Electric Radiant Heat in Bathrooms

15 years ago

Looking for some of that GardenWeb experience in picking a brand for the electric radiant heat on the bathrooms of our new build. DH will be installing and we're leaning toward the cable systems, though haven't ruled out using the mat-type.

Found Nuheat, Thermasoft, and Watts Radiant (SunTouch)and basically looking for criteria to base a decision on other than price. Watts, I understand, is made in the USA, that's a plus. And my next step is to read up on the Controls as I can see simplicity in a programable control being a plus.

What other criteria should I look for? Do you have experience that one brand is better than the next?

Thank you.

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Comments (6)

chisue
15 years ago
No brand comparison help here, but FWIW we have NuHeat under the porcelain tile in our M-bath and have had zero problems over seven years of use.

Due to a poor excuse of a HVAC installer, the north rooms in our house do not have enough heat from the forced-air furnace. The 'cure' for our north rooms has been to install a small gas-fired boiler and tubing under the floors of those rooms. These are now the most comfortable rooms in the house, with the most even heat. I'm sorry the whole house doesn't have this system! (We could have skipped the NuHeat, too.) This is quite inexpensive to run -- could have been combined with our water heater had we known of the problem and not had to retrofit.
rileysmom17
15 years ago
I have SunTouch (bought through Lowes) works great. DO spend the extra money on the programmable thermostat unless the bathroom is used throughout the day.
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I LOVE our electric radiant heat. I went to the warmly yours website and emailed them the drawings of our renovated bathroom. They faxed back a customized drawing of their mats installed in our configuration. The install was pretty simple since the contractor exactly follows their directions but electrician must come out for connection and contoller installation. Our bathroom is a slate floor installed over a garage. Every now and then, I'll slide my foot under the vanity (where there is no mat) and feel the icy cold tile and smile that our feet are toasty warm. It's one of my favorite things we did and does not noticably increase our electric bill. (There is even an "on vacation" setting on the control to override and not warm the floor at the custom times.) Best money we spent on the renovation. As far as the install going south. They include (free) a tool that is an alarm that goes off if ANY wire is compromised either during the mat or tile installation so it's almost impossible to not correct it before the floor is finished. (We had no problems but it's nice to know it's there for a fail safe...) Love it. Love it. Love it.
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Thanks again for all of your comments and ideas - the give and take of your posts provide us with great insights and ideas which will help us eventually choose the right system for our situation. Hubby found the DYI attachment interesting, but as an overworked aerospace engineer he just doesn't have the heart to tackle a DYI project of this size. (Over 1000 hours of overtime last year, similar amounts for the previous five years, and no end in sight! We joke this is our dream house money.) We did a major remodel of our own master bath four years ago, which included installing electric radiant heat, and it took two years, partially due to hubby's lack of time and partially due to the fact his engineer training meant every thing had to be perfect! Slows everything way down! :-) (Our current plan is to have the shell of the home, plumbing, and wiring done for us, and then we'll tackle as much of the interior work as we can ourselves, over time.) The JAGA site has some beautiful options (I love the scrolled radiator), but had my heart set on in-floor heat since this will be a small home with small rooms and would prefer to keep our wall space open. Just out of curiosity why is clay soil considered not good for geothermal? (I can't remember where I had read clay soils were preferred over dry, sandy soils.) I want to make sure I'm fairly well informed if and when we start to talk to geothermal installers. We may rule that option out entirely if it appears to be a problematic option for our property. Right now I'm really leaning towards the soapstone/masonry fireplace idea, and a combination of electric radiant in-floor heat (in tiled places where we might like heat year round, like the bathrooms) and hydronic radiant heat in rooms with wood flooring. Just need to figure out what will be the best way for us to heat and circulate that water. (If we use the fireplace to partially heat the water will we need a boiler or could a tankless or regular water heater handle the load?)
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bob_cville
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I put heating mats from Warmly Yours in our kitchen remodel and am really happy with the system. One suggestion I heard after I finished is to install two thermostat sensors in the tile, run the wire for both of them to the box where the programmable thermostat is, but only hook up one of them.

Then later in the unlikely event of a sensor failure, you can simply unhook the bad sensor, and hook up the already-installed spare, which will be much easier than tearing up tiles to install a new sensor.

I have no idea how likely a sensor is to go bad, but this seemed like a really good idea to spend a tiny amount now and save a bundle in the future.
bus_driver
15 years ago
I used Elektra (yes, imported, Poland, Denmark). Installed it and the tile myself. Cost less than half the price of the big name brands. The sensor with mine is in a small conduit that is installed under the tile and runs back to the wall box. Takes about 5 minutes to pull out the old sensor and install new one. I have not yet had to do so.
david-installer
15 years ago
I installed Nuheat in the past and found it to be SO longer to install compared to mesh system ( you have to put mortar twice!). They also are very expensive! I tried Warmly yours, Suntouch and Thermosoft. They all are much easier to install. However, Suntouch and Warmly yours are far more expensive than Thermosoft. Warmly yours also does not make it here. It is made in India. I also found that customers are looking for No EMF products nowadays, since EMF can affect health and electronics... Warmly Yours and Nuheat have huge EMF, even though they claim that they don't... Get Gaussmeter from Home depot and check it yourself... I use Thermosoft now and all my customers are happy for years already with the price, quality and NO EMF thing they have. Their product is of very good quality, good prices and made in States (not in India, Poland or China... ) . So far, I also had very good customer service with them and extra discounts for the repeated orders.
bus_driver
15 years ago
david might be advertising. He registered today.

Electric Radiant Heat in Bathrooms

Comments (6)

chisue

rileysmom17

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