Tag Archives: DIY radiant heat

DIY Radiant Heat Supplies

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by John Bigboutille

This is an overview of Radiant Heat Supplies that will be necessary for a domestic water radiant floor heating system. The household hot water tank not only supplies your domestic hot water needs but also passes energy to the radiant heating setup to warm your house.

Hot water tanks are pretty standard, with most homes having a gas fired or an electric tank in the utility room. If you are buying a new tank, look for the high efficiency models to save heating costs. If this is an upgrade to an existing system, then using your old tank should work if it is still in good shape.

From the water tank, hot water flows to a Flat Plate Heat Exchanger. At this time, heat passes through the FPHE and into the heating system fluid which carries the heat away from this point and is replaced by cool fluid, which starts to warm up rapidly.

An endless loop is created as the circulating pump pumps the fluid around the diy radiant heat system. The Tubing and radiators release the heat into the house as the water goes along, and it returns to the FPHE ready to be brought back to temperature.

Some radiant heat supplies you will require are one way valves or check valves to stop fluid moving in reverse during this circuit. The hot water always needs to go in the correct direction to return to the FPHE.

Expansion tanks are necessary to keep a leak from developing or parts from being wrecked. As the circulating fluid is heated and cooled, it will grow and shrink enough to strech or break your tubing without one of these.

Manifolds are needed to split the water into multiple lines or loops. A supply manifold and a return manifold are common components of the diy radiant heat supplies.

You will find that you need a lot of clamps and fittings to assemble your diy radiant heat setup. If you run out during your project, don’t despair. You will be able to get more fittings locally, since they usually stock these items.

And that is our general rundown of radiant heat supplies for your diy radiant heat system using the domestic hot water tank. Good luck with your project!

About the Author:
A lot of homeowners and renovaters want to go with DIY Radiant Heat. Look around if you want to find Radiant Heat Supplies.

Adding Hydronic Radiant Heat to Your Existing Home

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by David Stone

In the winter, my house always had ice cold floors. The existing heating system was wood stove and propane forced air. I decided to start checking into heating solutions for our home, and see if I could improve our setup with radiant heated flooring.

Since I was trying to reduce our monthly heating bill as well as make our floors warmer, I decided against electric radiant heat even though it would be easier to install. Solar water heating would most likely not be able to cut it in our northern climate, so I researched a diy hydronic floor heating system that uses an outdoor wood fired boiler to supply hot water.

Right away I decided to get my plan down on paper and figure out exactly what parts I would need to get started. I ordered my supplies by phone and went down to the hardware to pick them up as soon as they called to let me know they were in. Time to start installing.

By far the method that would require the most work seemed to be placing my PEX tubing on top of the underlay, after removing all of the laminate flooring. Not only would the height of the floor increase, but all of the trim and doorways would require altering.

That left applying the PEX tubing from the underside of the floor. This meant I was gong to spend hours on my back in the crawlspace, drilling holes and placing tubing. Easy work compared to refinishing all of my floor covering!

The insulated hot water and return lines for the boiler were buried eight feet down to keep them thawed out all winter. They entered the house at the utility room from underneath. I installed the holding tank and pump in this room as well, with barely any room to spare.

A DIY radiant heat system is a lot of work and a little bit of a frustration too. It will pay for itself in lower monthly heating costs though. And now, I never get cold feet standing in the bathroom or the kitchen.

About the Author:
hydronic radiant floor heating is an interesting alternative to regular furnace systems. Do some research and decide if DIY radiant heat is for you!