PEX radiant floor heating?

Does anyone on the list have PEX in floor radiant heating?

What are thoughts, any tips on its installation? what would you do differently etc?

Basically we are about to gut renovate our master bathroom, because we are moving a few different items around the existing hot water radiator needs to be removed. The GC has suggested in floor radiant heating but i’m unsure if it gets hot enough etc.

Looking for any feedback or advice (and no using electric isnt an option we’ve consider.

deancollins

in Plumbers and Plumbing 12 years and 5 months ago

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HansDelbruck | 12 years and 5 months ago

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Considering radiant flooring in my bathroom too. Found quite a bit of very viable electrical based systems online and at the big stores. Sounds less involved then going the route of a water based system.

needmtg | 12 years and 5 months ago

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Yeah, of COURSE you need a phD in plumbing to do an 80sqft radiant floor. I stand corrected. Seriously, though, MvP, I don’t see why you ‘spend half your life’ on this site if mostly all you do is alternate telling us how  knowlegable you are while coyly withholding information, and denigrating others’ (ok, my) attempts to give simple answers. In any profession, naturally there are intricate details but you cite them like mantra when the posters want generalized answers so they can do their research or make an informed decision. No one’s asking you to design plumbing systems on the web for free.

brucef | 12 years and 5 months ago

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Dean, If your vamity is somewhat conventional (big box), you can get an under cabinet unit that blows out the kick. It uses same temp as radiator, no muss, no fuss. What did you ever do to conquer pulling wires through walls? Bruce

needmtg | 12 years and 5 months ago

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Trick? Mixing valve, return water, recirculation of. Not rocket science. http://tekmarcontrols.com/products/accessories/712.html Personally I’d save a lot of money by reinstallng a radiator since I hate warm bathroom floors, but I know that’s way unusual.

sandyman | 12 years and 5 months ago

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In MP’s defense, it is kind of complicated and you’ve provided pretty limited info. In short, it seems you want to run two systems (Pex in floor and hot water baseboard) off of one heat source. Each of these systems require different water temperatures pex is a low temp heat and baseboard at high temp. So, you either need to figure out a way to have your boiler modulate between the demands and close off circuits depending on which system is in use. I don’t know how you do it and it would probably require a new boiler and a lot of expensive plumbing. The alternative may be to use low-temp panel heaters (runtel is one brand) so that your heating temp requirements are the same through out your house. Final thought would be to use electric heat source, though, I think those are mostly used in bathrooms. You can check out radiantec.com for info.

deancollins | 12 years and 5 months ago

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gee thanks for all your help. lol. an expert is soemone who doesnt need to consider their art black magic but hey like i said you arent getting paid so fair enough but dont try and make out its too complicated to understand by a lay person.

deancollins | 12 years and 5 months ago

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so whats the trick for having them run on the same radiator/supply lines you mentioned in the other post?

deancollins | 12 years and 5 months ago

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we have hot water radiators, though each radiator can be controlled by a manual valve to determine heat so curious why the valve couldnt be left higher/lower. Do you know for a fact that floor heating with inslab pex under porcelain tiles is a different temperature to central baseboard radiator heating or is this just something you’ve heard?

mtadstudio | 12 years and 5 months ago

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radiant is great. and pex is fine. The only real question is how this loop of piping will integrate with the existing system. Do you have hot water radiators? Steam radiators? I believe that the water temperature used for radiant heat in a motar bed under tiles is different from the water temperature used for a radiator etc. And any additional pumps / valves etc that may be requred?  get a complete number for all that is involved from GC before going down this road.

PHfamily | 12 years and 5 months ago

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We have PEX radiant floor heating throughout. It is wonderful and certainly does get warm/ht enough. Installation was pretty easy…. Good luck!