Solar radiant Heat

philbuilt · Oct 18, 2008

czechsonofagun,
The ride was great fun I do have a few more pics of the ride.
Thanks
Phil

charlz · Oct 20, 2008

ampsucker said:
i would only build up a floor above if i didn't have access to the underside (slab on grade or nasty crawlspace that's hard to work in, etc.). raising the floor a couple of inches is going to mess up all your door threashholds, baseboard trim, etc and i don't see a performance advantage.

normally, you run the heat tubes between the joists up against the subfloor above (plywood), then insulate below the pex tubes to keep the heat up close to the floor above.

And that type of installation is as efficient as 'in floor'? Even in a unheated crawlspace? The reason I ask is I have a fairly cold area of the house (master bathroom... I hear about cold floors constantly in the winter), the pellet stove heat just doesn't get there effectively. I have thought of putting subfloor electric radiant but thought it wouldn't really be all that effective. I have also thought of doing solar thermal .... basically any heat into that area in the winter would be a huge plus.

philbuilt · Oct 20, 2008

Charlz,
I sent my floor plan to radiantec in Vermont and they did the layout.
I could have shoped the product and saved some money but they are there to answer all the question. My solar panel are working as specified by them and I'm very pleased. Now that the Feds have brought back the tax credit it makes it that much better. $2500.00
State of Maine $2000.00
Check and read Radiantec's site theres alot of info.
Phil

charlz · Oct 22, 2008

philbuilt said:
Charlz,
I sent my floor plan to radiantec in Vermont and they did the layout.
I could have shoped the product and saved some money but they are there to answer all the question. My solar panel are working as specified by them and I'm very pleased. Now that the Feds have brought back the tax credit it makes it that much better. $2500.00
State of Maine $2000.00
Check and read Radiantec's site theres alot of info.
Phil

Thanks for the info... I am going to have to take a hard look at this.

IXLR8 · Nov 9, 2008

Phil, the sheetrock will crush as others have said. If you want to put the tubing on top of the plywood, under the Pergo.. then Uponor Wirsbo has a product that is just made for that. It is called Quik-Trak, it is a plywood that has grooves cut in it for the tubing and has an aluminum backing to spread the heat... just be sitting down when you price it!!

Quik Trak - Wirsbo Quik Trak - Wirsbo Quik Trak Panels

What I am doing is using the Uponor Joist-Trak, it spreads the heat out better, allows lower water temps or allows more heat per area transferred, the insulation can be right up against the Trak/plumbing. It is an extruded product and therefore costs more than the standard sheet metal that is used for heat spreading. Keep in mind different flooring has different temperature limits. I believe Pergo has a 85dF max temp.
Sorry if I have repeated anything.. I came to this thread late.

woodlandfarms · Nov 9, 2008

philbuilt said:
RonMar,
My original plan is to put the tube under the floor. here is the reason to do it on top. We built the place on a "as we could afford basis" This part of the house was a mobile home 14x70. all the walls and roof are gone. The frame and floor remain inplace with an additional 3/4" plywood on top then pergo. The floor is also 5/8" lower than the other 3 additions. Mobile floors crown down to the outer walls. Wife wants them level. I figuered that I could kill 2 birds at one time. I did think that the sheetrock would crush as well but, it was worth asking what others thought.
.

This is really interesting, the fact your house is built around a mobile home. We have a manufactured home and had intended to tear down and rebuild but with the economy we will stay in it a few more years (it is a 96, but still not well made). In the process of re-financing we have heard some serious problems with trying to resell these homes. One story in particular blew me away. The person had modified over the years a mobile home into a regular home. It was quite nice. very nice. But at the guts of it all it was still a mobile home. When the house was inspected the homeowner could not re-sell it for the value asked because it was still a mobile home, even though there was a real foundation around a lot of the home.

philbuilt · Nov 9, 2008

woodlandfarms,
I have no worries about selling. The frame is the only thing that still exsite of the mobile. It has been inspected mutiple times by several home inspector and appraisers.
This is our home and it will be in the family for a long time. My daughter was born in this house and we built it, and have lived here for a long time.
The view of the pond only gets better with age and digging. The zoning for the neighborhood is a 5 acre min. so what we see is what we will see. To nice to leave.

Thankgiving weekend I will install the tube under the floor and I will post some pictures.
Phil

Luremaker · Nov 11, 2008

I have been following this post since the beginning. I am in the process of finishing up my pop can solar air heaters. I am now thinking of adding solar hot water panels for both DHW and heating my shop floor. During my on-line research I have found tons of information. These links may be of interest to some of you considering solar hot water.

Radiant Living Magazine with archives (lots of articles)
Radiant Living - Fall 2008

Here are a few types of floor heating methods
Hydronic Radiant Floors - Radiant Panel Association

A simple to understand pdf guide to installing a number of different solar DHW sytems
http://www.solarh2ot.com/guide.pdf

charlz · Nov 12, 2008

Luremaker said:
A simple to understand pdf guide to installing a number of different solar DHW sytems
http://www.solarh2ot.com/guide.pdf

Interesting that the author doesn't see much value in the evacuated tube collectors over 'regular' collectors.

philbuilt · Nov 15, 2008

Luremaker,
Thanks for the links. The one site with the differant installation methods for the tube did catch my attention. The poured GYPSUM used a lower water temp (I like).

charlz,
Here is an other link for you.
Enjoy
Phil

The follow is the link to the Flat Plate collector vs the Evacuated Tube collectors;

http://aetsolar.com/AET%20Literature/Performance%20-%20Flat%20Plate%20vs%20Vacuum%20Tube.pdf