In loving memory of Kenis D. Keathley 6/4/81 - 3/27/22 Loving father, husband, brother, friend and firewood hoarder Rest in peace, Dexterday

Electric Floor Heat

Discussion in 'The DIY Room' started by SloMoJoe, Feb 10, 2021.

  1. SloMoJoe

    SloMoJoe

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    I'm getting ready to remodel my bathrooms, and was considering radiant floor heat in the master bath. It would be the electrical flavor, as it's not worth trying for hydronic heat for just one room. I'd only have the floor heat run for a couple of hours in the morning, and maybe another couple of hours at night.

    My wood stove (a FireView) is centrally located in what I think of as the main living area of the house, an large open room of about 1,000 square feet that contains the kitchen, family room, dining room, and a sun room addition. The wood stove keeps this area a comfortable 70+ degrees. When that area is 70 degrees, the master bedroom (down a short hall) is usually about 8-10 degrees cooler, so let's say 60 degrees. I'm fine with that. The master bath is several degrees cooler than that, so I run an electrical heater in there for an hour or so in the morning. Master bedroom is NE corner of the house, master bath is SE corner of the house, so they both have plenty of outside wall area.

    Question is, do any of you have electrical floor heat? If so, does it do much to heat the room, or is it just to keep the toes warm? Would I still end up running the space heater in the master bath?
     
  2. TurboDiesel

    TurboDiesel

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    Schluter makes a pretty neat membrane/tile backer/heat system
     
  3. Eric VW

    Eric VW Moderator

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    You’re a schluter... :rofl: :lol:

    SloMoJoe - unless you run that electric radiant for a looooong time, toes will probably be the only thing warmed.
     
  4. SloMoJoe

    SloMoJoe

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    Thanks for the suggestion and the answer. I have an electric rug in there for some testing, and have a feeling that the warm floor makes it feel warmer than it is, so might go ahead anyways, knowing that I'll still use the kicker heater.
     
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  5. Jack Straw

    Jack Straw

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    I’m a son of a Schluter from my mother’s side! That made her a mother Schluter. My uncle never married so he Shlutered himself.
     
  6. Canadian border VT

    Canadian border VT

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    Think of an electric heated floor like heated seat and steering wheel in a vehicle. Do they warm the car? Not really!
    Do you really like them when you have them? YES
     
  7. SloMoJoe

    SloMoJoe

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    Well, at least the heated seat helps keep the take out pizza, right? Maybe a degree or two?

    I have the heated seats. They're nice for about 5 minutes for me, before they get too warm. I have a feeling that I'd get more use out of a heated steering wheel than the heated seats. Or at least use it over a greater range of temperatures.

    Appreciate the comparison.
     
  8. Lennyzx11

    Lennyzx11

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    I’m in the middle of a enlarging and total rebuild remodeling our master bedroom bathroom myself and have been looking at systems.
    So far. Everyone tells me that I’ll need additional heat.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
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  9. MikeInMa

    MikeInMa

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  10. lukem

    lukem

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    Electric heated floors, unless ran nearly continuously, will only make your feet feel good when you walk barefoot on the tile. It won't do much for heating the room.
     
  11. PA Mountain Man

    PA Mountain Man

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    My experience with radiant heat is with water piped thru the concrete floor or installed under plywood subfloors. But after reading up on the electric versions it comes down to the same basics. Heat loss from the room must be calculated first. There are online calculators for this. If you are doing hard surface on the floor and at least some of the walls for a shower you should be able to get enough square footage of radiant electric heat to heat the room. It will take longer to bring the room up to temperature but with the use of a programmable T-stat you can keep the room at 65 and program in your 72 degree time periods.
    Schluter has a good system. I've worked with commercial flooring contractors and this is their preferred system.
     
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  12. SloMoJoe

    SloMoJoe

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    I picked up an electric rug to try out. Basically the electric heating element for a heated floor, but intended to go under a rug. Feels kind of cheap, so not sure that it will last long, but It does make the feet feel nice and warm, and does nothing to heat the room.

    That being said, while the thermometer says that it does nothing for heating the room, it almost creates a perceived warmth. Maybe your feet tell your brain that it's warm, so the room doesn't feel quite so cool. I think I'll be trying out a heated floor when I re-do that room, even if it gives me no real temperature increase.

    Thanks for the advice on it, everyone.
     
  13. Eric VW

    Eric VW Moderator

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    The feet get the blood going thru them, so heat is transferred inevitably. True in-floor radiant allows the room air temp (with less drafty leaks too) to be lower compared to other heating applications because your feet and/or your bum receive heat by conduction when standing or sitting.
     
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  14. Semipro

    Semipro

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    I think there's a lot to this.
    Our master bath is quite cold, sometimes in the 50s. We like it cold when we sleep. (edit: we don't sleep in the bathroom ;))
    When we're in the shower/tub we feel warm because of the hot water. Then we dress and get ready in front of a radiant quartz tube heater. The time spent between the tub/shower and in front of the heater feels like camping but dressing in front of the heater feels great.
    Our EV has a heated steering wheel and heated seats as well as a forced air heat pump. It feels like the warmest car we've ever driven and it gets that quickly because we're not waiting on the engine to heat up - an advantage we never anticipated.
     
    Last edited: Mar 2, 2021
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  15. SloMoJoe

    SloMoJoe

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    Sounds like my bathroom is about like yours, down to the mid 50's. Since I'm tearing up the tile anyways, the heated floor seems to make sense. Very tempted to try soapstone tile, in fact.

    I have the heated seats, but not the heated steering wheel. If I had to choose, I think I'd take the steering wheel over the heated seats. It's got to be pretty cold before I can keep the heated seats on longer than a couple of minutes, but I could see appreciating the heated steering wheel in warmer temps, and keeping it on for longer.
     
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  16. Lennyzx11

    Lennyzx11

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    A box of Schluter Ditra heat showed up on the porch today.
    It’ll be a couple of weeks before installation though. Gotta tile the shower first.
    Though I removed the steam radiator per Her Majesty’s decree, I’m leaving the floor pipe in place and capped off for now just in case I need to reinstall one.

    I’ll report back.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
  17. Semipro

    Semipro

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    I've used the Schluter uncoupling membrane under ceramic tile in a bathroom and it was great to work with and seems to work well.
     
  18. Canadian border VT

    Canadian border VT

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    I also like the Schluter membrane
     
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  19. JackHammer

    JackHammer

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    Infra red is something I have been looking into for when I re-do my bathroom. They have panels that go in saunas or ceramic fixtures that screw in light soclkets. There is no visible light but they can give off a lot of heat. They also clean the air, remove mold, and remove toxins from your body. Trendy hot yoga studios use these sometimes. I was thinking to do a light above the shower or maybe in a wall mount.
     
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  20. Semipro

    Semipro

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    This used to be a common feature in hotels. An infrared bulb on the ceiling was used for heat. Unfortunately it heats the top of your head pretty well but your bottom half stays cold.