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from Joyce in Green Bay, WI:
#829
I am building a 500 square-foot studio, and I'd like to put radiant heat in the slab. Can I use a water heater instead of a boiler to heat the glycol solution in the system?
Water heaters can be used for radiant systems but not efficiently
A water heater can be used to provide the heat for a radiant system. Unfortunately the stand by loss of a water heater will reduce its efficiency to less than that of a standard efficiency boiler, the water heater may not have the btu output you need to effectively heat the space (although not likely in this application) and you will need to follow some very specific rules regarding the type, listing, and use of the water heater for a space heating application.
Published Tuesday, March 22, 2011