How to install hydronic radiant heat

Keeping it on at a low temperature consistently will ensure that your home is heated faster when you need it. A hydronic radiant floor heating system has a year replacement time for the boiler, while a tankless boiler can last 20 years or more. The pex pipes under the flooring can last years or longer without needing to be replaced.

Circuit Check. Installation Accessory Kit. Electrical Rough-in Kit. Custom Installation Plan. Installation Manual. Installation Videos. Vinyl flooring is easy to clean, waterproof and slip-resistant making it an ideal floor finish in high traffic areas such as bathrooms and kitchens.

Luxury vinyl tiles and vinyl flooring can be safely used with Warmup underfloor heating, including Amtico and Karndean ranges. There are several manufacturers of electric radiant floor heating systems that can be placed directly on top of an existing concrete slab. These radiant floor heating systems can also be installed on top of a slab before the flooring goes down.

There are several manufacturers of this type of radiant floor heating. Home About Contact. How to Install Hydronic Heating There are many different ways to install a residential hydronic heating system in your home. Wet — Using a wet installation involves placing the radiant tubing into a bed of concrete. This can be very effective because the concrete acts to protect the tubing, while also providing a thermal mass to absorb the heat and radiate the warmth evenly throughout the room.

The two different types of wet application are for: Slab on grade foundations : During this process the radiant tubing is secured to the rebar or reinforcing structure within the slab before the wet concrete is poured into the foundation.

Thin Slab: These are created on top of subfloor systems where the tubing is attached to the subfloor and a thin layer of self leveling concrete is poured over the top.

The bonus of this installation is that it allows second floor rooms, as well as areas above basements and crawlspaces to have radiant floors installed. Dry — Dry systems of radiant flooring installation, often called plate systems, utilize prebuilt panels that have tracks for the radiant tubing within their design.

There is no hot air blasting dust from vents, and no more feeding a wood stove and having a house that's either too hot or too cold.

And as for efficiency, in our square foot well-insulated house, we average 33 KW a day during the coldest months in western Oregon. I mentioned that fact to our electric company energy expert and he said, "Wow! I bought a spare pump just in case of an emergency, and the only other component that can wear out is the water heater which I made sure is easily accessible.

A shorter version of this story originally appeared on my blog: Wildcat Man. Reply 2 years ago. Try contacting the company we listed in the Instructable. They can probably guide you to hook this system up to an instant water heater.

Since that's not what I used, I can't be of assistance. Hi and thanks for your question. Do you mean an instant water heater, which is basically an electric boiler?

If so, we mentioned it was upfront cost-prohibitive for us at the time, but if our water heater dies we might make the switch because they are not as expensive these days. It would save energy because it's on-demand and not heating water that isn't being used.

But, in our case the heat lost by the water heater's stored hot water is gained in the house anyway and, a water heater is cheaper to replace. Lots to consider! Good luck and let us know if you install a system! I had a heated driveway put in a number of years ago Now that I'm retired, I only turn it on when we get a freezing rain that leaves an ice coating on the driveway. I appreciate your instructable and your undertaking such a project.

I, too, took plenty of photos as the system was put in incase I needed the info later. I did the same when my house was constructed so I knew where interior pipes and wires were run. I have needed to refer to those photos often over the years. If I were to have another house built, I would have a heated water floor system included, as my feet are always cold in the winter. Not something that is easily, and inexpensively done, as an afterthought. I have a question about the flow direction of the water.

Wouldn't it make more sense, for comfort, to reverse the direction so the hotter temp water is coming into the center of the rooms and the colder is going out around the perimeter, or, is it done the way you have it because the colder temp of the room would be around the perimeter because of exterior walls and windows?

Again, good instructable! Reply 3 years ago. Thank you very much for your nice comments. Wow, a heated driveway!

To answer your question, yes the perimeter is the biggest heat-loss so that's why they recommend starting from the outside and working in, but you have an intriguing idea. This theory is possibly based on a more traditional heating system i. Why would it make much difference in a slab of concrete and in fact, be more efficient the way you propose? But I followed the standards, having no experience with the system, and no willingness to take a jack-hammer to the floor later to redo it all!

Radiant heating is the worst invention in history, our house gets colder then outside in the winter, and it's expensive, and there is never hot water. Question 3 years ago. Do you find one side of each zone is warmer the the other with hotter water coming in and slowly cooling as it flows thru the system.

We laid our pipes in spiral to try to prevent this but it may have been a lot more work for no benefit if yours works well. Finished house but yet to connect up underfloor pipes yet so thanks for the instructable.

Answer 3 years ago. Hi thanks for the question and cool photo! It's confusing how many zones you have? I have six, so that meant each zone room only had x number of feet of pipe out of about total. The longer the run, the more heat loss, as you know.

I don't know if a spiral pattern as you describe would make any difference, and it's an intriguing question. The only heat loss of any note is along the exterior walls, otherwise we find no significant difference in different areas.

Sunlight does play a role, when we get any that is. I installed large south-facing windows for some solar gain and that heats the floor up nicely as well.

The cats love it. Great article! I designed and installed these systems for years in the Midwest. I see the thermal expansion tank in one of the pictures. This is a must. This is a safety item that must be installed, preferably at the heater discharge.