I first learned about hypocausts when I was in Bath, England, U.K. Oddly, that was the first I'd heard about them (oddly because I went to a "classics" grade school where we studied Latin and the Romans).
Well, perhaps not that odd, since the word is actually from the Greek.
But a hypocaust is dramatically different than "radiant heating" in the sense that the human-occupied area was a separate, distinct floor, which was fully supported by the central stacks of tiles which retained and distributed the heat (the hypocaust per se).
I certainly wouldn't dispute that the reliability of a modern equivalent of such a system (which does now exclusively use "water" (actually a mix of glycols and water)) - might be subject to the competence of the person(s) installing it. However, the sealed system installed in my parents' house in Harrisburg, PA, USA - which was built in 1928 - has never failed, even after the catastrophic Susquehanna flood of 1978 caused one floor of the structure to collapse! They don't make 'em like they used to.
When I installed radiant floor heating in the bathroom of my apartment in Santa Cruz, I made damn sure the installation would last forever. I swore that I (or my grandchildren or inheritors) would never have to jackhammer up the $38/square foot tile, which I hand-filed to the exact fit, to fix anything. I suppose that kind of attention to detail is rare nowdays, but I believe in leaving every place I've been, a little bit better.
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branchandroot
Well, sort of...
Date: 2006-02-05 01:42 am (UTC)Well, perhaps not that odd, since the word is actually from the Greek.
But a hypocaust is dramatically different than "radiant heating" in the sense that the human-occupied area was a separate, distinct floor, which was fully supported by the central stacks of tiles which retained and distributed the heat (the hypocaust per se).
I certainly wouldn't dispute that the reliability of a modern equivalent of such a system (which does now exclusively use "water" (actually a mix of glycols and water)) - might be subject to the competence of the person(s) installing it. However, the sealed system installed in my parents' house in Harrisburg, PA, USA - which was built in 1928 - has never failed, even after the catastrophic Susquehanna flood of 1978 caused one floor of the structure to collapse! They don't make 'em like they used to.
When I installed radiant floor heating in the bathroom of my apartment in Santa Cruz, I made damn sure the installation would last forever. I swore that I (or my grandchildren or inheritors) would never have to jackhammer up the $38/square foot tile, which I hand-filed to the exact fit, to fix anything. I suppose that kind of attention to detail is rare nowdays, but I believe in leaving every place I've been, a little bit better.