"Paul Conley" wrote in message
...
I'm in the process of buying a house north of Albuquerque, NM,
that has radiant heat. Should I be smiling or frowning? Any
advantages or shortcomings to this approach to keeping my
footsies warm?

Paul

I grew up in Southern Iowa with electric radiant heat in the ceilings, two
story circa 1930's blown insulation in the walls(professionally done) and
lots of insulation in the attic. A t-stat in every room, yes every room. Mom
would turn then stats down at night and Dad would turn them up in the wee
hours of the morning when he got up to go to work. We had 2 electric meters
back then, I remember that Dad was worried about the expense and we usually
ran around $300 a heating season. Please do not ask me the cost of
electricity, I was in grade school.

Gentle heat, no forced air at all. Dad put an electric wall heater on the
back porch so we could dry out the boots and overalls. Mom required us to
wash the exterior stuff we used about the farm before it went into HER
washer. We had an old wringer washer and I would run the filthy clothes
through it and then rinse once, pretty nasty when it was close to zero out.

Only down side I remember there is no way to quickly heat the space. It took
some time. We had a power outage for 3 days. Could not drive, could not even
get out of the drive way until I plowed it. Fortunately we still had some
hand pumps and we (I) would pump a couple of buckets one for drinking, and
dishes the other for the toilet. You sure know who your friends are when you
hand pump water for a toilet.
I remember, it took the better part of a day once the power was on before
the house was comfortable again. Never could see your breath inside. Propane
stove helped, Mom was baking constantly those 3 days.
Get the meter number for the home and call the power company for the past
year or two history.
Good luck.