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Heating & Air Conditioning

SpeedHeat electric radiant heat mats under carpet

14 years ago

I am considering a retrofit with SpeedHeat electric radiant mats under carpet (over pad), for about 500 square feet. I posted a wiring question on the electrical forum and got some horror stories about the cost to operate radiant systems, but I think these might have been larger hydronic systems with pumps, etc. Has anyone tried this or a similar product?

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Comments (9)

wisehvac
14 years ago
Looks like no one is chiming in. where I live in NJ it cost more to use electric then gas. hydronic water is the way to go. more even heat in house and cheaper then baseboard. only thing that would be better would be solar.
davidro1
14 years ago
under carpet. Huh.

"Over pad." What the wha?

In the bathrooms forum, everyone loves electric heat. There's tile or stone being heated.

I don't believe yo going to put cables on top of the carpet underpadding.
No way!
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You say that energy efficiency is important to you. Resistive electric heat of any kind is about as INefficient as heat gets. Doesn't matter whether it's radiant panels or baseboard units or a portable space heater or an oil filled radiator or your carpet pads. They all produce heat exactly the same way. They all will cost exactly the same amount to heat a room to the same measured temperature. They all are equally inefficient. Now, the heater manufacturers will tell you that their heaters are 100% efficient. And they are. They turn 100% of the electricity coming into them into heat. However, the process that makes the electricity is not 100% efficient. Many power plants burn coal or natural gas. A coal plant typically converts about 35% of the coal's energy into electricity. Usually the remaining 65% goes up the stack as waste heat - heating the outdoors. A natural gas plant is a bit more efficient, typically 50% IIRC (I'm sure someone will correct me if these numbers are outdated or I'm remembering them wrong). Newer power plants better these numbers, especially cogeneration plants where they make use of the waste heat, but they still don't get to 100% or even 90%. And then there is further loss in the transmission lines to your home. So which would you rather do? Heat your house with half of the energy in a cubic foot of natural gas, or heat it with nine-tenths of that energy? A good forced air gas furnace can easily be 95-96% efficient. Even a cheap one is 80% efficient. No contest. A natural gas fired hydronic heating system is just as cozy on the feet as your carpet pads. It may not be quite as efficient as a forced air system (depends on installation) but will still easily be in the 80% range or better. Circumstances can alter the equation, of course. Maybe your electricity is generated not from coal or gas, but from falling water (hydropower) or even wind or solar sources. (We won't discuss nuclear energy so as to not "generate" controversy over that.) Or maybe you don't have natural gas service where you live. That leaves LP gas, coal, wood, and a few other fuels. In a sunny region, solar heating may even be viable for part of your heating needs. And of course there's electric heat. The most efficient electric heat choice might depend on where you live. In cold climates, the most efficient electric heat system is a ground source heat pump ("geothermal" heat). It draws heat from the earth. By the "100% efficient" standard of a baseboard heater maker, a GSHP is typically 350% efficient! That is, 1 kWh of electricity gives you as much heat as 3.5 kWh in a carpet pad like you are considering. The downside of a GSHP is usually a relatively high cost of installation. In a very mild climate, an air exchange heat pump will have almost as good a coefficient of performance (COP) as the GSHP. The colder it gets, the less efficient a conventional heat pump is. As you get close to 0 deg F an air heat pump drops to about the efficiency of baseboard heat or your carpet pads. A conventional heat pump is more costly to install than baseboards or carpet pads, but less than a GSHP. This is really just a start, and we're getting off topic here. I suggest you take this discussion over to the HVAC forum.
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So the approx $1000-$1250 labor charge is to open the box, unroll the mats and lay them on the floor - and then hook up the thermostat to an existing empty circut. That requires someone to run wire through your walls down to the breaker box. And then maybe he is going to do a skim coat over the mats before the tile guy starts (to protect them)? Not sure how much effort it will be to run the wire to your breaker box - and can it be done when the electrican is there to do other wiring or is this a special trip? And then sometimes they charge extra to do something the've never done before - just in case. Maybe its reasonable, and maybe not....
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weedmeister
14 years ago
Yes, way!
penguin_tulip
14 years ago
Actually, I have saved considerably on my heating bills since I started using Speedheat's Rug Buddy. I started with one in the living room and then put them in all of my bedrooms, too. I used to keep my house a toasty 74 - not very green, I know, but I've always ran cold... but now, I only heat the rooms I'm using and keep it at about 68... it's a much different heat than blowing ones... it's like it heats you all the way to your bones or something...

It takes about an hour to get the room up about 20 degrees or so if you cover about 50% or so of the room... about half an hour in the rooms that are 85% covered. Of course, your feet are warm within about 5 minutes, so that's helpful. I use the plug-in stat they have now in the baby room because I care more about the control, but the others, I just put them on a timer.

They have an electrical cost calculator on their site. Just remember that you will use it less than other heaters because of the comfort level difference... and of course, you don't have to heat rooms you aren't using if you don't want to, which saves, too. - I think there are some that were on the market before that were more expensive to run - and I know hydronic is REALLY expensive. My uncle has it in NY, and it takes a pretty penny... I told him to just do this, but I haven't convinced him yet. lol

Here is a link that might be useful: Speedheat's Running Cost Calculator
bus_driver
14 years ago
penguin tulip registered for Garden Forum today to shill for these mats. As the Italians would say, Stronzata!
david_cary
14 years ago
Totally agree with Bus Driver - what do these people think? Do they think people are that gullible? Do they think that knowledgable people will not call them out on their crap?

Hydronic is far better than electric resistant mats and far more expensive (but far cheaper to run...)
penguin_tulip
14 years ago
You're right. I'm a shill... and everyone else is that says how they love the heaters on Facebook and all over the Internet, too. - and of course, simple math won't tell you how much energy they use either.

Here's another energy cost calculator if you would like to use a different one... of course, they may be in on the master plan to fool you, too... so you might try Google.

Ok... off to shill some more... it's exhausting, really.

Here is a link that might be useful: Generic Electrical Energy Cost Calculator
rileysmom17
Original Author
14 years ago
Hey penguin thanks for your info. I'm not getting such a strong warming effect but I'm still "learning the system". With the thermostat controlling only the floor temp, it spends 50% of the time 'off' during a given warming period. Like if I set the floor to 95 degrees, it will heat it to around 100, let it cool to about 92, then cycle again. I think I'm going to switch over to a thermostat that targets room air temp as opposed to floor temp (it does have a max floor temp sensor so I don't burn the place down). Obviously this will require more energy, but as long as I am breaking even with the heat pump turned off I'm happy.
francissr
12 years ago
Hey rileysmom17, how have the speedheat mats worked out for you? We are considering doing the same thing in one bedroom that is colder than the rest. I have heard they are expensive to maintain. Do you think that is true? Are you happy with your mats?

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