Radiant Heating Anyone?

[toddwulf]

Considering putting in Radiant Floor Heating in my new house and I wanted to start a dialogue with people who have done it, investigated it or have any experience with it.

I've heard about 50% of homes built in Europe have it, it's popular among east coast new home construction and is tremendously efficient albeit more expensive up front to put in.

So chime in, let's hear the good, the bad and the ugly!

Todd in Placerville.

'98 NH 1920 4x4

 

[GlueGuy]

We just went to a holiday party at a neighbor's house that is heated with radiant heat. Very clean, very quiet, very even. Their house is an "earth-bermed" design (partially in the ground but with a mostly-conventional roof), so it would not be an apples-to-apples with more conventional homes.

We are considering replacing our home with either an earth-bermed or earth-sheltered design, and we will probably go with radiant heat as well. I think if you pay attention to details that it can reliable, if not superior.

The GlueGuy

 

[jfakerj]

toddwulf
I'm going to put radiant heat in our new house when ever we get going. It'll be in a floating concrete slab, open loop system, powered by a polaris propane hot water heater. This type of system uses the same hot water tank for both domestic hot water and in floor heating. If I do it right, all the domestec cold water will run through the floor in the summer to give some in floor cooling. I'm not sure yet who's going to do it. Maybe I'll lay the lines in myself or maybe do the whole thing myself, don't know yet. On line, go to radiantec.com to get an idea of price on materials for this type of system.
What kind of system are you looking at and how will you power it - ie. - geothermal heat pump, air to radiant heat pump, propane, natural gas, oil, electric, boiler or hot water heater, solar, in floor(several types), in cieling, radiators, the list goes on.
As you can see there are a lot of options for radiant heat. I did lots of searches on the net to find out all the info I could about the different types and their pros and cons. It's hard to pick through some of the BS though when you go to a site that sells the product. Theirs is always best. Happy hunting.

Jerry

 

[DrDan]

I am installing Radiantec's system right now in my 30' X 80' Pole Building. So far all looks great except my checkbook. I will end up with about $11,000 in it considering the R-Foil insulation beneath the concrete slab and the installation labor. I'm in a wheelchair so I had to hire it done - could save about $3000 there. We are waiting for it to dry up a little to pour the last floor. After that we fire it up. Using Polaris heater with natural gas. Will supplement with solar panels later and also thinking of adding a coil in wood stove to heat the water when I burning scraps (woodshop).

Well made solid construction in the kit.

Dr Dan

 

[fishman]

DrDan,

Wow, that sounds like SOME pole building!

 

[toddwulf]

Jerry and Dr. Dan. I've also searched the net and wound up at Radiantec, radiantpanelassociation.org, radiantdirect and radiantdesigninstitute. I've got a quote from Radiantec which includes 'bout 3100' of 7/8" PEX and a 50 Gallon Polaris - Yes-I'll be on Propane.

My questions at this juncture are:
Do I need to stub out the zones in a convenient location and then run lines back to manifold or should I home run everything back to the manifold?
If I go with a 4" Slab, my guess is the PEX would be about 1 1/4" below the surface, which should be OK. Should I go with a 5" slab?
Is a 50Gal Polaris enough for domestic hot water and radiant heating?
Did you underlay the slab with rigid foam, 1/4" bubble wrap insulation or none at all?
Did you insulate on the inside or the outside of the footings?
Did you make any connections under the slab prior to pouring or did you run continuous length PEX?

As you mentioned, there are many questions that come up as I intend to do the install myself after the ReBar is tied in place and just before the pour.

Todd

'98 NH 1920 4x4

 

[mrolson]

Don't know how it work or how to install it but my neighbor did his basement. Man, it's great.

Mark

 

[DrDan]

What a POC bulletin board... I answered every one of your questions posted it and it didn't take....

Not doing that again... Just go to www.radiantec.com and click on brochure button and download the design & installation manual in PDF format. It will give you all you need to answer your questions.

Dr Dan

 

[jfakerj]

DrDan
I've got a couple of questions about radiantec since you've already dealt with them.
1 Did you have to pay sales tax
2 How was the shipping charge +-$
3 how dong did it take to get delivery
4 did they help you with design at all or did you have to do that your self using the down loaded pdf
5 did you find your own installer or did they have any recomendations for your area
6 would you use them again

Jerry

 

[DrDan]

Jerry

I hope this works... "Paste"

1 Did you have to pay sales tax <<No>>
2 How was the shipping charge +-$ <<I believe it was $175>>
3 how dong did it take to get delivery <<Everything but the hot water heater was here in two days via UPS It took about 10 days for the water heater to come via truck>>
4 did they help you with design at all or did you have to do that your self using the down loaded pdf <<Talk to Don Parmelli at Radiantec He will design it based on your measurements, insulation values and area of country>>
5 did you find your own installer or did they have any recomendations for your area <<I found a heating contractor who had installed a unit in his shop. He was delighted and thought Radiantec's unit was better than the one he installed.>>
6 would you use them again <<Sure would they are great! All hi quality materials and the preassembled manifolds and concrete forms really save time in installation and you know how ya have to watch those tradespeople as far as time is concerned...>>

Dr Dan