Here is why radiant transfer plates matter

hot_rod

This goes back to 2002- 03 when Siggy and others were questioning plateless radiant, suspended and tube stapled to the subfloor.

I presented a Plate Debate discussion for the RPA event in 2003 with these.

Siggy ran a bunch of FEA and Dale at Radiant Engineering in Bozeman put some color to the graphs.

I think it becomes quite clear how the heat energy transfers through the extruded ThermoFin plates, compared to bare tube.

Also the related floor surface temperature spread.

The "spider web" looking graph shows how FEA is generated. These show the difference between rubber tube and pex in the slab and the additional temperature required in the thicker walled rubber. I suspect the temperature numbers will not be too legible?