Hydronic Floor Heating Concrete Slab

There s two basic types of concrete floor heating hydronic and electric.

Hydronic floor heating concrete slab.

Home products hydronic systems concrete. While it was done as a new house was being built in my last house i poured a concrete floor on top of a wood framed floor system and could have put radiant heat in that as well. The word about underfloor heat to their fellow americans. Basic materials for radiant floor heat installation in a slab remember since you will only have 1 chance to pour the concrete slab you will only have 1 chance to put the pex tubing in it.

From a radiant heating perspective it doesn t matter if the slab is actually at grade or is poured several feet below grade as part of a full foundation. Embedding your radiant heating system into a concrete slab is one of the most cost effective ways to install it and most energy efficient being that concrete is a great thermal mass. Copper within con crete is highly susceptible to corrosion and a lifespan of. Anyone who has installed hydronic floor heating has likely watched as his or her neatly placed tubing circuits get buried in concrete.

Other times the masons trample over the tubing and mesh as if it is not even there. For concrete floor radiant heating systems the warm water tubing or electric heating elements can either be embedded within the slab on grade anywhere from the bottom of the slab to within 2 inches of the surface depending on the design and installation technique or fastened to the top of a concrete subfloor and then covered with an overlay. In slab hydronic heating systems are installed using polythene floor circuits embedded in the concrete slab. How does radiant heat work.

The system works via pex pipe a small pump a water heater and a thermostat. Hydronic in slab heating is an unobtrusive luxurious and efficient form of hydronic heating. Hydronic floor heating uses hot water that is pumped through tubing in the slab. A slab on grade is defined as any concrete slab poured over excavated soil.

The concrete absorbs the heat from the water and then radiates warmth to people and objects in the room. So even if there are no existing plans for the radiant floor heating or a snow melting system installing pex tubing in it may turn out to be a good decision. The system is heated with 50 c water from the hydronic boiler and can be zoned to suit individual requirements. This is about installing hydronic radiant floor heating in a slab floor system.

This is the best choice for new construction and areas receiving new slabs. Sometimes the tubing and reinforcing mesh it is attached to gets lifted into the thickness of the slab as the concrete is placed. But they all suffered from one primary problem longevity. The most cost effective system for medium to larger homes is hydronic since the amount of power it would take to heat a whole home with electric would be substantial.