Installing Radiant Heat Between Joists. Retrofit radiant heat into your home or for new construction

thank you for choosing radiant tech for your radiant heating system in the next few minutes we'll take you through an overview of a joy stood floor radiant installation you'll need these tools a right-angle drill with a one and a half to two inch bit to drill holes in the joist a staple gun for stapling the aluminum heat emission fins if you have a small area to do a hand stapler will do if you're doing an entire house then we recommend either an electric or pneumatic staple gun a hacksaw or table saw for cutting the rolls of reflective barrier an adjustable wrench for connecting the tubing to the manifold an air compressor with valve stem connection tubing cutter and as an option drywall stilts for stapling plates before getting started please review the custom installation worksheet you received from radiant tech it details everything about your job the number of zones the square footage of each the tubing size and requirements the number of circuits the length and quantity of the tubing roll shipped for each zone and the number of aluminum plates required this graphic demonstrates the tubing flow of a typical circuit note the tubing run starts at the farthest Bay from the manifold with the beginning of the roll going directly to the manifold the remaining tubing is run back and forth from Bay to Bay and is attached to the subfloor along the way the run terminates at the manifold if you take a look at the worksheet most of the pertinent information you need to install your system is there the name of the zone the type of installation the type of tubing and the recommended number of circuits many people prefer to actually come up with a layout on paper prior to the installation which is a good idea a detailed layout that you prepare will make the physical part of the work go much easier because you've already done the thinking part of the job the simplest way to do the layout is to first find the zone information on your worksheet specifically the number and length of the circuits next get a copy of your joist plan and break the zone down into equal sections based on the number of circuits on your worksheet for example if we recommended four circuits at 275 feet break the zone down into four equal sections if the zone is fairly straightforward with equal lengths of joists and void of stairways and if you plan to centrally locate the manifolds within that zone you can simply add up the number of joist bays and divide by the number of circuits this assumes your zone is straightforward and even often some Bay's are shorter than others or there's a stairwell or l-shaped circuit in these cases you will need to compensate for them a 10 to 15-foot variation from the worksheet is okay but remember to equalize the circuits as much as you can remember you can always simply measure the length of each joist Bay remember to double that distance because of the down and back loop in the Bay let's say your joist Bay is 21 feet 21 times 2 is 42 feet for each Bay let's say the distance to the manifold is 15 feet 15 times 2 is 30 feet if you are using a 300 foot roll subtract the distance to the manifold this leaves 270 feet divide this by the 42 feet of tubing required for each Bay and you know that the 270 feet will fill six bays the first step in the overall installation is to locate and install the manifold for ease of quoting a system radiant tech only quotes the amount of tubing required to fill the zone and connect to the tubing manifolds located within that zone we then anticipate that a copper or pecs supply and return line will be run from the pump in the utility room to the tubing manifold and back again another option is to place the tubing manifold in the utility room and have all of the tubing start and return there which is called a home run this is an acceptable practice but depending on the distance between the utility room and the zone there can be a lot of wasted tubing going back and forth if home running the tubing to the utility room is what you want to do this installation will more than likely require more tubing than what was originally quoted the manifold size and number of connections varies depending on the specifications of your project attach the manifold to the wall using bell hangers like the one theme here make sure that it's level fasten it securely to the wall you in this presentation we will be installing the tubing circuit covering three bays using the right angle drill make a one-and-a-half to two inch hole in each of the joists for the entire length of the floor hole should be roughly six inches in from the rim joist and two to four inches down from the top of the joist if there will be many circuits of tubing within a zone you may have to drill more than one hole in some of the joists before starting be sure to check the labels on the tubing to be sure you are using the right rolls it is common for some zones to call for two hundred and fifty foot rolls while others may call for three hundred foot rolls first be sure to tape up the end of the roll to keep dirt and shavings out of the system starting with the circuit that will be furthest from the manifold go to the last joist Bay that will have tubing and feed the end of the tubing through the hole in the joist in the direction back toward the manifold use the second person to handle the roll as you go so that it won't kink and twist and become hard to handle make a loop in each Bay as shown and then run the end of the tubing back to the manifold and secure it leaving enough length to connect it later next stretch the tubing down each Bay as shown securing the tubing with metal plates as you go put up just enough plates to hold the tubing up for now you'll install the rest of the plates later continue filling each Bay until they are full adding more and more metal plates feed the end of the tubing to the manifold and secure it completing the circuit now it's time to connect the tubing runs from each zone to the manifold you connect one end to one side of the manifold and the other end to the opposite side after you cut off your testing kit one side will be the supply and the other the return it doesn't matter which is which once all the tubing is connected to the manifold you are now ready to pressure test and attract a feature of all radiant Tec manifolds is that they are pre-built with the kit we're amazed at the number of radiant installations done without a pressure test the manifold has an air cap on one side that should be tight already just double-check it on the other side is a tire type air stem in which you'll connect the air hose 250 psi a code official may request a 100 psi pressure test and it is okay to do so watch for 5 minutes there should be no drop in pressure if there is the first place to check is the manifold invariably one of the fittings is a little loose and will need to be tightened get a spray bottle of soap and water and spray the fittings ball valves and air stem if you notice any bubbles this is your leak sometimes the packing nut on the ball valve comes loose during shipping and needs to be retightened once you pass this initial pressure test you will want to leave it pressurized for 8 to 12 hours and check the results there can be a three to five psi drop in pressure due to temperature change if it's more than that you'll want to check the fittings know however that air leaks where water will not and if there truly was a leak the pressure would be down to zero the final step is to remove the pressure test kit and connect the hot water source pick one side as the supply the other side is your return now that the system has passed the pressure test you can finish installing the aluminum fins our rule of thumb spacing of the plates is to space them in continuous coverage in Bath's carpeted areas and in areas with high heat loss you should use 3/8 inch staples if using a hand or electric stapler if using a pneumatic stapler we like to use 1/2 inch put in 12 staples per plate if you have Advantech subflooring which is very hard you will want to use chisel point staples all other areas you can space them every six to eight inches keep in mind that it is ideal to cover the tubing completely with the fins for best heat transfer but it's not mandatory your next step is to install the aluminum reflective barrier which is sent on a roll 50 inches wide we'll have to cut it measure it into three equal sections and cut with a table saw or sharp hacksaw staple this barrier between the joists one to two inches down from the tubing in place creating a hot air pocket the last step is to insulate the joist and the thickness depends on the application if there is an unheated space such as a crawlspace below then your insulation methods should be extensive r30 if there is a heated space below then our 13 - our 19 will work with our 19 being preferred we hope this video is helpful as you plan your installation if you have any questions be sure to call and speak with one of our experienced technicians at 804 five one seven five nine three thanks again for choosing radiant tech

Channel: Radiantec

Views: 494,307

Keywords: radiant, heat;, heating;, slab, radiantec;, tubing, manifold;, floor, heated, aluminum plates, heat transfer plates, radiant heat plates, staple up, staple-up, staple-up radiant, staple-up radiant heat, diy radiant, radiant heat retrofit, diy radiant heat, diy radiant heating, do it yourself radiant, do it yourself radiant heating

Id: YESpHAvf0yI

Length: 12min 39sec (759 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 30 2017