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Heat tranfer plates

Is there a big difference in a practical sense to spend the addition cost for extruded heat transfer plates or are the omega stamped plates as effective. This is a geothermal system  water temp will be about 110.f. Also the floor thickness is about 2 inch. Any insulation advise is welcome as well.Thanks Steve

Comments

  • kcopp
    kcopp Member Posts: 4,418
    Huge difference.....

    There is mass to heat up and it transfers it to the floor better. They are quieter and have better contact w/ the floor.

    If your floor is 2" thick AND you can only get 110F water you need to make sure you have done your homework and do a heatloss. That is a pretty low temp even w/ plates.
  • Weezbo
    Weezbo Member Posts: 6,232
    wow. its thirty below ..

    Where do you live ?

    Some info you may be asked is like pertinent or germane to this question or two you might have . one thing comes to mind is how much area does this space you wish to heat have ? another is how many BTU's does the geo system produce or have available for use on a consistent basis?

    then comes questions like what amount of heat loss do you have for the space , in other words what are all the details that effect the heat getting away or what avenues will the heat ,find most easily to jump ship in your endeavours .

    i am not really a proponent on underfloor heating however , the type of material /s the floor is comprised of is also of interest . as is the space and construction details beneath and around whatever is beneath it .

    there is some info on what might be minimal information .

    see all these minor technicalities help answer the questions you have .

    wood floors might be made of a variety of composite iiems that loosely fall under the topic of say 2" wood floors.



    i think these questions that i have asked would be asked of you no matter who responds. or you might get answers like "Depends" or what do you mean by Heat?

    or questions within questions.



    there are some heat loss programs and there are others , one or two can be found on the site maybe under resources . they are free to you the explorer..look for slant -fin heat loss program see if that gets some of the questions coming together for you .



    ok?
  • Gordy
    Gordy Member Posts: 9,546
    Extruded plates

    , and as much insulation as you can.





    2" of what type of floor detail?



    All wood?



    3/4 sub floor fatty padding, and pile carpet....... Bad idea
  • Zman
    Zman Member Posts: 7,561
    Homework

    You really need to do you homework on this one.

    Geo is a very expensive project. You need to get it right.

    110 degree water is pretty low. 2" floor is pretty thick.

    You need to start with a heat loss then carefully design your radiant panel system to match that loss with the 110 degree water temp you can provide. You don't really have the option to crank up the water temp if you miscalculate.



    Keep sending the details.



    Carl
    "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough"
    Albert Einstein
  • Rich_49
    Rich_49 Member Posts: 2,766
    edited November 2013
    C.O.P

    Be mindful of the COP of the unit you are installing also . What I mean by that is don't just do something because the unit says it will provide 110* water . I have been asked to fix jobs that were underperforming or operating at high electrical usage to keep up . Many of these units will provide the SWTs that are required on cold days but do it at a greatly reduced coefficient of performance which simply means it isn't doing what you wanted it to for the low cost that you thought .  COP below 4 is something to make every attempt to avoid .  That being said I would advise you to look for products that go on top of sub floor and directly below your finished floor , I would also advise you that thicker products take longer to heat therefore make the HP work harder before giving you or the space to be heated any benefit , Mass is not your friend in this instance . You want a thinner product that heats rapidly and transfers that heat to the space faster .  By the way the thin plates you inquired about would be better for this job also since they are wider and have a larger contact area with the subfloor . I would stay away from both products if I were you and was using the technology that you are  . 
    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
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