I am thinking about doing an upgrade and wanted to try the product. If anyone has this I would appreciate their advice.
I want to know:
1) what to expect from a cost standpoint? Is this a better deal? 2) differences in installing over a wood subfloor versus concrete 3) Would you ever heat larger areas with this as opposed to just a bathroom or kitchen, or possibly the entire house. The house I want to do this on is in the country and uses LP to heat a boiler to push water through baseboards and that is very pricey, so I am thinking that even electricity would be less expensive and considering going to solar in a few years as well. 4) And finally If I have a room that is 10 x 10, do you want to cover every inch or is a 9 x 9 pad good enough and leave the edges clear?
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I've never heard of electric radiant floor heating. But I live in New England, and electric heat in any form is pretty rare here. Electric heat is just way more expensive than gas or oil heat, even with a break on the rates from the electric company. YMMV.
If you're looking for solar powered heat, you may want to keep the baseboards or go with forced hot water radiant heating. It's much more efficient and cost effective to use solar hot water to heat your house than PV. Solar hot water modules are a lot cheaper than PV for the same amount of watts (or BTUs/hr).
FWIW, I have a 3.5 kW grid-tied PV system and gas forced hot air heat and gas hot water. Now is a great time to get in on solar PV. The Federal tax credit used to be 30% capped at $2000, but for 2009, it no longer has a cap, so it's a straight 30% installed cost tax credit.
YMMV on gas/oil vs. electric heat cost. I suspect the variable is regional, as I have electric heat in Northern Indiana and am getting by MUCH cheaper than those heating with gas. The key is that while electricity has gone up, gas has skyrocketed to the point of being insane.
Regardless, this sure is a good time to have solar heat.
I should add that I live in Colorado. Electric seems to be pretty cheap here and if I do solar than I am thinking that getting electric would be a slam dunk. The house is in a rural location and needs LP delivery every few months. I think the heating costs have been close to 2500 per winter, which I should be able to beat with electricity.
Here in MA, electricity is $0.18/kWh. Cheaper electricity extends the payback time for solar.
I think you need to talk to a solar installer before you go any further. http://www.findsolar.com/ is a good place to start. Get at least two quotes.
You ought to take a look at the difference between solar electric (photo-voltaic, or PV) vs solar thermal (solar heating). http://www.findsolar.com/Content/SolarThermal.aspx
Using the sun to generate electricity, then turning that back in to heat, is a nonstandard way to heat with solar energy. The preferred method is to use the sun to heat a liquid (typically glycol) which then heats a big tank of water, which can then be used to heat the house, in radiant floor heating for example. This is often better because the components are a lot more efficient (you get more heat from the same amount of space on your roof) and cheaper (you get a lot more heat for the same amount of money invested), so the payback is a lot faster.
But sometimes rebates and tax credits make PV more attractive than solar thermal. This varies from state to state. This is why you should speak with a local solar installer.
if i do sol it is going to be PV. the house doesn't sit on a concrete slab, so I can't heat that all day and then let it slowly let the heat out all night.
I appreciate the help on solar, but I am really looking for help with electric radiant heating.
I don't know if they still sell it, but at one time on Costco.com you could buy the electric elements to install. Obviously you would still have to install it yourself or hire someone to do it. I don't have any personal experience with it but I don't think it's really meant to help heat a room...only to make it warm for when you walk on it like getting out of bed or in a bathroom. You might want to start with a google search.
I think based on the feedback, I am going to go with solar thermal now to heat the house and put electric radiant heating for the bedrooms, bathroom and kitchen. The electric is much cheaper at night and you can set the kitchen to start heating at 5 or 6 am so it is doesn't warm all night and is nice a toasty when you decide to get up in the morning.
The solar heating is pretty cheap (sub $2000) so I can wait on the PV until the efficiency increases, which is exactly what I want to do.
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