Plumbing Innovations, Inc.

Forced air heating systems use an oil, gas or electric furnace to heat air which simply gets blown throughout the house via ducting. Occupants of the home experience “warmth” by coming into contact with the warm air. Radiant heat is different in that it does not heat the air, but heats the objects in the room (such as people) with invisible infrared radiant energy.

Radiant heat is produced by infrared energy that is transmitted from a heat source in the same way that heat energy travels from our sun.

Infrared energy moves through the air and converts to heat when it strikes a solid object, such as a person, sofa, book or table. Radiant heat systems are the best choice for large homes with high ceilings, large rooms, and big windows. The hot air from central forced air systems rises to the ceiling, so if the house has high ceilings, virtually none of the heat stays with the building occupants. By contrast, radiant floor heating systems produce heat from the floor upwards, heating the objects in the lower half of the room with infrared energy.