DIY in floor heating question

[atotalnincompoop]

hi,
i have been lurking for a while now, i came over from the corvetteforum, and really enjoy this site.
my question is...a couple of years ago i was in a guys garage who had built his own in floor heating system using an electric hot water tank. i really didn't pay to much attention to it then, but i do remember him saying that it was very cheap to install and it worked great. about all that i can remember is that he had an old tank, a used pump and some sort of home made manifold with a few poly tubes going into it from the slab.
i have searched your archives here for similar systems but have come up empty handed. do any of you guys have any info or experience with this kind of set up?
thanks Greg

 

[EvilEye]

I put in my system. Bought the tubing and manifolds locally.

Try www.radiantec.com for information.

they also sell all the stuff you need.

I bought the water heater (40 gal ) at sears , got the circulator from a friend who also helped put in the tubing. all the rest is basic plumbing stuff.

Working on a warm floor is really easy on the feet and legs. I don't have to heat the garage to 65 or 70 degrees in the winter. when not working the thermostat is set for 40 degrees. I go in move the thermostate up to 65 degrees and shortly the floor starts warming up and you feel it immediately.
It is a closed system and not hooked up to any water source. I do have to make sure it has a little pressure in the system but that is not a problem, I put a pressure gauge and a schrader valve to add air.
I have pictures of the tubing before they put the concrete down and one of the manifolds before the plumbing was finished. let me know if you want me to post them.

EvilEye

 

[atotalnincompoop]

I have pictures of the tubing before they put the concrete down and one of the manifolds before the plumbing was finished. let me know if you want me to post them.

EvilEye

i would love to see some pictures of your set up.
thanks for your input

 

[EvilEye]

here are 2 picturee:

The orange area is marked where the 2 post lift is located. NO Tubing under that area and the concrete was thicker there. Try to keep all the tubing runs equal in length, this helps maintain a uniform temp in all the tubes.
The manifolds are on a temp board in the picture. I insulated and lined the entire buildingand then refastened the manifolds and control box.

hope this helps

EvilEye

 

[EvilEye]

here are 2 picturee:

The orange area is marked where the 2 post lift is located. NO Tubing under that area and the concrete was thicker there. Try to keep all the tubing runs equal in length, this helps maintain a uniform temp in all the tubes.
The manifolds are on a temp board in the picture. I insulated and lined the entire buildingand then refastened the manifolds and control box.

hope this helps

EvilEye

the pictures needed downsized - here they are I hope???

 

[cork]

Evileye, what size is your garage ? Are you using a gas or electric water heater ? Do you know approx how much it costs to operate your water heater ?

 

[EvilEye]

28' x36' with 9'6" sidewall - siccors truss with about 13' at center -
Electric hot water heater - 40 gal

I don't know what it costs, the garage is on the same meter as the house, I haven't even looked at the electric bills lately.

BUt remember The water heater is on real low in the winter, and off most of the year when you don't need heat.

 

[cork]

How did you determine the size of the hot water heater you needed ? Im heating a 32 x42 building with 10' walls. I installed lines and manifolds from radiantech but im not sure i wnat to spend the money for the polaris water heater they sell.

 

[EvilEye]

R. F. Fager's in Camp Hill Pa. Helped with the design process. MY friend works at a local service company, and he ordered all the tube and manifolds from them.
They have a design guy on staff and he did the calcs.
I think they asked him for the size of the building, Doors, Windows and Insulation Factor.

If I were to live in this garage I would need a small Gas or Oil fired Boiler.

 

[RAMBIN]

im about to do my slab, actually the forms are on there way here in the next few days... im very interestd in doing a infloor heating system, even if i just get the tubing in there then its there if i ever want it...i know i can get the tubing at home depot and they have some sort of maniflold system as well but i need to know how many of these zones i would need and how i would go about laying the tubing..im building a 24 # 28 garage 10' ceilings and would probaly go with a gas hot water tank or maybe even a gas fired tankless if that w ould do the job.. what do i need insulation under the slab? syrofoam is priced out of this world..anyhow any advice would be appreciated as time is of the essence!

 

[MCraven210]

When I did mine Radiantec told me the size of water heater. They gave me the option of the water heater a commercial 75,000btu or the Polaris. Radiantec worked up all of the calulations.

As for the tubing in the floor make sure the stuff that Home Cheapo sells meets code. you may need to have it inspected before you pour the slab. Radiantec's web sire has alot of info on it on how the systems work and how they are installed.

Mike

 

[xtremes]

I did my heating system myself. I made my own manifolds out of fittings. I also installed shut off valves for each zone so I can shut part of it down if I wanted to.
DO NOT go with a tankless. I put in a Start on demand system when I first got the garage up. Iwe put in a 100 gallon Porpane tank and in 7 days in was empty. We made some adjustments and tried it again same results. I was going through 400 gallons of propane a month.
I switched to a 40 gallon hot water heater and now use about 5 gallons a month.
A tankless heater is not rated for a closed loop heating system. You need some kind of storage tank to keep the heatted water in ready to work.

 

[Cword]

I did a DIY slab heating system in 2001.

These are the schematics I used

Mike

 

[Cword]

The pipe is Kitec, a layered poly/aluminium sandwich pipe, I didn't multi zone because the garage at 24 by 30 wasn't big enough to for me to imagine subdividing it. I did make two parallel loops though.

Mike

 

[cork]

Cword, do you know how much propane you use per month ? IS that a 40 gallon hot water heater?

 

[Cword]

Cword, do you know how much propane you use per month ? IS that a 40 gallon hot water heater?

My Natural Gas bill went up by about $200 per year when I brought the garage on line. That is less than 1/4 of what the house is using. In winter I usually have the thermostat set around 10 to 12 C (50 to 60 F), with warm feet it's quite comfortable.
Yes, the heater is a 40 Gallon hot water tank.

Mike

 

[thedirkster]

Mike, I have been reviewing posts (old and new) as well as doing some surfing trying to gather as much knowledge as possible prior setting off with a water tank desing in a slab floor. I have a couuple of questions, if you don't mind....

1)Why did you run the return loop into the tank drain as opposed to running it into the input on the top of the tank?

2) Have you noticed that you require water make up? As I am debating on if I want to run a water line out to the pole barn. I was thinking on some sort of a hose from the house set up to fill it, and if I need recovery water simply run he hose out again.

3) Is there anything, now that you've had a bunch of run time on the system, that you would have done differently to improve efficiency?

4) In one of your pictures it shows you have an exhaust pipe, plus another 4" pipe, is the 2nd (lower pipe) for air input feeding the burner?

Thanx,

Dirk

 

[tammi6523]

What t stat brand and model are you using?

Should be wired like this I believe.

 

[maxspeed96ct]

I'm heating my 2 car garage with a 40 gal water heater but I'm using natural gas . I'm my area electricity is very expensive so I wouldn't even think about using a electric heater .

 

[anthony666]

.... not hooked up to any water source. I do have to make sure it has a little pressure in the system but that is not a problem, I put a pressure gauge and a schrader valve to add air ...

EvilEye

air is the worst thing you can add to a hydronic system sir .. the three things necessary for corrosion are water, heat and oxygen .. if you eliminate oxygen you cut the corrosion significantly .. also putting air in there can cause air lock issues where the pumps can't pump, get hot and burn out and can do all kinds of other expensive system damage associated with not moving heat away from it's various sources

since you're used to the chore of adding pressure to your system anyway hook up a double ended washing machine hose to a garden hose and just add water as needed through whatever hose bib/boiler drain valve you have installed .. if you stay in the 25 to 35 psi range you'll be golden