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Using Pex Radiant Manifold for Cast Iron Baseboard.

DCCoalBurner
DCCoalBurner Member Posts: 4
edited October 2015 in Radiant Heating
I'm in the process of redoing the heating system in my house 2 stories with unfinished basement. It use to have case iron standing radiators. I took them out and I'm installing 9" Cast Iron Baseboard. Before everything was on one loop and one zone. I'm splitting it into 2 zones for each floor and using 3/4 pex to make the connections. Now this is what I'm planning. I am going to have 2 loops on each zone. Meaning two Manifolds one for each zone. http://www.pexuniverse.com/ssm102-steel-radiant-heat-manifold. Now the Pex Radiant Manifolds have a max flow rate of around 1.6 gpm per loop. Is that going to hinder my BTU output for the cast iron baseboard? Is it worth using this manifolds or am I better off making my own using 3/4 tees and ball valves for each loop? I know that the manifolds have flow gauges. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Comments

  • Rich_49
    Rich_49 Member Posts: 2,766
    edited October 2015
    How many feet of baseboard on each loop ? What is the heat loss of the rooms in each zone ? Did you increase footage of baseboard as it gets farther from the manifold ? What type of boiler ? Max water temp ? Question can be answered correctly but more info is needed .
    Can it work and will it flow enough ? Maybe !
    You didn't get what you didn't pay for and it will never be what you thought it would .
    Langans Plumbing & Heating LLC
    732-751-1560
    Serving most of New Jersey, Eastern Pa .
    Consultation, Design & Installation anywhere
    Rich McGrath 732-581-3833
  • DCCoalBurner
    DCCoalBurner Member Posts: 4
    Here is the footage of baseboard.
    Zone 1:
    Loop 1 - 21'
    Loop 2 - 30'

    Zone 2:
    Loop 1 - 12'
    Loop 2 - 19'

    There is a chance that in the future that I might want to add more baseboard to each zone either in a new loop or adding to the loops depending on how the system preforms.

    Zone 1: Around 45K
    Zone 2: Around 35.6K

    These are the totals for zone. Now part of each zone what have heat installed initially as I'm not sure how I am going to heat it. It wasn't heated originally either. So I know that I currently don't have enough baseboard to supply enough heat.

    I'm not sure what you mean by "Did you increase the footage of baseboard as farther from the manifold"

    I'm going to be using Coal stroker boiler with and oil boiler as a back up. I'm planning setting the water temp to 180 as that seems like the norm but I'm open to advice on that.

  • Hilly
    Hilly Member Posts: 427
    If you were using manifolds why would you just homerun each heater and have a manifold per zone. It's a pretty good chance none of your heaters would require more than 1/2" pex or pap. You'd be able to balance your system much better and get a greater overall comfort.
  • Rich_49
    Rich_49 Member Posts: 2,766
    What cast iron baseboard will you use ? seems that you may not have enough baseboard for 180 * water . Your heat loss numbers would suggest that for zone 1 you require 882 BTU per lineal foot .
    You didn't get what you didn't pay for and it will never be what you thought it would .
    Langans Plumbing & Heating LLC
    732-751-1560
    Serving most of New Jersey, Eastern Pa .
    Consultation, Design & Installation anywhere
    Rich McGrath 732-581-3833
  • DCCoalBurner
    DCCoalBurner Member Posts: 4
    Hilly said:

    If you were using manifolds why would you just homerun each heater and have a manifold per zone. It's a pretty good chance none of your heaters would require more than 1/2" pex or pap. You'd be able to balance your system much better and get a greater overall comfort.

    In the future I'm thinking about doing that. I'm running out of time cause it's starting to get cold. My concern is that the max flow rate per loop on a manifold is 1.6 gpm. I afraid that will limit the max BTU's I can output.
  • DCCoalBurner
    DCCoalBurner Member Posts: 4
    Rich said:

    What cast iron baseboard will you use ? seems that you may not have enough baseboard for 180 * water . Your heat loss numbers would suggest that for zone 1 you require 882 BTU per lineal foot .

    Burnham Base-ray.

    I know that I am currently don't have enough baseboard to supply enough heat. Part of the area of each zone wont have heat installed initially as I'm not sure how I am going to heat it. It wasn't heated originally either.
  • hot_rod
    hot_rod Member Posts: 22,021
    Manifolded, homerun systems are an excellent means to spread the energy, they can be especially useful in renovation work.

    After you crunch the numbers, here is a link to some unique way to implement manifold distribution.

    http://www.caleffi.com/sites/default/files/file/idronics_4.pdf
    Bob "hot rod" Rohr
    trainer for Caleffi NA
    Living the hydronic dream
    Hilly