Hydronic radiant heating works well if you already have a hydronic boiler, pumps, and valves and other related hydronic plumbing, however, the cost to install hydronic heating along with all of its necessary components tends to be very costly.

The hydronic systems are also not maintenance-free and there are moving parts that can wear out and fail. In the future, a professional will need to be called in to make any repairs, big or small.

In comparison, electric systems are virtually maintenance-free without the risk of leaking or eroding hydronic pumps.

Electric heating systems can heat up quickly, within 30-60 minutes because it is installed above the sub-floor, which compares favorably to water-based alternatives which are often placed 1.5" or 2" into a cement slab and can take up to 7 hours to heat up when they are first turned ON.

Hydronic heating takes longer to warm up overall, and because of this, many people simply leave their water-based systems ON for months at a time, which consumes energy over a far longer period. This coupled with the thermostats that allow you to preset ON-OFF cycles to provide heat only when and where you need it makes electric systems the more energy efficient.

We recently wrote a comparison sheet between Electric and Hydronic systems. If you are interested, you can read more here: http://www.warmup.com/us/electric-hydronic-heating.phtml.