slant fin 80 vs uponor radiant flooring

[monty1970]

We are under construction and we are deciding between slant fin 80 baseboards or radiant heat- Is there a huge difference in price( radiant would be approx 9 zones) and if so how huge- House is 2200 sq ft-

 

[Jadnashua]

With the recovery rate on infloor radiant, you really don't want to consider a huge number of zones and setback. It is critical to get a proper layout and keep your loops short enough otherwise, it can be impossible to balance things. It's nice not to have to worry about where to place the furniture in a room so as to not block the heating. You can usually feel comfortable at a lower air temperature with radiant floor verses other types of heat. As a result, you can often end up with a more efficient system since you will likely be in the condensing range with your boiler longer. You need to run the slantfin stuff hotter to be as comfortable, and if you have little ones, they can be hot enough to hurt them...not possible with infloor radiant as the floor surface rarely ends up higher than 80-degrees or so. IF you have pets, they'll love it, too.

As to costs, it is more costly, but I do not have a good feel. I do have it in my home, but I installed it myself...made some mistakes, could be better, but I trusted a guy that I shouldn't have and hadn't been around here to get multiple opinions and bounce ideas off of multiple people. If I had, I'd have done it differently, but still, it works, and I like it. It is a premium upgrade. If you have a slab on grade, IMHO, it's a no brainer...do it, but also make sure to install a good insulation layer under the slab and manage ground water (well, that's a good point on any installation however you heat the house, but more so for radiant - you don't want to try to heat the ground up - insulation helps there a lot).