Outdoor Furnaces for In-Floor & Baseboard Heating: A Guide

If you’re looking for an efficient, cost-effective way to heat your home, consider the benefits of burning an outdoor furnace and installing radiant floor heating or hydronic baseboard heaters.

In this guide, we will discuss the benefits of both and how to maximize warmth and savings.

 

under floor heating

Floor Heating

Radiant floor heating is, like its name suggests, located on the floor and delivers heat directly from the heated surface to the people and objects in a room. Depending largely on convection, radiant flooring provides even heat throughout a room and can be used under tile, concrete, carpet, hardwood, or laminate floors. Radiant in-floor heat is quiet and offers a warm even temperature that can provide up to 30 percent more efficient heat to your home.

Because it doesn’t require ductwork, radiant heat flooring is an efficient way to heat a home and can be used in conjunction with other types of heating, such as forced-air furnaces and baseboard heaters. This is a good option for home additions to avoid the cost of running more ductwork into the space.

Different Types of Floor Heating Systems

Like baseboard heating, there are two types of radiant heat flooring: electric or hydronic. 

Electric Radiant Floor Heating

Electric radiant floor heating systems are one of the most common types of radiant heat and use electric cables or mats to warm the surface of the floor. These systems are easy to install and can be used in a variety of applications, including new construction and retrofits. One downside to electric radiant floor heating is that it can be expensive to operate, especially in places where electricity cost is high and winters are cold.

Hydronic Radiant Floor Heating

The most effective type of floor heating is hydronic because it is cost-effective. Hydronic radiant floors depend on a liquid being pumped from an outdoor boiler through tubing that is installed in the ground and floor of your room. When the fluid circulates, it warms the surface of the floor and people standing or walking on it through radiant heat. Hydronic radiant heating systems are popular because they distribute heat evenly and quietly to homes, garages, barns, and more. They also last longer than electric systems. When used with an outdoor furnace for heating floors like HeatMasterss G series, a hydronic radiant floor system can be an extremely cost-effective way to heat your home.

Installing Floor Heating

Radiant floor heating has two different types of installation: wet installation and dry installation. The tubing can be embedded in a concrete slab through “wet installation” when the home is built or placed on top of the subfloor in “dry installation” under a newly finished floor surface. A radiant floor heating system can be used with a variety of flooring materials, including tile, stone, laminate, and hardwood floors. However, it is important the floor be insulated underneath.

 

baseboard heaters

 

Baseboard Heating

Baseboard heaters are a cost-efficient way to heat your home because they evenly distribute heat throughout the room.

Electric Baseboard Heating

Electric baseboards are connected to the home electrical system and work as independent units, with coils warming the air. They can quickly warm the air but don’t retain heat and need to stay on for the room to be warm, which can get more expensive.

Hydronic Baseboard Heating

Hydronic heaters work by warming water that radiates heat throughout the room. With hydronic baseboard heaters, rooms stay warm longer because the fluid retains the heat. Radiant heat baseboards take a bit longer to heat up but pay off in up to 40 percent higher efficiency than forced-air heating.

Hydronic heat baseboards are an excellent option for heating your home with an outdoor furnace. The outdoor boiler heats and circulates hot water through Rhinoflex insulated underground pipes and into the hydronic baseboard heaters in each room, warming your home efficiently and saving you money on rising energy prices. 

Installing Baseboard Heating

Baseboard heating allows homeowners to create multiple zones, adjusting room temperature based on room usage. Baseboard heating is usually plumbed through the walls or under the floor joist using Pex pipe. 

Using a Rhinoflex pipe system outside, however, between your home and the outdoor furnace will reduce heat loss and keep your hydronic heating loop free of oxygen that causes rust. 

Benefits of Radiant In-Floor Heating and Hydronic Baseboard

Both radiant in-floor and hydronic baseboard heating systems have significant benefits to homeowners, especially when paired with an outdoor furnace:

 

 

 

How HeatMasterss Outdoor Furnace Can Work for You!

Time is a commodity that you can’t get back, which is why HeatMasterSS engineers design outdoor furnaces to make your life easier. Our furnaces are made to last, with Titanium-enhanced stainless steel that resists corrosion, can withstand higher continuous temperatures and transfers more heat to save you fuel. And our dedicated staff members are continually researching new and innovative ways to improve and perfect our furnaces.

As you consider installing radiant in-floor heating or baseboard heaters, it’s good to know that your outdoor furnace is backed by an extensive network of local, professional dealers.

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