By Richard Threthewey

No matter where I seem to go, the question I always get asked is "Does that radiant heating really work?" I have been advocating the use of radiant heating since I installed it in my own kitchen in 1986. What was once the coldest room in our house is now an oasis of comfort. Frankly, there is no better heating method.

Today, the vast majority of American homes are heated or cooled using ductwork in a forced hot air system, a reality driven by the low cost for the home builder in colder climates and the need for air conditioning in the hotter ones. In one recent survey I read, seven out of ten Americans were totally unhappy with their heating systems, complaining that they are too noisy, too dusty or just plain uncomfortable. These systems rely on air movement and are generally oversized, which causes the furnace to turn noisily on and off, on and off, in rapid succession. This is not the case with radiant heating.

What makes radiant different? Conventional hot water baseboard or forced hot air blow heat into a room at temperatures of 130 degrees or higher. This light hot air rises above the heavier cold, making your head fell warm and your feet chilly. No matter how high you turn the thermostat, the hot air will keep on rising. With radiant floor heat, the floor warms up gradually to a maximum of 85 degrees Fahrenheit and then acts as a huge radiator, keeping our toes comfortably warm and our heads comfortably cool. To most people's surprise, radiant heating isn't new. The ancient Romans used it in their elaborate public baths—like the one dating from 40 AD that I visited during This Old House's London project—gymnasiums and meeting halls. These early radiant systems, called hypocausts, had false floors over fire chambers and ductwork that gently heated the stone floors, warming these soaring halls.Korean royal palaces and, to a lesser extent, residences used this same principle as late as the 19th century.

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