Our company has been manufacturing non-structural radiant board systems for more than 20 years. We are proud to have sold millions of square feet of radiant panels, and continue to provide high quality radiant panels at a great value with world-class service. Our owners have been heavily involved in the radiant floor heating industry since the late 1980’s, writing technical manuals for the industry, serving on the Radiant Panel Association, and developing patented radiant panel solutions.
Ecowarm® RadiantBoard™ is significantly less costly than Warmboard-R and uses 6 or 7 layer plywood. This is the preferred substrate by many contactors for it’s stability and moisture resistance over Warmboard-R’s OSB.
The thickness of the aluminum covering is appropriate for the heat loss of modern homes, without adding unnecessary costs associated with thicker than thermodynamically necessary aluminum. Our high recycled content aluminum is laminated using with a super-strong water-based Non-VOC adhesive.
The product has been designed to be the best combination of value, quality, performance and environmental responsibility. Warmboard’s other product, the thicker Warmboard-S, is likewise significantly more expensive even when accounting for the cost of a sub-floor.
Seriously impressive! The panels did not take long to install…The Ecowarm guys sent us shop drawings based on my architectural plans. We laid out the room — it was paint by number. Everything got screwed down, then the installers cut the slits, laid out the tubing, locked it into the precut channels and that’s it! Room is done in 10 minutes. Pretty awesome! — Anthony Carrino, Thebuild.tv
RadiantBoard panels are designed with a patented overbite groove that gives a larger and tighter surface connection of the tubing to the aluminum. This groove allows for the PEX tubing to be easily walked into the channel making installation faster and easier.
Our overbite design was part of our U.S. Patent. Because of this design, tough PEX tubing is walked, snapped or whacked into the grooves with a rubber mallet. The tubing ovals and then rebounds into the groove. When warm water flows through the tubing it expands even tighter, making a very tight and good heat transfer connection. The result is excellent performance.
Warmboard has a U shaped groove design. They recommend malleable Pex Al Pex, because it will stay in place during installation. Notice above that the tight connection stops about half way up the side of the groove. Less surface contact.
Learn why so many contractors and home builders choose Ecowarm for their radiant floor heating projects.
“I have installed many Ecowarm RadiantBoard projects and one Warmboard R project over the years. I have found Ecowarm RadiantBoard easier to install than Warmboard R boards; much less breakage, easier and safer to handle, and easier on saw blades.” — Vaughn Peiffer, California
“You guys have been outstanding. Superb customer service and knowledge for my “hundreds of questions”. Especially these days, I love it when the owner of the company gets on the phone to explain details about their product – thanks Hoyt!”
Ecowarm® RadiantBoard™ has a thermodynamically appropriate thickness of aluminum. Much of Warmboard’s marketing emphasizes acceleration, or in other words, how fast it can heat back up with its thicker and more costly plate. Hyper responsive thick and expensive plates are no longer as relevant as in the past.
In addition to lower heat losses, most modern systems now use controls that change the water temperature continuously based outdoor or indoor temperature. Thus, steady state performance is now much more relevant. In steady state performance, the differences in required water temperature between Warmboard-R and Ecowarm® RadiantBoard™ are modest. We have provided the performance charts below so you can compare for yourself.
How to read the Ecowarm RadiantBoard Chart
First calculate the heating output required in BTU per hour per square feet. Proceed horizontally right across the page until you intersect the R-Value line of your floor coverings. Then drop straight down vertically to the horizontal line of your desired room temperature, then angle down to the left to read the average required water temperature. For example if you need 15 BTU per hour per square foot with an R–.5 floor covering and a 70 room temperature you should get 95 F average water temperature.
“If you’re in the market for radiant, I highly recommend looking into these guys. And maybe the best part, is that they are super nice to work with. You can check out my Deep Dive interview with them and you can just see how passionate they are about what they do…even after 30+ years in the business!” – Anthony Carrino
“Ecowarm is easy to install and we use it often!” – Radiant Works
Warmboard testing videos display conditions with on/off radiant system controls popular 20 years ago, and do not reflect the advanced controls installed today. The responsiveness is calculated by starting the system cold — from 0 BTU’s.
Modern radiant heating systems are designed to maintain a “steady state” minimum temperate. In steady state performance, the differences in required water temperature between Warmboard-R and our panels are modest.
*Note: The above video is an infrared timelapse of Ecowarm without the final flooring goods installed. Once your floor is installed you will see even greater conductivity across the surface of the floor.
Our panels are lighter and significantly easier to cut and screw. The slight undercut groove tightly retains the pipe in the channel. Warmboard-R has a straight sided groove which makes it harder to retain the tubing in the board. The Warmboard Installation Manual says about this: “Use nail plates to secure tubing as needed and remove before finish floors are installed”. This requires extra time and labor.
The thicker aluminum used by Warmboard makes cutting much more difficult on the blades and the contractor. Ecowarm RadiantBoard panels are lighter, making them easier to cut and place. As the curved combo sections of Ecowarm are serrated, a mallet or heavy roller can be used to pound the tubing in place.
Ecowarm® RadiantBoard™ is made in the United States using entirely domestically produced products including:
I have installed many Ecowarm RadiantBoard projects and one Warmboard R project over the years. I have found Ecowarm RadiantBoard easier to install than Warmboard R boards; much less breakage, easier and safer to handle, and easier on saw blades. — Vaughn Peiffer, California
I have installed many Ecowarm RadiantBoard projects and one Warmboard R project over the years. I have found Ecowarm RadiantBoard easier to install than Warmboard R boards; much less breakage, easier and safer to handle, and easier on saw blades. — Vaughn Peiffer, California
Ecowarm® Radiantbord™ is not sold by a high pressure sales staff. We sell by good information and service – not by pressure to buy. While we offer the availability of tubing and manifolds, we believe the best heat source equipment is best provided by a local contractor who is knowledgeable, has available parts, and will come service it on short notice.
Heat sources whether they be boilers, air to water, ground source heat pumps, or water heaters where legal, vary widely in distribution and knowledgeable service support nationally. Our main focus is on providing our customers an excellent product with a detailed design layout and quick service..
“You guys have been outstanding. Superb customer service and knowledge for my “hundreds of questions”. Especially these days, I love it when the owner of the company gets on the phone to explain details about their product – thanks Hoyt!”
– J.C.
Our President Hoyt Corbett and Vice President Morgan Muir have over 50 year combined experience in the hydronic industry in national distribution, wholesaling and mechanical contracting. Both Morgan and Hoyt are patented inventors of hydronic products and were founding members of the original Radiant Panel Association and helped write the original “Standard Guidelines for the Design and Installation of Radiant Floor Heating Systems”. Hoyt and Morgan encourage a corporate culture of selling by providing friendly good information.
Get to know the owners of Ecowarm, with 70 years combined experience in radiant heating, as they discuss Anthony Carrino from Build.tv about his radiant heating project.
Ecowarm RadiantBoard incorporates the best balance of high performance, material quality, environmental responsibility, and cost. In short, Ecowarm RadiantBoard represents the best value in radiant board heating systems.