Radiant Floor Manifold Question

[deaner70]

Looking at the different manifolds out there, I came across one that is (or appears) to be stainless steel. I also seen them at Menards. IT is a ki that has both supply & return pipes, flow meters, valves, etc and it is all mounted on a bracket that will screw to a wall. My question is, are these any good. It just looks cheap to me, although pretty handy. If this icture comes through, it looks just like this one, only claiming stainless steel

Thanks

 

[koditten]

Overkill in my opinion. You don't need anything this fancy for a shop. They look nice if money was no issue.

 

[Highbeam]

Those manifolds work great from what I've read and seen. They are cheap, allow you to adjust and measure flow to each zone, include the valves for filling and purging, and are premade which saves you labor time. What's not to like?

Sure you could solder together a bunch of tees, or buy a log with ******* for each zone but you would spend lots of time, less cash, and have a less useful manifold.

I plan to buy the pictured manifold for my 6 loop system. I think they are called watts manifolds.

 

[finn]

Buy the manifold. I counted 97 solder joints in my boiler / maniflod system even with the pre fab pump / mixer board and store bought manifilds.

I could have reduced the count a little if I didn't have to put the pump' mixing panel along side of the boiler for wall space reasons.

If iwas ever to do this again, I'd buy the $1200 menards panel complete and get on with life.

I've come to hate soldering with a passion.

 

[jlckmj]

I have one on my system, it is from an ebay supplier, If I remember correctly I paid about $150 for my 4 loop system. When I added up all the parts ie: temp gauges, mine has air bleeders on both manifolds, adjustable flow meters, compression tubing fittings, it came out pretty close to buying it all individually, and I think it looks better than what I could have put together.

The only thing I found that I did not like was the hose connection (under the shut off valves), mine has cheap or off sized threading and leaked when I hooked up a hose to it, so I filled my system from a different point. At least it still has the shut off valves at that point to isolate the system if you ever need to take the system apart for repairs.

Jim

 

[tdkkart]

Functional overkill, but convenience sometimes pays off, and there's alot of convenient features to that manifold set. You can never have too many valves to shut stuff off with, flow meters are nice, and being able to isolate the entire floor with one valve is useful too.

 

[Jackfre]

Looking at the different manifolds out there, I came across one that is (or appears) to be stainless steel. I also seen them at Menards. IT is a ki that has both supply & return pipes, flow meters, valves, etc and it is all mounted on a bracket that will screw to a wall. My question is, are these any good. It just looks cheap to me, although pretty handy. If this icture comes through, it looks just like this one, only claiming stainless steel

Thanks

I've used them and found them to be quite good. You have isolation, purge valves, temperature and flow balancing. What is there that is not to like. Do you "need" them...no! That said, the manifold will help you see what is going on with your slab. The trim out well too.

 

[anthony666]

those watts manifolds are great, very easy to purge and balance .. i use them a lot

 

[deaner70]

Thanks for the info. Trying to get it up and running. The local heating guy suggested making it a closed system with distilled water and anti-freeze, then adding a plate heater and a pump. I am heating with a Central BOiler. Says its more efficiant than using a mixing valve. Says to come into the plate, then put a pump and stat and hook to loops in the floor

 

[Highbeam]

On these watts manifolds.... they appear to use some sort of compression coupling between the pex from the floor and the manifold. So if your pex is not factory smooth will it still seal? What if it doesn't? I know the crimp fittings seal on the inside so the condition of the outer skin isn't as important.

If you haven't guessed, I temporarily buried my pex and the outer skin is not baby **** smooth anymore.

 

[anthony666]

On these watts manifolds.... they appear to use some sort of compression coupling between the pex from the floor and the manifold. So if your pex is not factory smooth will it still seal? What if it doesn't? I know the crimp fittings seal on the inside so the condition of the outer skin isn't as important.

If you haven't guessed, I temporarily buried my pex and the outer skin is not baby **** smooth anymore.

yes they use a compression fitting .. the inside of the tube is what counts, don't worry

 

[MN BIANCHI]

This is what I used on my 11 loop installation:

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The larger unit has 9 feeds for the main shop. The smaller unit has 2 feeds for a smaller space. There are 2 pumps and 2 thermostats.