PEX tubing in floor: repair kit vs length difference

mrayvt

Two 1/2" tubing loops were installed in Mudroom and Laundry room (one room 30 BTU/H/SF). They are in tile floor. 106' and 125' without run lengths to a manifold. It would be about 8' each of 4 tubing ends to be buried in Kitchen floor. The second installation in Kitchen (20 BTU/H/SF) is in process. The length would be about 245' including run lengths. I prefer a single loop for Kitchen. Is it a bad idea to combine two existing loops from Mudroom/Laundry into one loop to match similar length? The two ends to be connected in the kitchen floor with a coupling repair kit and the other ends connected to the manifold. So the manifold can have two loops with two actuators one control for each loop. Please feel free ask me questions.

GGross

Use a manifold with flow meters. You can balance the flow with the flow meters instead of loop length. That being said it is preferable to run each loop as a single continuous piece of tubing, from the supply manifold, all the way to the return side of the manifold. I don't like couplings in the buried tubing and would avoid them at all cost.

Also, 30 BTU/HR /sqft is generally speaking too much to expect from a radiant floor without over temping the floor. Generally the max you can get is 25 BTU/HR /sqft