Adding Hydronic Radiant Under Subfloor Heat to a Manufactured Home

What type and how would I install Hyponic heat under the subfloor of my mobilehome (which is in no way mobile anymore). I live in Texas so the winters are pretty mild. My central heat went out and it is extremely expensive to run since I only have electric heat. I am planning on replacing my fireplace with either a wood burning stove or insert. Then I am interested in doing the entire underbelly of the home with the Hyponic heat even if that means installing a seperate water heater for it.

What I need to know is if this is possible, what it would cost for a 54×28' home, and if a 50 yr old “beginning DIYer” could undertake this with the help of a teenager?

Thanks,

Our Answer

This is a BIG project and a tall order! First off, if you want to use hydronic heat, you'll need a boiler (not just a water heater) and that would be costly. Also, you'd need a fuel source to heat that water which is other than electric. Assuming you do not have natural gas in your area, that would leave propane or oil.

Then if you had a boiler, you'd need to run PEX piping under that floor from the crawl space up, another big project.

I get that this is costly now but it could be even more costly because of the upfront cost of the infrastructure it would take to make hydronic heat possible.

Many times I am asked questions about alternative heating when a listener has not fully addressed the basic and least expensive way to improve efficiency. So, how is your insulation looking? You really should have 10 inches or so in that floor and the skirting around the base of the home needs to be complete with no gaps. I'd reach out to to your local electric utility company and find out if they offer energy audits. There may be many other ways to cut costs which will be less expensive than walking away from what you have now.