In Floor heating

[Slick Fork]

Some great responses so far guys thanks,

I'll definately pressure test, any suggestions on equipment needed for that that's easily rentable? I think the previous owners installed the reznor units first and then decided to look into in-floor as the new slab with the pipe is quite a bit higher than the side that doesn't have it.

Mike: How do you feel about the return on your investment with the electric in-floor heat? I've considered it for places like bathrooms, kitchens, etc. as retrofitting the house for hot-water heat is way too big a project for us right now. Same goes with Geo-Thermal although I would absolutely love to do something like that.

Carpentersreef: Thanks for the link and info, I'd love to add solar but am doing this project on the cheap.

Russ: What are you using for a circulation pump and Temperature controller?

[mike31154]

ROI on the electric infloor heating? It's going to take a while to figure that out since I've only installed the small 183 watt loop recently by the bay window, approx 20 sq ft. My living room faces north, I think the bay was an add on by a previous owner and that area of the room has always been a little cool in the dead of winter. So the ROI was not a prime consideration when installing this, I'm just glad that this area is now a little warmer without having to rely on the forced air furnace. Heck, I use 3 times that amount of power to light up my fish tank! Not sure what the cost of the system was anymore since I purchased it a while back. As I mentioned, the electronic, digital thermostat with built in GFI (a requirement apparently) cost quite a bit. I think almost $280, that almost made me flip out and reconsider. I think they may have a less costly mechanical thermostat available, not sure. I just set up the heating cycles last week. Similar to most modern digital thermostats with different programming options etc. The features are way overkill for what I'm using it for at the moment. An On Off switch would probably do the trick just as well. The heating loop itself was less than $200 I think. It's made by True Comfort Systems and I got it at the local HD.

You need dedicated circuits from your breaker panel for any electric heating and the larger runs for more power/square footage are wired for 240 volt, same idea as your electric dryer or range. Even though I only have a 183 watt run at the moment, I've used 12 guage wire so it won't be a problem to tap into that run when I get around to doing the kitchen & bathroom floors. Should be able to do all of them on one 15 amp circuit, my house is not large by today's standards.

[mike31154]

At the risk of hijacking your thread, here are a couple of photos of the electric infloor heating install before I laid the tile over top.



You should be able to see the soft copper tubing I used to house the thermostat sensor in the second photo. This is so I can remove or replace it should it become faulty. It's an option and the system manufacturer's normal instructions call for simply embedding the sensor in the mortar. And yes, the sensor is a bit too close to the one wire, it should be centered between any two of the wires.