Electric floor heat is now becoming much more popular as a means of heating a home in certain climates when heating is only required in the morning and a few hours at night.
In most cases, it has been found that electric is more favorable than hydronics when it comes to heating flooring if heating small areas of a home.
If you are planning to heat the entire home then hydronics is a better option.
There are several advantages of electric floor heat over hydronic heating systems.
Hydronics will elevate your floor by a couple of inches, while a thin electric system only elevates the floor by an eighth of an inch.
Hydronics are placed in the cement and usually take several hours to heat up sufficiently.
Therefore, they consume more energy that electric floor heat mats.
The mats are installed in thin set cement, just under the particular flooring material.
They take quite a bit less time to heat up and thus use less energy.
Electric floor heat mats are quite similar to electric blankets.
They are controlled by a timer-thermostat with an in-floor sensor.
They are made of heat resistant wire.
This product is quite easy to install and it is safe and energy efficient as well.
As far as the maintenance of these systems goes, there are no actual moving parts, thus there is no maintenance.
The Hydronic systems circulate water continuously and use valves and manifolds.
These manifolds and valves are known to be prone to mechanical and maintenance problems.
Once the electric floor heat system is installed, you cannot see it because it is hidden under your floor, you can also hide the thermostat in a closet somewhere because it functions through a sensor in the floor and does not measure the temperature of the air in the home.
When doing your research on electric floor heat mats, make sure you select a vendor that can design a layout that meets your needs and is customized to your particular floor plan.
Paying attention to details in your design will save you time and money during and after the installation.