Best Manifold for radiant heat

[69gp]

Hi,

Just looking for an honest opinion for radiant heat manifolds. I have 4-300, 1/2" pex loops in my garage. Boiler is in the basement about 70' feet away. I would like the manifold to have the capability to isolate a loop if I every have a failure, be able to flow control each line and be able to bleed the system from the garage.

I know everyone always seems to have their favorite. I just want something that fits the bill.

thanks

 

[Firebrick43]

Are your loops exactly the same length? If so you don’t need balancing valves on each loop and can save a boat load with an American made Sioux chief manifold with Dahl valve(Dahl are as good as the best if not the best)

One example in F1807 crimp style https://www.pexuniverse.com/sioux-chief-4-port-pex-copper-manifold-w-valves-672xv0490

They have thousands of different variation depending if sweat copper, crimp pex, propex, and compression pex and the same for the manifold inlets as well.https://www.siouxchief.com/docs/default-source/print/print-brochures/supply/branchmaster---manifolds---brochure.pdf?sfvrsn=15a93637_6

If you have unequal lengths you need balancing valves and I would suggest caleffi. I would stay away from watts and many of the house brand Chinese manifolds as thier valves are ****

 

[yeldogt]

The bluefin manifolds are nice and a very good price point for a traditional manifold ... they give you the whole package where others have you do add on parts.


No manifold comes with the zone heads .... If you need a manifold where you can turn on and off each loop independent ... I just bought 3 Cross units and they can't be beat IMO for what they do.

Proper bleeding is done at the boiler if it is piped properly .. although most traditional manifolds have a drain.

I have never had a leak in pex

 

[69gp]

Are your loops exactly the same length? If so you don’t need balancing valves on each loop and can save a boat load with an American made Sioux chief manifold with Dahl valve(Dahl are as good as the best if not the best)

One example in F1807 crimp style https://www.pexuniverse.com/sioux-chief-4-port-pex-copper-manifold-w-valves-672xv0490

They have thousands of different variation depending if sweat copper, crimp pex, propex, and compression pex and the same for the manifold inlets as well.https://www.siouxchief.com/docs/default-source/print/print-brochures/supply/branchmaster---manifolds---brochure.pdf?sfvrsn=15a93637_6

If you have unequal lengths you need balancing valves and I would suggest caleffi. I would stay away from watts and many of the house brand Chinese manifolds as thier valves are ****

The 4 loops are within 15' of each in length. The only reason i want the balancing valves is the engineer said that I should regulate the water flow to 2.8 gals per minute across each loop.

 

[69gp]

The bluefin manifolds are nice and a very good price point for a traditional manifold ... they give you the whole package where others have you do add on parts.


No manifold comes with the zone heads .... If you need a manifold where you can turn on and off each loop independent ... I just bought 3 Cross units and they can't be beat IMO for what they do.

Proper bleeding is done at the boiler if it is piped properly .. although most traditional manifolds have a drain.

I have never had a leak in pex

As for the bleeding I would like to do as much as possible in the garage as the lines run up from the basement and then drop down to where the manifold will be located.

 

[Firebrick43]

The 4 loops are within 15' of each in length. The only reason i want the balancing valves is the engineer said that I should regulate the water flow to 2.8 gals per minute across each loop.

Should be more like 2 per loop. Manifold balancing valves shouldn’t be used to do this, they should be used just to make the loops equal. Also manifold with individual flow meters are even more expensive. A temp gun measuring in and out temps (after stabilizing) can make the loops equal. Over all flow should be controlled by pump sizing (or now there are variable speed pumps by at least grundfos) or a full size balancing valve before each manifold in a zoned system. If you balance the manifold and supply 8 GPM to the manifold you get 2 GPM per loop.

As far as length you have. 5% difference. I don’t recall right off hand what percentage is acceptable without valves, I will look it up later.

 

[yeldogt]

As for the bleeding I would like to do as much as possible in the garage as the lines run up from the basement and then drop down to where the manifold will be located.

You should only have to do it once -- use feed for boiler for water in ... hose to outside for out

 

[bmwpowere36m3]

When I did the house I used brass Roth manifolds (flow meter and isolation valves) in the house, Caleffi was a step up, Bluefin/Mr.Pex/similar seemed the lowest tier IMO... However that doesn't mean they won't work.

 

[yeldogt]

When I did the house I used brass Roth manifolds (flow meter and isolation valves) in the house, Caleffi was a step up, Bluefin/Mr.Pex/similar seemed the lowest tier IMO... However that doesn't mean they won't work.

When I did my first radiant back in the early 90's ... most of the stuff was from Europe. The Wirsbo ...now Uponor was a big player (all brass). Roth was around. I ended up using an Italian made plastic system ... Embassy Systems. It gave me the big flow I needed for that house with all the flow controls.

Over the years I have not been impressed with most of the manifolds longterm ... So many of them have corrosion issues and bad valves. I stuck with the Embassy -- did have to replace one of the oldest manifolds last year. Parts of it were showing signs of weeping -- so I just replaced the whole thing. It was also feeding panel radiators -- so it has 25+ years of the hottest water. The other two on that house are fine.

So back to the Bluefin ... A few weeks ago I needed a large 11 loop for a 3/8 retrofit plate zone. All about equal loops always open .... used a zone valve before the manifold. I did some research and while some of the earlier SS units from China seem to have some valve failures ... they have good reviews now. Many of the parts are the same as in other manifolds from the big players.

Anyway -- I was impressed with the Bluefin when I got it. I did indeed order an extra valve and flow meter just to have the replacement part on hand. Cover myself. IMO -- it was nicer than the brass Wirsbo Jr that I picked up when a company went under -- it's been sitting around for a couple years.

Time will tell .... I do agree the Caleffi products are typically very nice .... I'm not sure what all brass offers over all SS.

With all manifolds --- it's the control heads that add cost and they do fail. Failure does not cause a leak ... you just lose control. That's why I used the Cross on the other Zones. Adding zone loop controls on every valve adds a lot to the cost.

 

[kj_mustang]

I have a couple of the Bluefin manifolds and they have worked well.

 

[Tduby]

I assume price is a concern so get blue fin if not caleffi or some other ridiculous priced option.
The blue fins are very nice and come with everything you need supply house is where they are sold online n

 

[Earp69]

I see a few reviews on the blue fins where there flow meters crack on them and come home to a flooded mess this is the only thing deterring me from them

 

[yeldogt]

I see a few reviews on the blue fins where there flow meters crack on them and come home to a flooded mess this is the only thing deterring me from them

it seems the bad reviews were long ago ..... I did some checking as they are used by some all the time. People are not reporting failures -- time will tell.

They sell the parts --- bought an extra of each.

 

[Tduby]

I see a few reviews on the blue fins where there flow meters crack on them and come home to a flooded mess this is the only thing deterring me from them

How much water is above your manifold? I assume the people who got flooded had an automatic top off unit. I suspect until you get to a super expensive unit they will all have plastic in them. I have had mine under pressure for 2 years and in use for 2 don’t you hate when it takes forever doing it yourself. If you are worried then buy a calefi unit pay your money and have the peace of mind you bought the better unit.

 

[Dr_Pippin]

When I did my first radiant back in the early 90's ... most of the stuff was from Europe. The Wirsbo ...now Uponor was a big player (all brass). Roth was around. I ended up using an Italian made plastic system ... Embassy Systems. It gave me the big flow I needed for that house with all the flow controls.

Over the years I have not been impressed with most of the manifolds longterm ... So many of them have corrosion issues and bad valves. I stuck with the Embassy -- did have to replace one of the oldest manifolds last year. Parts of it were showing signs of weeping -- so I just replaced the whole thing. It was also feeding panel radiators -- so it has 25+ years of the hottest water. The other two on that house are fine.

So back to the Bluefin ... A few weeks ago I needed a large 11 loop for a 3/8 retrofit plate zone. All about equal loops always open .... used a zone valve before the manifold. I did some research and while some of the earlier SS units from China seem to have some valve failures ... they have good reviews now. Many of the parts are the same as in other manifolds from the big players.

Anyway -- I was impressed with the Bluefin when I got it. I did indeed order an extra valve and flow meter just to have the replacement part on hand. Cover myself. IMO -- it was nicer than the brass Wirsbo Jr that I picked up when a company went under -- it's been sitting around for a couple years.

Time will tell .... I do agree the Caleffi products are typically very nice .... I'm not sure what all brass offers over all SS.

With all manifolds --- it's the control heads that add cost and they do fail. Failure does not cause a leak ... you just lose control. That's why I used the Cross on the other Zones. Adding zone loop controls on every valve adds a lot to the cost.

Sorry to resurrect a years-old thread, but looking to make my purchase soon and wanted to get input from some owners. Are you still happy with your Bluefin manifold?

 

[Mr onetwo]

these are my favorite....price is not that high thru a distributor

 

[Dr_Pippin]

these are my favorite....price is not that high thru a distributor

I don't see them on supplyhouse.com, which is where I was looking at for ordering Bluefin from. Guess I should check out a local company and see what they have for pricing. Thanks!