Radiant Heat Floors
Has anyone installed a radiant heat floor, specifically in a basement? Looking for idea of cost (not incl tile), actual heat given off in winter months and whether you used existing water boiler or modified it or installed extra one?
Has anyone installed a radiant heat floor, specifically in a basement? Looking for idea of cost (not incl tile), actual heat given off in winter months and whether you used existing water boiler or modified it or installed extra one?
Hey Radiantdude and bmfesq can i chime in on this. I laid the pex tuding in the concrete pad of my basement (~1100 sq ft)myself and am looking for low cost way of firing up the system. Been reading that running a second small HW heater for the basement only is best way to get the system going. Have a 250k btu steam boiler that I can easily connect to, but some are saying that firing up the big boiler to heat basement would be very inefficient. Tankless HW heaters run a lot ~$600-$1000. Small 30 gal gas HW heat is ~$250. Have the vents available (could get a electric HW heater for even cheaper 20 gal ~175 and advoid venting isssues.
My big problem is finding knowledgeable contractor to help me sort this thing out.
what do you guys think??
Maybe Master Plumber can help us out.
Hey, I just finished installing radiant in-floor in my basement and part of my main floor. The final cost of everything is around $10K. I used a combination of tankless heater (natural gas) with my existing HW tank to supply endless HW to the house as well as supply floor heat. My floor system is closed loop while the house is open loop. For the basement I didn’t have tubes embedded in the pad so I clipped/glued down hePex tubing right on the concrete then had a company come in and pour gypcrete (1.5″) overtop. It is a self-levelling concrete-like compound that resists cracking and is good for radiant heat, but just the gypcrete is $3.50/sqft.
My tankless heater is not High-efficiency as I wasn’t sure I could get the return temp low enough to satisfy a high-eff condensing boiler. Instead I used a Rinnai V2520 since it has low-temp venting. Some tankless vent at 350F (ouch!). But if you can get the low return temp then a high-eff is great cause you can vent with simple PVC pipe (low-cost!). I would have to say that the venting was the biggest PITA factor in the whole project.
I sweated all the connections and components which turned out to be fairly easy to do as long as you take your time with it.
How big is your basement? Do you have tubes in the pad already? Can you side vent?
Figure about $6/sq.ft. for the tubing installation alone. Then you need to purchase and have installed, the equipment that will circulate the water. I would suggest changing the boiler to a high efficiency unit. Check Baxi Luna. They are MEA approved for NYC and come with the circulating pump as an integral part of the unit. With this unit you can eliminate your hot domestic hot water tank. This will supply instant hot water to you sinks, tubs, etc. This equipment should run about $4k. The install labor is probably about $2k+ for the boiler equipment. Oh, these boilers are considered “zero clearance”, meaning they can be put practically anywhere including in a closet, where it may be more convenient.