Radiant Heat & Night Setback

Mdonner

Looking for some thoughts on in-floor radiant heat & night setback.

The LL of the house had foam insulation sprayed down that will yield ~ R10, the radiant tubes were secured to the insulation then 4" of concrete was poured over that, porcelain tile is the finished floor, I maintain 67 to 68*F in the LL.

The first floor has an 1-1/2" gypcrete pour w/ the tubes secured to the subfloor. There is bat insulation under the subfloor between the trusses yielding ~R19, porcelain tile is the finished floor, I maintain 67 to 68*F.

The 2nd floor which is a bunk room & really only used when the grandkids are here is 1-1/2" gypcrete w/ the tubes secured to the subfloor & insulation below between the trusses, the floor finish is carpet. I have been keeping it at 63*F & increase that 68*F when then kids come, so I don't think night setback would apply here, let me know if you have a different thought.

Thank you

GGross

You can do a setback but you need to have enough time to recover the temp. This is why generally you see folks advise no night setbacks with low temp infloor heating and ODR. Lets say you have guests coming over once a month for a few days though, in this case I would probably just adjust the thermostat manually a day before they arrive, and then set it back when they leave.

hot_rod

The 4" slab will not be very condusive to setbacks. Possibly a few degrees. Unused or guest spaces may be a better option for setting back.

The thin slab will be a bit better for setting back.

I'm not sure there is a big energy savings, if that is what you are after?

Dave H_2

I use setback with my radiant, but not too many degrees because of the time it takes to bring back up to temperature.

I do have a wifi stat on the wall that when programmed, it learns how long it takes to come out of setback to get to my desired indoor temp and what time.