Improving Indoor Air Quality for Asthma and Allergy Sufferers

Did you know that a radiant heated floor system, in addition to saving you money on your monthly gas bill, offers added health benefits? If you experience sniffing, sneezing and wheezing associated with asthma and allergies during the winter and early spring months, your furnace may be the culprit. Radiant heat is a practical, affordable alternative to forced air systems, and a great way to improve the air quality in your home.

During the spring and summer months, pollen, mold spores, dust mite allergens, cockroach allergens and pet dander are accumulating in the ducts of your home’s forced air system. Every fall, that first blast of furnace air floods your home with all of those dust and mold particles, leaving you susceptible to respiratory infections.

Floor heating thermostat and radiant heat cable pre-woven into a durable mat that is easily laid out under the finished floor surface.

What’s worse, a standard forced-air heating and cooling system pulls air from inside the home through one register or grate and forces the warmed or cooled air out of another. If you have pets, you’ll notice one register or grate that captures hair from the outside. While you’re dusting that grate, imagine all the hair and pet dander that manages to get through. Now imagine that same stuff being pumped through the ventilation system of your home and right back into the same room!

Unlike forced air heating, radiant heated floor systems rely on electric resistance cables or PEX tubing circulating heated water to heat your home. Radiant heated flooring heats from the ground up, radiating heat through objects rather than air. Radiant heated floors do not require high voltage or rely on combustible gases, and do not create any hot surfaces. And that means a cleaner, safer environment for your whole family, so you can breathe easier.

Installation costs for radiant heated floor systems are very reasonable, and the systems are virtually maintenance-free and fully programmable, with no filters to replace and no duct cleanings required. Plus, when you finally clean those forced air system ducts, you can expect a release of dust and mold particles into the air, forcing you to be out of your home for several hours. In contrast, do-it-yourselfers will find a one-time radiant heated floor installation relatively easy. 

Installing a HeatShield Radiant Floor Heating System.

More importantly, you may realize a substantial cost savings with radiant heat. A radiant heated floor system is 100 percent efficient, even at 50 percent capacity. Virtually all of the energy consumed by your radiant heating system is used to heat a room. Floor heating systems such as the HeatShield Panels utilize reflective insulation that directs all the heat upwards, into your home. On average, you can expect to turn your thermostat down two to four degrees, which can reduce your energy costs by 10 to 40 percent. That’s because radiant heated floor systems heat the lowest three feet of your home, the area where you would normally lose the most heat with a forced air system.

The EPA considers indoor air pollution to be one of the five most urgent environmental problems in the United States. Whether you are building a new home or making upgrades to your current home, finding ways to improve the air quality in your home should be a top priority. Radiant heated floor systems offer an extremely practical, economical and efficient way to improve air quality so you can say goodbye to winter sneezing, wheezing and coughing.