Do you keep your radiant floor heat on all the time?

13 years ago

Just turned on our electric radiant floor heating-Nice!! I'm fiddling with the programming and I can't seem to get it right. It takes a LONG time to get to the target temperature-like hours.

I'm sorry but I don't know the brand the bid only says "kit" (oops dropped the ball on this one should have payed better attention.) and our bath is large about 150 square feet.

DH gets up at 5:15 am and he would like the bathroom to be nice and toasty. I shower at 11am. Right now I've got it set for 74 from 5a-noon and 60 from noon until 5a. I guess these things don't use much power so should I keep it on for longer periods of time b/c right now the bathroom doesn't really get nice and toasty until noon. Or I should increase my low temperature?

What do you guys do?

Featured Answer

jacobse

13 years ago

We don't have radiant heat in our floor. (As it's been under 30 every night recently, I may be second-guessing that decision!) Two quick thoughts...

1) Don't assume there's something wrong with your floor heat because it takes longer to warm up that someone else's. Your brand may be different, your contractor may have installed a slightly thicker coating of thinset on top, your tiles may be thicker, your underlying floor may be colder -- lots of reasons for differences from one installation to another.

2) you say your husband get up at 5:15 and wants to find the bathroom nice and toasty, and you have the thermostat going on at 5:00. It's unlikely 15 minutes is enough to get things toasty;I'd guess you need at least 45 minutes or an hour, maybe longer. What I'd suggest is that you test how long it takes to warm up to your satisfaction. You can do this some evening, when the floor is cooled down. turn the heat on manually, and check it at 10 or 15 minute intervals: how long does it get to feel comfortable? Now you know how much before 5:15 to set your timer to turn it on.

-- Eric

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Comments (9)

joyce_6333
13 years ago
Ours is on a thermostat, and heats up early morning and bedtime. Otherwise it's set at 62. It's only in the bathroom.
dedtired
13 years ago
I leave mine on all the time, mostly because I can't figure out how to use the thermostat. Mine is set for 79. I've been told that they don't use much electricity and that it pulls more power to heat it up than to stay heated. I don't know how you tell if that's true.

I have to say that I just love it. After this mornings shower, I hated to leave the bathroom. I also love the toasty floor for late night bathroom trips. Ahhh!
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weedyacres
13 years ago
We leave ours on 80 degrees 24/7, except when we go out of town. I'd say it doesn't take longer than 30 minutes or so to get up to temp when it's been off, so something's wrong with yours.
oldhousegal
13 years ago
I usually only turn mine off in the summer. In the winter, I leave the floor heat on all the time, same temperature unless it gets really cold (that's the teens here in the PNW!), then I will crank it up. I also have a 19 year old cat who spends 90% of his time on that floor in the winter. I leave it on all night long for him, rather than programming it down.

When I did program it though, it only took about 30 minutes to heat up. Can you have an electrician look at yours to make sure it's working correctly?
cat_mom
13 years ago
Ours has a thermostat, too. We left the default temps (88/74) as programmed by the factory, but changed the times to suit our needs/wants. For example, by default, the temp would drop to 74 during the sleep cycle/time. We wanted the floor to remain at 88 for late night trips to the bathroom, so adjusted our thermostats accordingly.

Ours also has a feature (enabled by default, but can be disabled if desired) called "early start" (?) which allows the thermostat to start cranking the heat earlier than the set time, so the floor reaches the set temp by the set time.
dedtired
13 years ago
Mine probably takes 45 minutes to warm up. It's a Warm Tiles Easy Heat or something like that. Of course it will take longer to heat up from very chilly to toasty than from a little cool to toasty. FYI, I am near Philadelphia.
ferrets_x_2
13 years ago
pps7,

We completed a bathroom remodel about 6 months ago and have radiant heat (Suntouch wire) in 2 zones...the vanity/wardrobe/powder room areas and the wetroom area. Our heat also takes h-o-u-r-s to reach temp. We have a lot of mass to heat (soapstone in the 1st zone and large pebble tile in the wetroom), so I imagine a lot of the timing has to do with not only the mass that has to heat up but also what the conditions are under the floor (we're over unconditioned, uninsulated crawlspace).

During the more moderate times of the year (Spring thru Fall) I run the floors at 82Ã¯Â¿Â½, with a set-back to 65Ã¯Â¿Â½ for the wetroom (as we only use it in the evening) and a setback to 72Ã¯Â¿Â½ for the zone 1. I found this Winter that the wetroom wasn't getting up to temp, even after 4 hours, so I now keep both zones at a constant 86Ã¯Â¿Â½ and plan to return to the setbacks when the weather warms for the season.

I don't think what you've described is unusual. I didn't expect instantaneous heat when we opted to install radiant heat, just a nice, even, slow heat that radiates. Ooh, it feels s-o-o-o nice on our tootsies!!

I hope that sets your mind at ease. BTW, I've yet to receive a utility bill since running the floors continuously, hopefully I won't be shocked.
bh401
13 years ago
I left ours in our master bath on 75-85 24/7 except for when the air was on. We never had an issue with leaving it on. I had Thermosoft (I think). DH griped about the expense(my $4000.00 MB remodel turned in to $10,000.00! Lots of tile-labor was more than expected plus $1800.00 vanity top) Anyways, DH quickly shut his trap as he loved the warm toasty floor. We are installing in our current build and it will extend into the closet as well since you have to go through the bath to get to the closet(Get out of the shower-warm and toasty tile to cold tile in closet to get dressed. Nooooooooo!)

Do you keep your radiant floor heat on all the time?

jacobse

Comments (9)

joyce_6333

dedtired

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