Reply #17: hydronic radiant heating [View All]

We use a compost pile to heat water for radiant heating in our place.
Its not the greatest for really cold weather but it works pretty weel for temps into the thirties.
The main thing is the cost.It cost a couple of hundred dollars for the tubing and pumps.It also took a few days to install the piping and a day to build the compost pile.Other than that its free heat.Even the pump is free to run.Its fed from a solar panel so even if the power goes out we still have heat.After this year the only cost will to be to build the compost pile every fall.And thats dirt cheap.Woodchips are free and it only takes one person about five hours to build it.
And in the spring we get a pile of really good soil to add to the gardens.

As far as I am concerned,it should be a requirment that new homes have tubing installed in slabs and under floors for radiant heating.Whether the water is heated with compost or more traditional methods it is without a doubt an extremely cheap way to provide heat.