We had them (and still do) in the house in which I grew up. They make for great heat. Hot water. Unless they're banging away or hissing! Presumably the new ones don't. It's a good question, though: why would they opt for a separate heating system if they have forced air AC?

Love the (master?) bedroom with the fireplace, the laundry room I'd kill for, the pool, and the pantry with the wood countertop.

Less dust blowing around (at least in winter) and you can have doors that close rooms off properly (i.e. you don't need to ensure air circulation via return), again in winter.

Ah yes, zoned heating.

Love radiant heat over forced air any day. It is less drying, more even heating and you always feel warm through out. Allergy sufferers love radiant heat too because of the blowing of allergens and dust. The ability to zone each area where you have radiant heat is also important for people. Bedrooms can be cooler or warmer depending on your needs. Not having tons of duct work taking up valuable space in a small house is another reason. The boilers for the radiant system can also do double duty and provide hot water for the home.

I have forced heat and air and would love to get rid of it. Unfortunately, I probably won't be able to and will go down to a small mini split system since I am doing a deep energy retrofit and will not need as much heating capacity. Even with the hissing, steam and water based radiant heating systems are beloved. Newer ones don't hiss as much as older steam based systems. The options for radiators have also gotten more stylish and take up less space in the home. You don't have to do radiators. Many people put in floor or ceiling (less popular today) based radiant heating systems so they don't take up physical space in the living space.

I love hot water heat! The tiny little town house that dh & I lived in when first married was built in the 40's and used this type of heat (no radiators, though, the water was in the floors & ceilings.) It was so nice, like being wrapped in a blanket. Moving to our first house with forced air gas heat was a rude awakening. My skin despises that awful dry heat! We had a whole house humidifier installed in our custom home, and it doesn't help as much as I think it should.

Anyway, from the look of the house, perhaps the owners were going for an authentic period look? I don't feel the radiators detract from the design, and they get to enjoy heat w/out forced air!

That house is incredible!! I love that stone floor...

We had rads in a previous home and loved them for all the reasons posted above. Alas, there was no AC in that house and that made me crazy!

I would prefer radiators or radiant heat floors with high velocity air conditioning, if I were building a house from scratch.

All the comments in favor of radiators certainly make sense - but they still have AC so doesn't that mean they still have all of those ducts and vents running throughout the house?

The only thing I could think of is that the radiators give them 14 heating zones so perhaps they close off part of the house and lower the temperature in the winter?

Another fan here of hot water and radiant heating!

I have hot water baseboard heat, and use ductless minisplits for AC. I'm happy with both.

I have forced air, I would prefer floor radiant.

I really wish whole hse air cleaners were more common place w/forced air.

The one downside of radiators, you get no air movement, I can remember being at my sister's apt who had radiators and she was a smoker... you could see the smoke floating in the air forever.

The only way to remedy was open a window or use a fan.

The fan just moved the smoke around.

maire_cate,

You could use mini splits which don't have duct runs through the house. It uses two very small tubes, one for condensate and one for Freon, are connected to each outlet of the minisplit.

I have seen that home on one of the make over shows..perhaps it is so new--and they decided against changing the heating?

What a stunning home!

I'd love to have radiant heat *envy*

With our restoration we went from rads to forced air. Wish I could go back.