Options for repair slab heat or SOL?

[MitchL]

Well a bad thing happened. Last winter we got a particularly bad cold snap. (-50 for about a week). And my slab heat froze up, and we discovered in the spring that it must have freeze split and is now leaking pretty bad. The top surface is fine, but I’m guessing it has broken through on the bottom (pex loops run near the bottom of the concrete). I guess what I am wondering is this a major concrete demolition repair or is there any other creative ways to repair this without chipping out all concrete? Things I have thought about but may not work;
- Run new heating loops on top of existing concrete and pour an few inches on top?
- Some kind of slab jacking to allow new loops to be pulled under slab?
- I researched a few sealant options, but the results seem to be inconsistent.
- has anyone else ever heard of other options?

 

[jack stand]

I'm thinking that you're sol for salvaging this slab, I hope not but can't imagine any technique that would save it.
Was there any insurance in place that might help?

 

[finn]

SOL.

Might investigate picking up a couple of overhead water radiators with fans to plumb in using your existing boiler.

You could then abandon the floor heat, and avoid the hassle of tearing up an otherwise useable slab.

 

[Jackfre]

Look at the Rehau and Uponor sites. There are tracks you can lay on top of the current slab and either do a pour over or engineered flooring over it. You are in the whack-a-mole world try8iing to determine where and how many leaks there are in the old system.

 

[MitchL]

I'm thinking that you're sol for salvaging this slab, I hope not but can't imagine any technique that would save it.
Was there any insurance in place that might help?

shop is covered under home policy, but have been working to try to see what the coverage is. It is tough because the damage from the incident is to the property structure and less to damage caused from the “water escape“. has anyone dealt with similar before?

 

[danski0224]

You could try running hot water through it and scan the slab with a thermal imager to try and narrow down the leak location.

It is possible that it is broken on one or two spots.

 

[Jackfre]

You could try running hot water through it and scan the slab with a thermal imager to try and narrow down the leak location.

It is possible that it is broken on one or two spots.

You may be right. Depends upon how the tubing lay-out trapped the fluid. The leaks are likely near the edges as that is where the cold would penetrate first and where there are 180’s in the tubing. This is kind of a hit and hope option though, imo. Maybe you catch it maybe you don’t and then the insurance co is off the hook and you are on it.

 

[PoorUB]

You could test one loop at a time and find the leader. Run a bunch of water through it and see if it comes up through the slab.
If nothing else disconnect that loop and run the floor heat without it. You may have to rig up a short loop between the manifolds to fill up that portion of the manifold.

 

[mrobins297aaa]

I don't have any idea what you have for a layout but maybe you could just bust up the concrete on the ends and put some compressed air in there on each individual run and see if you can locate the leak then if you can find which run is leaking you could maybe just bypass it on the ends.
Like jackfre said I would bet the leaks are near the outside/edges

 

[willymakeit]

Well a bad thing happened. Last winter we got a particularly bad cold snap. (-50 for about a week). And my slab heat froze up, and we discovered in the spring that it must have freeze split and is now leaking pretty bad. The top surface is fine, but I’m guessing it has broken through on the bottom (pex loops run near the bottom of the concrete). I guess what I am wondering is this a major concrete demolition repair or is there any other creative ways to repair this without chipping out all concrete? Things I have thought about but may not work;
- Run new heating loops on top of existing concrete and pour an few inches on top?
- Some kind of slab jacking to allow new loops to be pulled under slab?
- I researched a few sealant options, but the results seem to be inconsistent.
- has anyone else ever heard of other options?

Start the system and have some one with a ir/fluer camera come out and scan floor. They can usally pinpoint where the area of leak is. If you an determine which zone it is [assuming multiple zones] you can disconnect that zone at manifold.
The repair is simple after removing floor needed. Cut,place correct union, test and repour concrete.

 

[thebmrust]

Could also get a plumber with a camera to try and locate cracks. But if they aren’t under pressure they’ll be hard to see.
Another option might be sound. Pressurized air (or water) could be heard with the right equipment.

 

[Sumboodie]

You in AK?

 

[86turbodsl]

I've had this issue before. There are 2 ways i know of to solve this. Either an IR camara and carefully look for discontinuities in the heat signature, or there is a company somewhere and i don't remember who and where, that will find leaks in hydronic slab heat using ultrasonics. If you use the IR method,
find the inlet manifold for the slab, and turn off all but one circuit at a time so you are dumping full heat into a single circuit at a time. Trace it from inlet to outlet and look for a large sudden change in the line. I have a phone IR camera and i was able to trace lines on my shop slab to install lifts.

 

[mike93lx]

Could also get a plumber with a camera to try and locate cracks. But if they aren’t under pressure they’ll be hard to see.
Another option might be sound. Pressurized air (or water) could be heard with the right equipment.

I would assume this is 3/4 or 1" pex, at the biggest. I don't think you are getting a camera through either

 

[thebmrust]

I would assume this is 3/4 or 1" pex, at the biggest. I don't think you are getting a camera through either

There are borescopes that fit 3/4” & 1” tubing. Length is the bigger problem.

 

[danski0224]

Length is the bigger problem.

Truth

 

[stingry]

PEX is freeze resistant. It will expand when water freezes in it and then shrinks to original size when it thaws. Due to this, I would guess that your tubing did not fail totally but in just a few places, maybe the slab cracked and sheared the pex or something similar. Isolate the loops and test one at a time to see which of them leak. Good luck!

 

[PugetDude]

If you can isolate the loops, you can kill off the problem ones. Continue using the ones that work, add surface radiator(s) to compensate for the reduced coverage, utilizing the existing boiler and pumps. Much betterr than tearing out a usable slab.

Also wonder if you could pull smaller diameter tubing through a damaged loop? Not quite as efficient, but would still function as radiant heat. I'm sure the manufacturers have dealt with subsurface repair options before.

 

[Innovate1]

Others have covered everything I could suggest for repair. Tough situation. Did you have antifreeze and it was just not enough to protect at the temps you had?