Is radiant flooring Title 24 compliant? Whether building a new house or updating and remodeling an existing home, this is a question that many Californians find themselves asking.
Title 24 refers to California’s Building Efficiency Standards. These standards have been implemented to minimize wasteful and unnecessary energy use in new construction and existing buildings. While the standards are updated publicly every three years by the California Energy Commission, the goal remains the same; increased energy efficiency in California homes.
Building codes can be tricky; the language can seem foreign to a non-tradesperson, and the rules can often be open to interpretation. However, if you want to know whether or not radiant flooring is Title 24 compliant, then you’ve found the right article.
Title 24 Compliance and Radiant Heat Flooring
Is radiant flooring Title 24 compliant? Unfortunately, this question does not warrant a simple yes or no answer. In order to be considered compliant, your radiant floor heating must operate within the guidelines prescribed by the California Energy Commission.
Suppose your radiant floor heating is used as supplemental heating for a room, meaning it is installed in a space already serviced by a primary heat source. In that case, it must have a thermal capacity of fewer than 2 kilowatts (kW) or 7,000 Btu/hr. In addition, your radiant flooring must be controlled by a time-limiting device not exceeding 30 minutes.
If you’re using radiant heat as the primary heating system for your home, it must be included in your energy performance analysis. If your radiant heat is embedded or underneath a concrete slab, you will be required to insulate your slab edge.
All heating systems must be controlled by a thermostat capable of setting temperatures for four different points throughout a twenty-four-hour day.
In order to meet these requirements, it is recommended that you use a smart thermostat. Smart thermostats, like the Warmup 6iE Smart WiFi Thermostat, are highly intuitive and use innovative features to constantly adjust your home’s heat in order to keep it as energy efficient as possible.
The Benefits of Radiant Heat Flooring
In addition to being Title 24 compliant, radiant floor heating offers many other advantages. From energy efficiency to health and comfort, there are many benefits to installing electric radiant floor heating in your home.
Comfort
Unlike forced hot air and baseboard heating systems, radiant floor heat warms your entire room from the bottom up rather than just heating the air around a vent or baseboard.
Radiant floor heating warms your entire floor evenly, and eliminates the cold spots and inconsistent temperatures typically found with other heat systems. By heating the floor on which you stand, radiant floor heating is warming you directly, which results in a greater feeling of cozy comfort than blowing hot air around can achieve.
Energy Efficiency
One of the things that makes radiant flooring a top choice for Title 24 compliance is its energy efficiency.
Forced hot air heating creates inconsistent temperatures by blowing warm air out of a vent on one side of the room, keeping warm pockets near the vent and cold pockets away. On the other hand, radiant floor heating warms a room evenly and consistently, leaves no cold spots, and creates more accurate readings from thermostats.
Because radiant floor heating warms you directly instead of the air around you, it creates an increased feeling of warmth at a lower temperature to reduce energy use.
When paired with a smart thermostat, like the Warmup 6iE Smart WiFi Thermostat, you can save up to 25% on your heating bill. These savings come from the increased energy efficiency in your heating system by utilizing innovative technology like SmartGeo and Advanced Early Start.
Health Benefits
Forced hot air heating systems can blow dust and allergens throughout your home, triggering asthma and allergies. Your home should be your sanctuary, free of sniffling and sneezing. With radiant floor heating, you can achieve cozy, comfortable heat without inundating the air with dust.
Considerations for Implementing Radiant Heat Flooring
When implementing radiant heat flooring in your home, there are several factors to consider, including cost, maintenance, and compatibility.
Cost and Installation Considerations
Installing radiant floor heating is considerably less invasive than a forced hot air heating system. Radiant heating can easily be installed during any remodel while redoing the floor. You can install radiant floor heating as part of or underneath the underlayment for the floor.
Forced hot air heating systems require installing bulky ducting in walls, ceilings, and floors throughout your home, which requires you to open walls throughout the entire house.
You can pair radiant floor heating’s even, consistent warmth with a smart thermostat like the 6iE Smart WiFi Thermostat, to save up to 25% on your heating bills.
Maintenance and Upkeep
Forced hot air and hydronic heat require constant upkeep, and servicing boilers and furnaces. Electric radiant flooring requires no routine maintenance and heats your home hassle-free.
Compatibility with Other Heating Systems
Radiant floor heating is often used as supplemental heating in bathrooms and entryways, to keep wet toes warm after a shower and to help to dry out damp rain boots after walking the dog. But is your radiant flooring Title 24 compliant as a supplemental heat source? If you live in California, you must ensure that it has a capacity of fewer than 2 kilowatts (kW) or 7,000 Btu/hr. In addition, your radiant flooring must be controlled by a time-limiting device not exceeding 30 minutes to be used as supplemental heating.
Meeting Title 24 Compliance with Warmup Radiant Floor Heating
Is Radiant flooring Title 24 compliant? With Warmup, it can be!
Over 25 years of research and experience led Warmup to create the 6iE Smart WiFi Thermostat, which meets and exceeds Title 24 guidelines. Utilizing SmartGeo technology and the MyHeating App, the 6iE intuitively turns the temperature down while you’re away and back up when you’re on your way home, to keep energy bills low and efficiency high.
Want to learn more about Warmup’s wide range of cutting-edge products? Contact their friendly customer service department today! Want to get a free quote for your project? Get instant pricing online.
Don’t spend another winter in the cold; find out today why Warmup is the world’s best-selling floor heating brand!
