HUG Hydronics was built for in-floor home heating — but our customers have taken it well beyond that. From barns and greenhouses to boat storage and aircraft hangars, here's a look at the range of things people actually heat with it. 

Snow Melt/Ice Melt

This is our campus trial of Pave Drain and HUG Hydronics in-floor heating. 

Pave Drain has 2 distinct advantages to snow melt 1) cute paving stones for a classic look 2) permeability- Pave Drain can hold 6" of water from snow or ice melt

HUG Hydronics also works with cement/pavement for snowmelt.

But how much does it cost to melt snow?

Using some standard numbers for Minneapolis (Minni-Snow-da), 

To clear a 1,000 sq ft driveway, we calculated the average 3" snowfall would cost $12.43 if using gas heat, $33.83 if using electric heat. I don't know about you, but my children charge me $15 a pop to clear my driveway, and the plow truck wants $20. For snowmelt, we just turn the system on when it starts snowing, and it stays clear.

Here is a link to a spreadsheet with all the details. Feel free to make a copy and add your personal numbers to get a more accurate cost for your project.

SNOW MELT spreadsheet

🏚️ Barns, Pole Barns & Barndominiums

Our single most common non-residential application. Projects range from a 448 sq ft milk barn with animal stalls to a 5,000 sq ft barndominium combining living space and shop. Most run on propane or electric boilers sized to the space, from a 12.2kW electric heater on a compact barn up to multi-zone propane setups on larger builds.

Featured: David Winkelman, a HUG Partner, heated his 30x50' shed with a 12.2kW electric system.

🛖 Sheds & Pole Sheds

From a 28x36' shed to a 4,608 sq ft (48x96') pole shed, natural gas and electric heat sources both show up here depending on size and access.

🚗 Garages

Standalone garage zones and garages combined with an adjoining house are both common — one customer heats a 3,200 sq ft garage on its own zone, while another pairs a 506 sq ft garage zone with a 1,400 sq ft home addition on a wood boiler.

🌱 Greenhouses

Extending growing seasons with in-floor heat over garden beds — one 1,700 sq ft greenhouse runs on a 120,000 BTU propane heater; another uses a 3-loop, temperature-controlled heat collector setup.

🔧 Shops & Workshops

Our largest single non-residential install on record: a 6,600 sq ft shop running two separate HUG systems across 18 loops. Smaller multi-zone shop setups are common too, often paired with an adjoining office or storage space.

🏕️ Cabins & Off-Grid Living

Featured: an off-grid, solar-powered building near Flagstaff, AZ, running entirely on a 9kW solar PV system  — proof HUG Hydronics doesn't need to be tied to the grid. Other cabin installs range from a 5-loop electric setup near Spooner, WI to a wood-boiler-heated 30x40' log cabin with a heated root cellar.

🌿 Farms & Agricultural

In-floor heat for working farm buildings, from a 1,600 sq ft project on electric heat to a 2,300 sq ft farm building on an 18kW electric water heater.

🏖️ Patios & Outdoor Living Spaces

Heated patios for year-round outdoor use — including one built with room for future expansion, and another serving both a private home and an inn.

🚤 Specialty & Unusual Applications

This is where HUG Hydronics really gets creative:

• A heated walkway alongside a 2,500 sq ft home
• Selective snow melt for garages, sunken patios, and
  walkways-One residential project included a garage, basement, and outdoor sunken
  patio, with the patio intended to run only when snow was present. Other customers discussed smaller snow-melt zones such as front porches, sidewalks, and approaches to buildings.
• An aircraft hangar with a dedicated heated RV bay
• A 1,440 sq ft boat storage shed with remote smart thermostat access
• A system heating four 6,600-gallon IBC tanks on natural gas
• Compost-heat and solar-thermal integration: A customer with an acreage project described using floor heat in the home, pool, workshop, and greenhouse, while also exploring heat exchange from solar panels and a compost heap into a thermal storage tank. The same conversation considered future geothermal and heat-pump
  integration.
• Coming this fall: insulated storage tanks for vegetable oils, and a 50,000-gallon sewage tank preheat system for winter operation
• Featured: (pending customer confirmation) a project heating a private RV pad slab

🧘 Hot Yoga Studios — An Idea Worth Exploring

We haven't installed a system in a hot yoga studio yet, but it's a natural fit: even, silent, floor-level heat is exactly the kind of comfort a hot yoga space is built around. If you run a studio and want to talk through what that could look like, reach out — we'd love to help make it the first one.