
Snow melt systems
use the same technol-
ogy to melt ice off
driveways and other
slippery surfaces.
Photo courtesy
of Watts Radiant.
Snow Melt
The same radiant technology used to heat floors is also
used outside — in snow-melt systems that are essential to
getting around on those mornings when overnight ice and
snow make long driveways treacherous.
“It takes about 30 BTUs per square foot, per hour, to
heat the inside of a home,” says Chiles. “Outside, you need
300 BTUs per square foot, per hour. In urban and remote
areas, it’s about safety, and it has definitely become a
growth industry, especially with Baby Boomers.”
Snow-melt systems can be installed underneath drive-
ways, sidewalks, patios, carports and more—basically any-
where there’s a concrete slab. Like radiant floors, they use
hydronic (water) heating systems, melting ice and snow by
circulating a gas-heated solution (usually antifreeze and
water) through tubing underneath. It’s about safety, to be
sure, but it’s also about aesthetics for homeowners whose
driveways are decorative or stamped concrete.
“You can’t get ice out from between those cracks, and
you can’t shovel it,” says Chiles. “A snow melt system gets
rid of ice safely, without the risk of cracking the surface.”
The snow-melt system
underneath this driveway
uses natural gas to heat a
water/Glycol or antifreeze
mix, which is then pushed
through tubing under-
neath the driveway, easily
melting away snow and
ice.
Photo courtesy
of Watts Radiant.