Combining radiant floor systems with baseboard heating systems isn’t as hard as certain people may believe. Actually, it is quite easy and can be fairly effective. Baseboard heating units are really effective in their own right. Areas where severe temperatures make winters unpleasantly cold are perfect location to find baseboard heating units. In a state like Maine, baseboard heat is the number one choice amongst homeowners. Certain houses are equipped with forced-air heat and a few have electric baseboard heat, although a bulk of the homes has hot water baseboard het and oil-fired boilers. Lately, radiant floor heating has become more and more popular in Maine. Houses that are furnished with hot-water baseboard heat are perfect applicants for radiant floor heating. The water for the radiant system must be cooler than the supply for the baseboard units. This is straightforward to achieve and the process will be explored further later on. Plenty of people do not understand that radiant floor heat can be used in combination with hot water baseboard heat. It definitely can.

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Motorized mixing valves carry out the same necessary services as a standard three-way mixing valve, although they use a motor to complete their job. A four-way motorized mixing valve reacts to control input from electronic sensors to keep a fixed water temperature. A sensor checks radiant supply water temperature. If the term temperature falls below the required level, a control fires a circulator on the boiler side of the valve and causes the mixing valve to modify the water temperature. This, obviously, is achieved by mixing hot water with colder water to generate warm water.

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Mixing Tanks

Mixing tanks can be used to create Type 2 heating systems. Certain individuals describe these tanks as side-arms. Water from a boiler that is serving hot-water baseboard heat is sent into the mixing tank. Return water from a radiant heat system is channelled into the tank too. The combination of cool and hot water generates warm water for the radiant supply water. A boiler loop circulator and radiant panel loop circulator are both needed when a mixing tank is used. An aqua stat is also required. It can be either a strap-on unit or an immersion unit. The aqua stat senses supply water temperature for the radiant system. Any insulated water tank can be used as a mixing tank.

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The temperature problem of using a single heat source for both hot water baseboard heat and radiant floor heat is one that plenty of people do not comprehend entirely. It is correct that it is essential that water supply temperature to the two kinds of systems is significantly different. However, this does not mean that a single heat source cannot serve both heat systems. Misunderstanding on this issue occasionally sways people to look for other heating preferences. Slight alterations of the existing heat source for hot-water baseboard heat is all that is required to make it generate water of a correct temperature for a radiant system.

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Zones

Heating zones are a fantastic idea when you’re designing a heating system. With the correct zoning, a heating system can give excellent comfort and cost cutting measures. Buildings can be divided into zones in plenty of ways. It is definitely possible to have every room in a building on a separate zone; however, this is generally not feasible, and it becomes costly. If you’re working with customers, you can discuss the number of zones they want. If you’re working with a spec house, the most common way to zone it is with individual zones for types of rooms, instead of every room. For example, the bedrooms would all be one zone, the living room and halls may be on a zone, with the kitchen and dining area on another zone. This kind of three—zone installation is popular.

The biggest advantages of zones are comfort and cost-effective use. Why should you heat a bedroom at full temperature when it’s not used for hours throughout the day? If you intend to spend four hours watching television in the lounge, you can reduce the zones for the kitchen and bedrooms down. It may be desirable to have bedrooms on independent zones. Certain people prefer cooler bedrooms compared to others. How far you go in breaking down a building into zones is up to your customers.

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You ought to seriously think about purchasing computer software to do the work for you, if you are going to figure plenty of heating jobs on your own. One software package that I can recommend is the Wirsbo Radiant Express package. Computer software has its limitations, although it can do calculations for you and answer a variety of questions that will save you time and trouble. In order to compute heating loads and figures, you need some base points from which to work. This is true with or without computer software. Therefore, I will provide you with some key information required for such work prior to moving on.

How much tubing is required for an installation? How much square footage will you be heating? This is the first question to answer? After you identify the square footage you can use a multiplier to assess the quantity of tubing needed for a job.

How close together will the tubing be installed? This is the second question to answer. Installations are usually done with a range multiplier that you use. Here are the multipliers:

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The following suggestion is worth exploring when you’re heating a small area. Check to see if a water heater can be used as a heat source with your area building codes. That is correct; I mentioned a water heater, just similar to the kind used for plumbing systems. The price of water heaters cost is a fraction of what boilers do, and where appropriate, water heaters are capable of generating enough hot water to service a small heating system. Another plus given by a water heater is that a moderating tool isn’t required to acquire and keep the correct water temperature. Because water heaters are kitted with thermostats it’s a simple matter to keep a steady water temperature. Nevertheless, water heaters are restricted in their capacity and are not appropriate for bigger jobs. Ensure that you validate that code allows the use of a water heater in your locality prior offering it as a choice.

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Installing 3/8 inch tubing between floor joists isn’t hard and it does not have to be too pricey. The tubing can be clipped or staled to the subflooring or placed in the floor joists. To keep costs down, you can avoid installing aluminium heat emission plates. Not having the plates does have drawbacks; however, they are not too great. For example, a job without plates will need a higher water temperature and the response time when heat is called for will be a bit slower. Although, the omission of the plate can save a lot of money at the time of installation.

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