[Strawbale] Sub Floor Radiant Heating

[Derek Roff]

> I live in Israel and loved the idea of a thick floor slab to be
> charged with heat, via solar panels, during the Autumn months and
> radiate the heat to the house during winter (we have plenty of sun
> throughout the winter as well (with temps around 10-15C))

The practicality of seasonal heat storage is controversial.  I 
believe that it is impossible to create a cost-effective, functional 
residential system, if you are storing heat in earth.  In your 
climate (winter sun and temps 10-15C), using daily solar heat gain 
will be much more efficient and cheaper than seasonal heat storage in 
earth, even if there are cloudy days now and then.  Whether you 
should insulate your slab from the earth, or not, is another 
question, which would require more information about your site and 
design to answer.

> Recently, I have heard that sub floor radiant heating poses a
> problem since it lifts the dust and raises it off the floor. Is
> this true?

I can't think of any reason why this would be true.  While heating 
the floor by any process will create some convective air movement, it 
would be less with radiant floor heating than with a wood stove, for 
example.  And dust issues would be vastly less than with forced air 
heating.

But a well-built, well-designed home in your climate may not need a 
radiant floor heating system.  With a good passive solar design, you 
will need little backup heat.

Derelict

Derek Roff
Language Learning Center
Ortega Hall 129, MSC03-2100
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001
505/277-7368, fax 505/277-3885
Internet: derek at unm.edu