Rehau raupanel

Brian_19

I have installed Raupanel in my own home yesterday only to find out when I fired it up it makes quite a bit of noise. The pex expanding on start up and when it cools down when the pex starts contract. It seems Rehau pex is very tacky on the ouside and makes a lot of noise.
Anybody else see this problem?

PS Out door reset will not stop this problem. The pex makes noise on the slightest temperature change.

[Deleted User]

My two cents

I have installed Raupanel in my own house-hardwood and tile. I have had no problems. You say the Raupex is tackey.-too the touch?- It shouldn't be. Did you make sure the Pex was full snapped into the channels? No silicone needed. You say it contracts-what about water temperature? Maybe too hot?- We have a lot of Raupanel out there with no problems like this. Again,just my two cents.

ALH_4

EVOH

The EVOH (ethylene vinyl alcohol copolymer) oxygen barrier does tend to be a bit more "sticky" than plain pex. Some manufacturers have put another layer of PE over the oxygen barrier in order to help this. Other plates have had similar difficulties. How long are the straight runs? Shorter runs would have less linear expansion than longer ones. I assume you have finished flooring installed?

Sometimes the pex gets slightly oval shaped when coiled. A few thousandths of an inch makes a big difference. You might try running the system as hot as you dare for a while and see if that helps at all. It's a long shot, but worth a try.

Supply House Rick

Stick with Uponor

They are a more stable company at the corporate level. Rehau? Hahahaha

ALH_4

Rehau

Rehau has some very good products, as does Uponor.

Have you had a bad experience with Rehau?

[Deleted User]

I would take a look at the recent "happenings" in Apple Valley before I would claim superior management!

Michael_6

Brian, I just dropped you an e-mail with my #. We have over 100 homes with Raupanel installed all are dead silent. If your finish floor is not down you may be getting movement where the pex goes through the floor.Once hardwood goes down or an underlayment for tile you wont hear a thing.

Supply House Rick

We prefer to call it

"Happy Valley"

Brian_19

Noise

Thanks for the replies. To answer a few questions the temperature of the pex is running about 110 to 115 tops.
No long runs longest is 15' most are 12'. No squeeks going through floor plenty of room for pipe.
There is no finished floor on top of this all tubing is exposed.
Noise is the worst when the heat shuts off. After about 10 minutes the pipe starts to contract. It will pop and squeek for 10 to 15 minutes as it cools down.
Just a side note most of my radiant installs were done using Wirsbo joist Trak and Wirsbo pipe. Many floor and ceiling jobs with no noise at all including running temps as high as 140. On the last two jobs I started to try Rehau products including my own home. I installed radiant ceiling using joist trak and Rehau pex. To my disappointment the ceiling makes noise too. This is also a low temp of around 115. Something about this pex is not right.

Brian_19

Raupanel update

The noise from the Raupanel has quieted down. It seemed the more the heat ran the less noisy it became.
Where my hardwood floor has been installed it is quiet.
Everything seems to be working fine now. It was just a little scary at first, the floor made lots of noise the first few days.
Also, it works great fast response and very low water temps. I though installing the hardwood over it would be a pain but, it is really going very well.

ALH_4

Good to hear

I think it takes the pex a little while to become acclimated to its new shape. If you popped it out of the Raupanel now, it would hold the serpentine shape.

Ragu_5

Brian...

I am extremely interested in your Raupanel experience, as it appears to be one of the best systems available. Has your Rehau Rep. been to the jobsite? Has Rehau in Virginia been contacted? Go right to the top, as these guys are serious about their products. Please keep updating! Thanks, Jack.

To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"

Rob Blair

Brian,

Do you mind if I use your pictures for examples of good looking Raupanel installations?

Thanks,

Rob

Brian_19

raupanel

To answer some of your questions Yes I did talk to my reps from Rehau. First local, regional, then to engineering in Virginia. All have been very helpful and cooperative. The regional rep was going to visit the job but could not make it due to last minute scheduling conflicts. They did tell me if it could not be solved over the phone someone would visit the job site.
The one thing with my problem was that no one seemed to have the floor running with no floor covering. This may have been what was allowing the tubing to move at first. None of the engineering at Rehau had a whole floor running with no finished flooring. It seems all of their testing was done with a finished floor. They even ran 180 water just for testing and it had no noise.
Like I said after about one week of steady heat going to the floor it did start to quiet down even with no flooring on top of it. With the hardwood nailed down it is now silent. I am very happy with the performance of this product, staple ups with plates can't come close to this.
Brian

Jed_2

PXA or 5-Layer PEX

Evolution is a wonderfull thing.

Jed