underfloor fin tube

Uni R

My crawlspace that goes under roughly half the house is about 20' x 32' and had 6' sections of fin tube at each end. It has masonary block walls with a concrete floor and is well ventilated. Actually at 4'6" it could be a basement for smaller folk. Last year when redoing a laundry room above I took the fin tube out of the room and added more underneath to keep the balance. It worked out very well.

Outside of the fact that the fin tubes on the end walls are in the way for insulating the perimeter walls (one of this winter's projects), there are no downsides in this particular instance. Careful how you run the tubing so that it isn't in the way for moving around and gettingbanged and also that it isn't just heating between two joists.

RichF

underfloor fin tube

Can any of you out there with experience in "bare" fin tube installed in a crawlspace wood joist space under the floor for a small (bath)room, comment on the pitfalls of such a method? I'm considering this for a renovation project.
If 600 btu/ft is the norm for base board, is it reasonable to expect 200 btu/ft for this?

STEVEN MARKS

ultra-fin

Their is a system called ultra-fin that you could use. It is like radiant floor heat but instead of using low water temp it uses high temp water with aluminum fins attached to the pex pipe between the joists.
www.ultra-fin.com

Plumdog_2

Moisture concerns

are real in a crawl space. I saw a system such as you describe that turned ugly with wood rot and mold because of moisture that wasn't mitigated before the crawl was buttoned up. By the way, that Ultra-Fin puts out gobs of heat; I tried some lately on a small addition where owners didn't want the expense of mixing temperatures down.

Jim_65

Ultra Fin-Output

Does the Ultra Fin put out the Btu's that they claim on the literature? How large of an area were you heating and what were the Btu per square feet requirements?

I have another project similar to yours that I might entertain the idea of using this product.

Thanks

Unknown

their lit is very misleading and isn't in the realm of possibility. Treat it like suspended tube, more or less.

jeff_51

I've done it alot in crawl spaces

Just make sure the crawl space walls are insulated and has good acces for air flow. I fight with contractors all the time about this. Insulate the exterior walls and not the floor. Just use bare fin tube and hang it just below the joists. The crawl space usually gets a bit toasty, but nice warm floors

RichF

Thanks for your help