Radiant Floors Cost
You want the comfort of radiant floor heatingin the basement or garage of your new home or addition but feel that you can't afford it.You are a do-it-yourself type who doesn't mind a little work.So with that in mind, lets take a look at what the costs are for electric and hydronic radiant heating systems.
Radiant Floors Costs
Radiant floors cost differ largely. Prices vary with the size of the project, the type and quality of equipment, and also with the type of system.
The several radiant heating systems have very different initial and running costs.
1- Hydronic / liquid floor heating;
2- Electric floor heating;
3- Radiant Panel Heating
Electric Radiant Heating System:
The initial investment on a Radiant electric floor or on a Radiant Panel for a single room is much lower than the cost of a Hydronic Radiant Heating system for that same room.
Radiant Floors Cost (Electric floor) prices
It is a common misconception that electric radiant floor heating will increase your energy bill. Electric radiant floor heating is by far more efficient than other floor heating systems. Unlike forced air systems, it doesn't waste heat being forced through the ducts nor does it waste heat rising to the ceiling. Because you will feel warmer with electric radiant floor heating, you can set the thermostat at a lower temperature.
Electric radiant floor heating systems let you enjoy the luxury of warm floors in your bathrooms, kitchen, basement or anywhere in your home - while reducing energy costs up to 50%. Adding radiant warmth where you need it most -- near the floor and living spaces, not the ceiling.
You should expect to spend $300 to $400 to install an electric system for warming a small bathroom. An equivalent hydronic system would run $4,000 to $5,000. Electric floor-warming systems can operate on less than a penny per square foot per day if electricity costs around 6 cents per kilowatt hour.
Now given the information above, you get a general idea of how much an electric radiant floor will cost you. The exact cost will depend on who you buy the materials from, weather you install it yourself or hire someone to do it for you and the cost of electricity in your area.
Of course, the deciding factor in whether to choose an electric system is usually cost. How do you determine when an electric radiant floor is cost-effective? That's a difficult question. The variables are the cost of the 10-15 watts of electricity per square foot of floor area the system uses, how often the system will be running, the efficiency of the boiler you would be using if you had opted for a hydronic system and the cost of fuel for that boiler.
A big advantage of hydronic systems is the flexibility of the fuel source. You can use gas, oil, electricity and even solar energy. Plus, you can change fuels for the price of a new boiler. With electric cables, you'll save the cost of a boiler, but you can't change fuel sources. Special heating or off-peak rates available in some areas can make electricity equivalent to, or even less expensive than, fossil fuels.
Hydronic Radiant Floors Cost of Heating:
Costs
An approximate cost of an installed hydronic radiant floor heating system by a licensed mechanical contractor can range from $6 to $12 per square foot. By making this a do it yourself project, costs can range from $3 to $6 per square foot or less than half of a contractor quoted system.
This cost can be more or less depending on specific heating requirements and energy efficiency results. In addition to the heating system, a mechanical ventilation system is required in the house.
Lifespan
While the heat source in a properly maintained system can last for as long as 30 to 40 years, PEX pipes set in the floor are expected to last more than 50 years. (Some test results indicate life expectancies of 200-300 years.) Can your existing system last that long?
Energy-Efficiency
Radiant floor heating is more economical to operate because the temperature setting may be set lower to 65ºF rather than the usual 70-72ºF providing the same level of comfort. Energy losses are less because no stratification exists. The warmest part of a radiant system is at the floor level rather than at ceiling levels for forced air systems.
Zoning a variety of rooms with the options for different temperatures significantly reduces energy consumption. All electric homes promoted in the 70s and early 80s by electric utilities saved energy due to the ability to zone and control the temperature of each room individually.
However if the homeowner kept the same temperature setting in each room the energy costs were exorbitant. It was the ability of the home to zone each temperature setting and adjust for occupancy which was the primary benefit of cost savings. Also electric homes were required to have higher levels of insulation. Those two factors were the cost savings of all electric homes, not the price of the energy. Employing the benefit of individual zoning and control of each room temperature for occupancy in floor radiant heating systems is the largest energy cost saving feature.
Energy Source Compatibility
Since radiant floor heating has a low operating temperature, a wide range of sources can be used to heat the water-a condensing boiler, a geothermal heat pump or solar.
Selecting Your System Based on (ROI) Return On Investment
Do not use price as your guideline for determining which system is best for you.
Payback is the main criteria which should be used when determining which system makes sense for you. To determine payback you will need four items:
(1.) 1 or 2 Competitive quotes from HVAC contractors for the exact type of system you've selected at the same efficiency with the same features and benefits.
(2.) Your existing system efficiency.
(3.) Your energy consumption for the past 2 to 3 years.
(4.) Your present energy costs.
By taking the quote form a contractor and comparing this to the cost of the system provided by DESCO and then adding the cost for the final start up you will have the payback or money saved as a result of making this a do it yourself project. By determining the previous energy consumption and existing system efficiency we can then compare this cost to the now energy costs and reduction in energy consumption you will enjoy from the new HVAC system.
Radiant Floors Cost:
Example:
Homeowner Sam wants to replace his existing HVAC system. Sam has selected a dual fuel system with 14 Seer (Solutions for Energy Efficient Results) efficiency on the air conditioning, 8.0 HSPF efficiency for the heat pump's heating and 95% efficiency for the gas furnace with 2 stage and variable speed furnace.
Sam's present system is a gas furnace with standard air conditioning. The air conditioning is rated at 8 Seer when it was new, so we allow for losses of heat transfer till today and decrease this conservatively to 7 Seer. The gas furnace has an 80% operating efficiency, but no AFUE rating because the furnace is too old and that ratting didn't exist then. So we've conservatively determined the AFUE (Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency) at 73%. Sam had two quotes for a dual fuel system from local HVAC contractors with one at $8700 and another at $10,200. Sam has a quote from a company selling a kit for $2,800 for the complete materials he will need to do the job. Sam also has a price from a licensed HVAC technician for the final hook up and start up of the system for $500. Sam's cost to do his own installation will cost him $3,000. Sam has also added an additional $200 to this figure for incidental materials he may have overlooked for a grand total of $3,200.
For this project Sam will save $8,700 minus $3,200 or $5,500. Sam's energy usage and costs for his existing system were calculated to be $1,650 at today's energy costs. Sam's cooling costs were calculated to be $1,260 for the existing system at today's energy costs. These figures are exact because they are based on a known history of energy usage using the costs of energy today.
Sam's new dual fuel system will reduce his heating costs by 53.5% for heating and exactly 50% for cooling.
The furnace on Sam's dual fuel system has two stages with variable speed and a high performance heat pump. Sam will save 53.5% of $1,650 or $882.75 on heating costs. Sam will also save 50% on cooling costs which was simply the efficiency difference of the older existing system and compared to the new efficiency which is 50% greater.
Sam will save 50% of $1,260 or $630. Total energy saved is $1,512.75 per year. So Sam has a system that has an overall savings of $5,500 in contractor savings and $1,512.75 in energy savings for a total savings the first year of $7,012.75.
In related time this system has an ROI (Return On Investment) or will pay for itself in 5.5 months. This is determined by taking the cost of the system complete at $3,200 divided by $7,012.75 which is the contractor quoted system plus the first year energy savings.
If you want to also look at this from an energy conservation payback time, we will then take the cost of the system complete at $3,200 divided by the total energy savings at $1,512.75 per year and the payback period is 2 years and 1 month.
Another perspective view on this installation would be if Sam opted to have a contractor do the installation. Based on these costs and the same energy savings we take the $8,700 contractor costs and divide this by the $1,512.75 and Sam would see a 5 year and 9 month return on his investment.
Although this isn't a bad return on investment, the 5-1/2 month payback is far better. The dual fuel system ROI and information provided is typical, and actually conservative. These are normal payback times homeowners would see for a dual fuel systems.
AS SEER Solutions for Energy Efficient Results reminds you: The best investment you can make is on your street, not on Wall Street!
Imagine if you had this type of investment opportunity on Wall Street. Everybody would jump at the chance to make this kind of return on their investment. But Wall Street has high risks. This is a guaranteed safe investment which will continue to save you money with a return on investment year after year that only grows more as energy costs continue to rise. The only risk to this investment is if energy costs decreased and continued to decrease continually. Any chance of that happening?