Disturbing Fans--Funny story

[Kevinpreston3]

How about this for an insane heating situation

My best friend's first dwelling was a rental duplex near the beach outside of San Diego. It was built in the mid 70s, and it had a technology where heater cores were BUILT INTO THE FLOORS. It warmed the house through electric radiant heat. This was only tried for a few years, as is my understanding. My friend and his girlfriend used it one winter, and back in the 80s, got a $500 electric bill for one month. From then on, they never used heat! Although warm here in CA, it does get chilly on the beach.

When I was down there, I was always freezing. Even their cats looked like they were going to move to the comparitive warmth of the garage!!!

 

[Kevinpreston3]

Not to be confused with...

The above is not to be confused with hot water heat, which is amazing.

In Denver, we had a system where there was a boiler in the basement. Nothing frightening (the word boiler is off putting), but like a short fat hot water heater. There was a very quiet pump with it.

When you turned the heat on, or it was turned on via thermostat, you would hear a slight water rushing sound thoroughout the house. There were floor radiators that ran along the baseboard of a wall in each room, very nondescript. There were in a white cabinet, and if you looked inside, you would see a copper pipe with radiator fins around it. The whole cabinet and everything stood less than 7" high.

Then like magic, the whole house would warm up. Since there was no blower, you didn't have cold spots and you did not have dust blowing around. It was amazing.

The heating system mentioned in the previous post had coils actually built into the floors, like a big stove. Yech.

 

[kenmore1978]

radiant heat

Electric radiant heat is fairly common here in Southern California, though it's usually in the ceiling, not the floors. Though electricity is fairly inexpensive here (10-12 cents a kilowatt hour) most people tend to turn the thermostat higher than necessary for comfort.

 

[Kevinpreston3]

Kenmore....

I am in LA too, and I know it's around, but I think this was one of the earlier systems. They used it a few times to get that $500 bill in one month, think of what this is in 2005 dollars. The newer ones are probably much more efficient, I think my friend said this was a very early version.

But still, yech, heating coils in the ceiling OR floor, no thanks!

 

[kenmore1978]

electric radiant heat

They aren't really "coils", think of an electric blanket.

Sort of a weird feeling when you walk around the room, hard to describe. The heat is like a "presence", as if there were a "heat ghost" in the house.

 

[toggleswitch]

oh my..

Resistance electric heat here is relatively rare.

Way too expensive of a rate and the KWHs needed here would bankrupt a person....

When seen, electric heat is in small aparmtents.
All-electric homes here just don't sell when put on the market.

 

[kenmore1978]

electric radiant heat

True, even here, I've seen it more in apartments than houses. One of the advantages is that each room has it's own thermostat.

 

[toggleswitch]

When radiant heat here is done (and it's picking up in popularity, it tends to be under ceramic-tiled bathroom floors [renovations] and be heated by a hydronic (hot water) boiler with a fossil fuel (gas or fuel-oil) heat input.

I would have done it under a ceramic basement floor (over concrete) but I did want to lose an inch or two. Every inch counts when you dont have much to work with.

Basement ceilings here are 7.0 feet high rather than a standard 8.0 feet.