Floor Heating

Floor heating system is not a new thing. It was used in the ancient Roman civilization and was referred as hypocaust. Hypocaust is derived from two Greek words: hypo meaning below or underneath and kaeiein meaning to fun light or fire. According to the historians, Sergius Orata is considered the inventor of the earliest floor heating system.
In the ancient Rome, floors were built in elevated form or design in buildings. It allows air ventilation. Wood or coal was burnt in a chamber and heated air was released for the floor heating system. The burning of the fire by using woods was done by the slaves. The heated air consequently spread everywhere below the floorings and throughout the walls.
The rich Roman used floor heating systems to heat their public baths. These public baths were very popular among the rich politicians and businessmen. The temperature of these places was raised up to 120 Fahrenheit degrees by means of floor heating. The heating room or chamber was built nearby. A considerable amount of heat was provided by the edifice or the heating chamber. It was a laborious task as constant supply of fuel and labor was required for this purpose. The ashes have to be removed. Small branches were usually used as fuel. Large logs of wood were not mostly used because it required more work forces. The heat released sometimes used to become high and intense in amount as the Romans had to wear thick wooden sandals to protect their feet from burning.

This method was unknown to the British since centuries. They learnt this technique quite late. They used to heat a single room by using chimney fueled by wood. Even the Americans learnt it late. The radiant floor heating system was extensively used at the top most by the European nations. The Roman method of radiant floor heating was adapted by them. In the 1950s, this way of in floor heating affected the American households as well. In 1950s, the radiant floor heating system was introduced. Copper was used to conduct heat and tube installation was passed across the floor. This method posed some problems. With the concrete floor heating, the slabs expand and crack. It resulted in the breaking of the copper tubes. Americans left this method and turned towards other ways of heating i.e. electric floor heating systems.

The Europeans went on using the traditional floor heating method and brought improvement. Few Americans remained interested in the old method and the 1980s was the era of the revival of the old method. Copper tubes were replaced by a new invention.

The PEX pipes proved to be a good addition in the concrete floor heating. This invention made the old floor heating method more efficient and cost-effective. The PEX pipes are made of plastic which expand with the expansion of the floor slabs and does not leak or crack. The radiant floor heating rubber piping is common now.

The in floor heating makes life comfortable. The in floor heat makes home warmer in winter season. Now-a-days, modern methods of floor heating have developed such as electric floor heating and hydronic radiant floor heating. The solar power is also used.