Solar Water Heating Radiant Floor Superinsulated House

Ecohome is in the process of building our next demonstration low energy house and to do so we have partnered.

Solar water heating radiant floor superinsulated house.

If you have a hydronic radiant in floor heating system your solar hot water can then be used to heat your home. Normally a large solar heated storage tank with electric gas or oil backup supplies hot water to the radiant system and most often provides for domestic needs as well. A well designed passive solar home first reduces heating and cooling loads through energy efficiency strategies and then meets those reduced loads in whole or part with solar energy. Because of the small heating loads of modern homes it is very important to avoid oversizing south facing.

After considering the pros and cons of the very popular ductless minisplit the author decided a hydronic radiant floor heating system was a better choice. Read all about it. This is the best case because it means you can use solar for all of your heating needs. Many hydronic systems use the same system to heat both the fluid for the in floor heat and your hot water supply.

Ecohome s new demo house will be a slab on grade with solar radiant floor heating powered by air tubes heated with air solar panels ingenious. Passive solar design takes advantage of a building s site climate and materials to minimize energy use. Earlier solar heating systems would first heat a storage tank and then distribute the stored heat with radiant heating tubes. Hydronic radiant floor heating.

Ideal for boosting passive house heating in cold climate zones. Solar water heaters are commonly used as heat sources for radiant floor systems in regions where an abundant solar resource is available. At the very least radiant heating reduces your carbon footprint. The solar system can directly offset a portion of the fuel required to heat the water for the radiant floor system by at least 30 when compared to conventional forced air systems.

When solar energy is used directly to provide radiant heat the radiant floor system cannot be used by the backup heating system as this use would compromise the solar storage. Both the solar system and the radiant floor systems are environmentally friendly due to the saving they provide in the consumption of fossil fuels. So the attraction of a solar system also goes up dramatically because you get much cheaper hot water per btu.