I have lived with forced air heating systems most of my life. They dry the air out, they pump dust out, it's uneven, and not as efficient as some other choices. I have chose radiant floor heating for La Boca Vista because it is far superior to forced air heat because of it's many advantages. It is generally a more cost effective and comfortable form of heat for the following reasons;

• With no fans or vents, radiated heat it is silent.
• A healthier environment in the home versus a forced air systems that can spread dust, pollen, and germs.
• Fewer, if any, cold drafts. The floor radiates heat evenly throughout a room, warming you from the feet up.
• This type of heat does not rob the air of moisture, making it feel warmer while not drying out your sinuses and skin.
  

Radiant floor heating delivers the heat in the lower half of a room, warming your body from the feet up. The heat is evenly distributed in the floor, which means that the thermostat can be set 2 – 4° less than a conventional forced air heating system. This can reduce your heating bill by 10-30%.

A forced air system delivers heat into a room where it quickly rises to the ceiling as opposed to a radiant floor heating system that radiates heat from the floor which heats evenly throughout the rooms.

The system delivers the heat via warm water circulating through tubing which is installed beneath or is embedded in the floor. The floor then acts as an efficient, low temperature radiator.

Radiant Floor heating is not a complicated system and is made up the follow components; the boiler, the pump, and the tubing.

The boiler can be heated by a variety of sources such as electricity, solar, natural gas, propane, oil, or wood. The relatively new and efficient tankless hot water heaters are perfect for this application and can also be used for domestic hot water needs, and this is the kind that I plan on using at La Boca Vista. A Pump is used to circulate the heated water though the tubing when the room thermostat calls for heat. The tubing for a radiant floor heating system will be installed in the concrete floors.

For the do it yourselfer, there are many books which detail the installation process.