All posts by Jenny Hallam

Radiant Heat News

How Does a Snow Sensor Work with a Heated Driveway?

Driveway Heating is 100 Percent Automated

If you think installing a snow melting system sounds complicated, think again. Radiant driveway heating is easier than ever to achieve. Not only are the heated driveway systems more affordable than ever, but snowmelt systems can be installed at any stage of construction. Even if you are already living in your home, you can still enjoy a heated driveway. A snow melting system can be retrofitted into both concrete and asphalt driveways. And these systems utilize a smart snow sensor which activates the system only when needed, making them fully automated and keeping your driveway clear of snow and ice ‘round the clock.

Aerial mount snow sensor

A major perk to using a Warmzone snowmelt system, is that once it is installed you won’t have to worry about turning it on or off – not to mention never having to shovel snow again. The snow sensor detects precipitation and temperature levels (usually set at 39° F.) to signal the master controller and activate the system when conditions warrant. This results in a streamlined, highly efficient heated driveway system. Your heated driveway works only when there is enough snow to warrant use, so you save operation costs while enjoying the value added benefits it provides to your property.

A heated driveway system is a convenient way to face winter head on. Using a fully automated system means never having to worry about whether or not it’s working or whether or not it is watching the weather report like you are. It senses the moisture, turns itself on and works while you sleep. You can wake up in the morning after a big storm and not hassle with your snow gear and snow plows. Just start your car and ease on to your snow-free heated driveway.

Radiant Heat News

Are Radiant Heated Floors All or Nothing?

Small Spaces Shine with Radiant Floor Heat

When you tackle a home improvement project you want it to be perfect. You want to get the biggest bang for your buck, the most sophisticated designs, and obviously incredibly efficient output. That is a natural feeling as you protect one of the largest investments you’ll make; your home. Piecing little projects together here and there can be frustrating and cost a bundle in the long run.

Installing radiant heat for heated bathroom floor

Radiant floor heating may sound like an intimidating home improvement on the surface, as many people worry that they have to do all the floors in their home or nothing at all. Electric radiant heated floors actually shine in small rooms and spaces. These efficient systems are designed to add extra warmth to tiled entry ways, colder bathrooms, or eternally cool basements.

Radiant floor heating is a great way to primarily heat your home as well and can easily be done in every room of your home, but underfloor heat is definitely not an all-or-nothing type of home heating. Small spaces benefit greatly from underfloor heat simply because radiant heat can produce much more efficient heat than traditional methods of heating. Using it to heat your entire home is a smart choice as well. Radiant heat technology is more sophisticated than ever and allows the heat to penetrate each surface of your room, from the ground to the ceiling. Radiant heat allows heat to rise naturally, rather than be forced through ducts in the ceiling. Considering radiant heated floors is a big deal, but doesn’t have to be an all or nothing deal. Pick and choose the system that is right for you and enjoy heated floors in part, or in your entire home for added warmth and efficiency.

Radiant Heat News

Which Season is Best to Install Radiant Floor Heat?

It’s Always Time for Underfloor Heat

We all think about the need for home heating during the winter but does that make the coldest season the ideal time to install radiant floor heat? Not necessarily as installing the heat means there is a small period when you are without heat as you finish the installation. It is the time when home heating is forefront on our minds, but any time of year is appropriate to install radiant floor heat.

If you consider purchasing underfloor heating during spring or summer, you may catch a supplier with excess inventory offering a discount or promotion. This is typically the slow time of year for these types of radiant heating systems so there may be a good deal out there for the taking. Radiant floor heat is a good investment no matter what time of year you install it, as this type of home heating is gaining in popularity.

The efficiency and affordability of underfloor heating is becoming a major selling point and more and more home are being built with radiant heated floors. Winter might be the time of year you think about and use underfloor heat but there are plenty of early spring morning or fall afternoons that you’ll be glad you had the foresight to install radiant floor heat. The radiant heat takes the nasty chill out of your floors, leaving them toasty to walk on.

Radiant Heat News

Can I have Driveway Heating with an Odd Shaped Driveway?

Custom Heated Driveways

The nice thing (or at least one of the nicest things) about driveway heating is that it is versatile and flexible enough to accommodate different shapes of driveways and sidewalks. Straight or curved, looped or choppy, driveway heat can be applied to almost any size or shape. Once the snow melting system is in place, whatever shape it may be, you are assured that snow melting will occur seamlessly and effortlessly all winter long.

Heated patio and sidewalks
Heated patio and sidewalk.

Having a driveway heating expert help you design your system is probably the best advice we can give. Someone with knowledge about the different types of cables and heating systems will be able to identify your unique needs pertaining to the driveway heating project you are hoping to accomplish. An expert can lay out the proper heating cable scenarios, estimate how much cable you’ll need and how installation should be done.

Radiant heated driveways can span an entire driveway or just tire paths in cases where the driveway is long and winding, making the costs a bigger issue. Regardless of where your heated driveway needs to run, Warmzone can aid you in making informed decisions about which type of radiant snow melting system would suit you best and how to tackle the installation. Heating cables that lie coiled beneath your driveway add convenience, value, and efficiency to your home.

Radiant Heat News

Fever Dreams and In Floor Heating

Radiant Floor Heating Offers Heat Around the Clock

This time of year there are epic bugs going around being shared from shopping cart to door handles to school libraries back to your front door, making us all susceptible to getting sick. Fevers offer that awful feeling of being a million degrees then swinging to the other side of the spectrum in chilled shakes. One thing I’ve always felt happy about when I have a fever accompanied by the aches and pains associated with that pleasant buggy feeling, is that radiant floor heating is never too hot or too cold when I’m sick. In floor heating just always feels good.

Radiant heated floors provide consistent warmth and comfort around the clock. No matter what time of day or night you find yourself wandering zombie like to and from bed, your feet will be taken care of with appropriate levels of heat. (Or, you can program the system so that it only heats just before you get up in the morning and then shuts off in the evening when you go to bed.) Even in your haziest fever dreams you’ll be able to get to the bathroom or kitchen in relative comfort. Radiant floor heat is especially nice for the times you are chilled to the bone and can’t seem to get warm enough, no matter how many layers you’ve piled on. No one will judge you if you lay right down on the warmest spot of your radiant heated floor and soak in the power of radiant heat. The beauty about radiant heat is that is spreads around to make contact with everything in its path. In floor heat is consistent and affordable and luxurious even in the fog of your deepest fevers.

Radiant Heat News

How Much Space Do ECO-heaters Require?

Minimal Space Requirements, Maximum Heating

ECO-Heaters are compact thin electric panel heaters that mount on the wall and safely emit heat. One benefit of ECO-heaters is that they are mounted on the wall, saving valuable floor real estate. The heater dimensions are 23¼ x 23¼ x ⅜-inches and weighs approximately 15 pounds. Each heater package contains one 400 watt electric panel heater, mounting kit, installation instructions and Styrofoam packaging that also serves as a convenient mounting template.

ECO-heater panel heater

ECO-heaters are designed to be mounted approximately 6-8 inches above the floor, giving the heat a chance (and plenty of space) to rise and sufficiently heat a smaller space. Ideal for bathrooms, kitchens, even offices, the ECO-heater is an efficient method of heating a room. There is a ¾-inch gap between the heater and the wall allowing cold air to be drawn behind the heating panel. The gap is small enough to allow the cold air to heat quickly and rise from the gap at the top of the heating panel of the ECO-heater. Cool air cycles into the gap behind the heater as well and natural circulation of heated air cycles continually. This natural convection takes away the need for a fan, which increases the heater’s efficiency and decreases the need for more space devoted to this compact wall mounted heater. You can find them for less than $130, making them an affordable and compact way to heat any chilly space.

Radiant Heat News

Tired of Shoveling, Plowing and Salting Snow?

Installing a Heated Driveway Makes Winter Easier to Bear

Are you among the millions out there thinking snow blows? Snow is a drag, a burden, a hazard, and a load many of us have to bear. Even though snow totally blows and every time you shovel your driveway you die a little inside, you may not know there is an affordable alternative to back-breaking snow removal – radiant heat.

A heated driveway is a snow removal treat well within reach. Driveway heating makes winter so much easier to bear, because instead of spending time and energy clearing your driveway, the fully-automated snow removal system does it for you.

Driveway heating is not a new invention but it is a new possibility for the average homeowner. Once deemed something only the uppity-ups could afford, driveway heating is showing up in new and not-so-new neighborhoods all over where the snow can be found in abundance. Radiant snow melting is accomplished by installing heat cable just beneath the surface of your driveway, connecting it to a power source, and installing a smart snow sensor that automatically detects when the system needs to power on. As long as there is snow and ice accumulating around it, the heated driveway stays clear and safe from the burden and hazards of piles of snow.

Radiant Heat News

What Types of Radiant Snow Melting Systems are Available?

Driveway Heating and Roof Deicing Systems are Customized to Meet Your Specific Needs

You can always count on unexpected expenses, especially if you own a home and are raising a family. Heck, just plain existing means that there will always be various financial surprises. Your daughter needs braces, the car breaks down, your wife needs an unexpected surgery, or the roof leaks. One way to avoid leaking roofs and other forms of snow damage is with radiant snow melting systems from Warmzone. While there are limitless combinations and ways to customize a snow melting system, there are two general types of a radiant snow melting systems available: driveway heating and roof deicing.

Heated patio and sidewalks

Automated snow melting systems can be designed for any size or shape of your driveway, walkway, ramp, steps or whatever. Driveway heating eliminates the need for harsh snowmelt chemicals and manual snow removal to keep snow and ice clear from your driveway or sidewalks. Heating cables are embedded beneath the surface of your driveway and when the system is engaged the cables warm the surface to eliminate snow and ice accumulation. Heated driveways use either electric or hydronic radiant heat technology for snow melting.

Roof deicing systems prevent ice dams and icicles from forming on your roof. Snow and ice melting systems are available for just about any roof configuration. With roof deicing you can also choose whether or not to use electric or hydronic heating systems. Roof deicing systems take cost, performance, and aesthetics into account, personalizing each to meet the customer’s needs.

Warmzone experts can help you navigate decisions on either type of snow melting system; driveway heating or roof deicing. And detailed system layouts are provided with each snow melting system, so you’ll know the exact power requirements and what to expect prior to any installation taking place. No one can match the expertise, customer service, installation support and friendliness of Warmzone.

Radiant Heat News

Cut Down on Icicles with Roof Gutter Heating

Family and Guests are Safer Thanks to Roof Deicing

Icicles are really cool to look at. They are even fun to break and shatter into pieces onto the sidewalks below. Icicles are a good sign of upcoming warmer weather too, as they drip and shrink they predict the welcome upcoming spring. But as pretty as they are, icicles can also be incredibly dangerous. Icicles can fall without warning and small children, pets, and the elderly won’t be able to move out of the way fast enough. This often leads to injuries that could otherwise be avoided. Many business owners and homeowners alike worry about the best way to keep to their patrons and families safe.

Self-regulating roof heating cable

To create a more hospitable entryway into any building, consider installing a roof gutter heating system . Heat cables from one of these fully automated systems stretch the length of your roof line and keep icicles from ever forming.

Roof gutter heating is the #1 way to provide a safe entrance to any dwelling. Roof deicing isn’t a new concept but it is one catching on as people strive to protect the people they love as well as the structure itself. Extensive roof damage has been known to occur thanks to large ice dams forming in the winter. The daytime temperatures often never reach melting levels so the ice melts and then re-forms repeatedly. And then it snows again, creating several more layers of damaging ice that potentially could ruin your roof. Ice dams and icicles don’t have a chance to form with roof deicing, which protects your gutters and the people walking beneath them too.

Radiant Heat News

You Won’t Need an Entire Posse to Install Radiant Roof Heat Cable

Roof Snow Melting is a Simple Do-It-Yourself Weekend Project

Our time, or rather our spare time, is minimal these days and seems to be shrinking with each new technological development. Although designed to make our lives easier, these handy gadgets seem to draw us further from free time than ever before. So tackling a home improvement project seems like an overwhelming hill to climb, when time, or rather spare time, is rare and precious. Keeping your home safe from future water damage is an important undertaking and you need not fear that undertaking this undertaking will over-take your weekend plans. You won’t even need to bring in a massive posse to help you install radiant roof heating cable. It’s a fairly simple process, and there are many different roof heating options to choose from.

Roof deicing system heating roof edges and valley
A mountain lodge with heated roof edges (to prevent ice dams from forming).

Once you’ve decided to install a roof deicing system to keep your gutters free of damaging ice and snow dams then you need only call a Warmzone expert to find out how much snow melting cable you will need. The rest is a simple do-it-yourself project that can easily be tackled in a day. You’ll need to ensure you have a power source nearby so once you are done the radiant roof heating can be plugged in, but other than that the installation is fairly straightforward. The length of radiant roof cable you’ll need is the key component and once you have that figured out you can call your posse and tell them to come over Sunday afternoon to admire all your handy-work and enjoy some time relaxing inside together boasting over your success