DIY Radiant Floor Heat
- Shawn Lentz
- Feb 29, 2016
- 3 min read
Ever get tired of your existing heating system that runs and runs and you still feel chilled? Well, there is a different way to heat your home that is going to transform the way you think about heat. Introducing radiant floor heat! This concept of heating is definitely in the minority when it comes to options for heating your home. It is, however, slowly becoming more and more popular.
Here is a quick list of pro's and con's to this system to consider. The biggest con i can think of for this system is cooling. If you have/want forced air, the duct work is already laid out for a cooling system. With radiant floor heat you will have to use in-window A/C unit or have a wall mount type cooling system.
Pro:
Durable and reliable, should outlast your furnace
Evenly distributed heat
Floors retain the heat well
Uses very little electricity
No ductwork= greater efficiency. Less heat is lost
Con:
With no duct work it makes cooling more difficult
Unless DIY it may be hard to find contractors who know how to install properly
Upfront cost can be much higher than traditional heating systems
Slow warm up time
Here is my receipt from pex universe. This is where I bought the majority of my supplies. They were the cheapest around and the shipping is super fast. This List is just the main components. As I went along with the build I bought some odds-n-ends, but this is mainly what you are going to need. All of these supplies will do about 80% of my house (1200 sq. ft.), adjust how much you need according to your home's requirements
The three highest cost items are the 1. Heat transfer plates, 2. Stainless Steel manifold and the 3. pex tubing.
1. The heat transfer plates are a must for retrofit builds. They work great at distributing the heat out from the pex tubing. Retrofits will not work effectiveley if these are not used, Simply because heat does not spread well from the thin pex. Using the plates will greatly enhance the distribution of heat to your floors
2. I really like the stainless steel manifold that pex universe has to offer. They are well built and should last the homeowner a long time. When picking out a manifold try and think of how many separate zones you would like to have. Remember the general rule of thumb is not to exeed 300 linear feet for each loop/zone.
3. The pex that you want to get is the oxygen barrier type. The reason for this is corrosion resistance. If you were to use non-oxygen barrier pex, oxygen molecules can find their way through the wall of the pex and into your closed loop system. Over time the oxygen and water mixture will start to corrode your cast iron in your boiler and pumps. BAD IDEA! Don't cheap out. Fork out the extra bucks and save yourself in the long-run.
I would encourage anyone to try and install this yourself. You are going to save yourself tons of money and everything you need can easily be bought off the internet and shipped directly to your door. This system is simple to install. Besides the crimp tool, you don't need any specialized tools for the install. I do recommend the crimp tool that has multiple dies. You never know when you're going to run into different size pex so it's just nice to have.
I you guys have any questions with this project email me and I'll get back to you ASAP.
