Radiant!

Jamie Pompetti

First I would like to thank Dave Yates! He is has been a big help on my first "big" radiant job. I have been in touch w/ him via e-mail and he has answered every question I have asked him. THANKS DAVE..............

I started running my tubing this week and got 6 loops in (although it took 2 days)
In one of the pictures you can see that the end loops are sagging down to the bottom of the floor joist, what should I do about this? I know the insulation will not keep them up!

In the other picture the tubes are about 1/2" apart when they jump bays! Should I worry about them sagging after they heat up and rubbing? Also where they go through to the next bay, should I do something in those holes?

The last picture is has joist track! Has anyone else installed it yet & does this look O.K.

Thanks, Jamie

Brian

Sagging Loops

Hi Jamie
For your end loops add a couple more clips closer to the end ,but not right at the end so that the pipe can expand.Don't worry about the pex pipe rubbing against each other.

Good Luck
Brian

Dave Yates (PAH)

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Welcome to the radiant Wet Head club! We've used the trak with great results. Last one was for lots of hardwood flooring. We used the foil faced bubble wrap backed up with R-19 and stapled the vapor barrier to the bottoms of the joists. Outdoor reset is being used with injection pumping. Whisper quiet with silent comfort.

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hr

A couple thoughts

In picture three the pex exisiting the plate doesn't look so good. If nothing else pull a little out from the track to allow a smoother bend radius. I use a 1-3/8" drill for my holes, it allows you to use plastic bushings or allow a little more movement as the pex heats and expands.

Generally I stop my loops 12" short of the rim joist to allow a thick (6" or more) batt on the exterior rim joist. The exterior rim joist areas are you greatest heat loss in high temperature suspended tube especially.

A few more clips to support the sagging loops, just not on the radius of the loop so it has expansion room.

Unless it is a low load floor warming, I'm partial to the aluminum transfer plates throughout.


Looks like you have been busy.

hot rod

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jfox

Jamie-

You could take up the droop at the ends of those joist bays and leave space for tube expansion/ insulation at the rim boards by pulling the tube in a little in each bay. Those plastic hangers allow a lot of play and you can change the tubing lenght at will. If you have attached the tubing to the manifold then it is just another step to cut it and reattach it.

This is my first intstallation, 3/8" Wirsbo hePex, I left a few inches from the rim board because I had long runs and was worried about expansion. Placing insulation at the rim boards, as hr suggests, makes a lot of sense.

I also would like to thank Yates, and the many others, for their help and encouragement.

John

Dave Holdorf

Traks on the other end

Instead of getting the pipe to jump immediately from Trak to the next, let the pipes overlap. It allows the tubing to have a gentle transition from one bay to the next. It will also keep any noises associated with high temp project from squeeking on the wood.

Take a look

Unknown

A tip,

Jamie,

If your taking advise from (PAH), you can't go wrong. He's helped me on many problems that have come up in the past.

In the last photo the Pex exiting the omega plate has "a little too much tension" on the tube before it jumps into the next bay.

It (may) cause some noise if you have not used an insulator in the floor joist hole. (can't see in the pic.)

What I have found a "big help" specially in joist space heating jobs, is to drill the holes out using a special drill bit that allows me to drill around corners. Smoothe rounded holes that follow the natural anticipated curve of the PEX. Milwaukee makes them. I think they are called: ?"Pathfinders" ?
***Help me out Wetheads.***
I cant think of the right name now :-(

I try to avoid hi-temp. joist heating jobs. I'm sure that it took you longer than you had planned. It's hard work. I would have tried selling them a Gyp. pour.
But that's me. Me & (ME) ;-)

The G. Man