Cooling Options with Radiant Heat

Cooling Options with Radiant Heat

Not too long ago, those wanting cooling in a radiant heated house would need to buy a redundant and costly ducted forced air cooling system, use whole house fans or swamp coolers – or do without.

Gas or oil fired radiant systems that require cooling can now use super efficient mini-split systems for spot cooling or, again, go to a whole house cooling system (expensive).

A third way is to use a geothermal or air-to-water hydronic heat pump that generates chilled water that can be used for cooling. This chilled water can be distributed in different ways.

Chilled Water Distribution

Ecowarm Radiant Ceilings

Radiant cooling is best achieved from the ceiling and has been used widely in Europe, particularly in commercial applications. Cool water is circulated in Ecowarm panels installed in the ceiling to very efficiently extract heat from the space. This application requires careful mechanical design with special attention to the dew point condensation control. Mechanical engineering is highly recommended for all the radiant ceiling cooling solutions below.

 Ecowarm RadiantBoard Ceiling Installation

The installation of Ecowarm RadiantBoard for ceiling cooling is very similar to that for ceiling heating and floor and walls except that much care and planning must be made to accommodate any ceiling penetrations such as lighting and sprinklers. Normally the contractor will sheath the ceiling surface with 5/8’ or ¾’ plywood and apply the Ecowarm panels to that surface according to the CAD layout provided by the factory.

Due to the small resistance encountered by radiant ceilings and the resulting high output potential you will rarely need to cover the whole surface of a room ceiling to meet the cooling load. The ceiling cavity must well be insulated to assure minimum heat gain from the reverse side.  Install the PEX tubing and connect to the radiant manifolds. Apply the sheetrock.  The mechanical installer must be sure that air can be eliminated from the ceiling section radiant tubing.

Fan Convectors: A new generation of super-efficient and quiet non ducted fan convectors are now available for cooling. These can be used for spot cooling and whole house solutions connected by PEX tubing to the mechanical room. There are many low visual impact solutions from different manufacturers. Examples: Jaga.

Air Handlers: More conventional ducted chilled water air handlers can also be used for both spot cooling and whole house air conditioning.  These can be integrated with ventilation and HRV systems. Myson

The information on this page is provided as a description of current trends in radiant heating and related equipment. We are not providing engineering advice for any particular project. The mechanical contractor and mechanical engineer can assess the different options available and apply them as they think is best for a particular project and client.