In Floor heating

[MitchM]

I just built an 1800 sq ft. workshop with infloor heating. I use a NG boiler supplemented with 60 vacuum solar tubes. I really like the dustless infloor heat.

Use this heat loss calculator

http://www.builditsolar.com/Referenc...s/HeatLoss.htm

It will give you a good idea of what size heating unit you will be looking at.

What size/type pex pipe do you have?
Make sure that you get a compatible glycol.

Mitch

[MitchM]

A few other points:

my system runs at about 15 psi
the pumps are: http://www.bellgossett.com/productPa...rts-NRF-22.asp
the pumps run about 5 gpm, take 92 watts of power each
system temp is 120F

HTH,
Mitch

[MitchM]

One more thing...

If a pressure test has not been done on the pipes....do one.
If I remember correctly, we did 60 psi for 24 hours.

Mitch

[hillegom]

+1 on the pressure test.
You have to ask yourself, the previous owner went to the expense of laying the pipe, why did he install a different type of heating?

[russp]

I built a 1400 sq ft house with attached garage, for the main heat I installed a forced air furnace but I also ran in floor heat in the basement & garage. I used a standard 33 gal gas hot water heater & it works fantastic. It is a closed system and I run a max pressure of 10lbs hot. If you hire a plumber to install it they will tell you that it is not allowed but if you do it yourself it is a great way to go. I could easily maintain a 20dg temp all winter & the square footage of the heated area was about 1000 ft in the house & 500 in the garage. The main items you will need are a water heater , circ pump & expansion tank. but as previously mentioned the first step is to pressure test the pipe layout.

[intarsiabox]

A friend of mine just did in floor heating in his new garage. He was going to use a hot water tank but found that it is a code violation. He found a hell of a deal at Bartle & Gibson on a boiler, pump, manifold, plumbing, etc for only a couple hundred bucks more than a high effeciency hot water tank alone. The catch is he rebuilds classic cars and so did the salesman so he ended up with a better deal than most would, but even before this B&G was way cheaper than anywhere else.

[Slick Fork]

Some great responses so far guys thanks,

I'll definately pressure test, any suggestions on equipment needed for that that's easily rentable? I think the previous owners installed the reznor units first and then decided to look into in-floor as the new slab with the pipe is quite a bit higher than the side that doesn't have it.

Mike: How do you feel about the return on your investment with the electric in-floor heat? I've considered it for places like bathrooms, kitchens, etc. as retrofitting the house for hot-water heat is way too big a project for us right now. Same goes with Geo-Thermal although I would absolutely love to do something like that.

Carpentersreef: Thanks for the link and info, I'd love to add solar but am doing this project on the cheap.

Russ: What are you using for a circulation pump and Temperature controller?

[mark]

Originally Posted by intarsiabox

A friend of mine just did in floor heating in his new garage. He was going to use a hot water tank but found that it is a code violation.

Well not totally true. You can't mix your domestic hot water supply with a radiant heating system, but they do make hot water tanks that can be used in radiant floor applications. Can be cheaper than the cost of a boiler based system.


CMHC radiant link