Fixing punctured floor loop

Dan Peel

Ever have an install that just doesn't go as smoothly as you might expect? During this past week's extreme cold snap we spent some time installing the boiler and piping in a strawbale - off grid - solar assisted new home (postponed from last June due to construction progress). Of the eight floor loops only 7 would hold fluid, the boiler's sensors wouldn't let it fire with the extreme cold, on and on. Went back Saturday and effected the slab repair, reinstalled manifolds, repressurized. Our homeowner/architect/GC detailed the PAP repair on his web site.
www.glenhunter.ca/gallery/20030125/index.html
This week I want conversions and additions - houses with actual heat in them..... Dan

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hot_rod

I hate when that happens...

and fortunately for me, it's has NEVER happened. Oh sure, I've lost tubes to electricians, plumbers. sound guys and security men, but I didn't have to find them, they "showed me" where they hit the pipe, cause the pipe was full of fluid!!

The ones I hate is when the hardwood flooring guys "locate" your tubes for you, and you don't know it until their staples rust off and the floor starts warping where they found it. I had one where the floor guys hit our tube 13 times (that we were aware of).

Unfortunately for them, the HO was an attorney. He required them to post a cash surety bond equal to the floor/radiant floor replacement cost (estimated) at the end of 20 years (our tubing guarantee).

If at the end of the 20 years, he has not had to cash the bond to effect repairs, they get the bond back with simple accrued interest. If the system fails, he cashes the bond and effects repairs and gives them back the difference (if any). It was that or rip the whole damn thing out and replace it (about 5,000 square feet of hardwood). The floor guys decided to roll the dice. Last I heard, it was still holding.

Looks like a factory approved repair job to me. How did you go about locating the leaking tube below the concrete?

Was the tube under pressure during the pour?

Didn't anyone notice the bubbles coming out of the slab when they were finishing it?

Maybe you should have had one of these on the manifold...

Good job Dan.

ME

Dan Peel

All the rules...

In 10 years this is only the third time I've had to break concrete to find a problem. The other two were "induced" wounds by contractors or homeowners installing well after the fact, no locate issues. This one was a rake tine, pulled and poured without the benefit of pressurizing. After one false start by the HO where the surface became wet and a partition was nailed in we located the glycol oozing out through a hairline fissure about 2 ft from the original dig site. It was warmer yesterday, my brain thawed and things came together just fine. Hardwood installers sure can challenge the best of intentions. These guys got 4 in under 8 ft. Dan

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