radiant floor heat piping locatiing

frank payne

I have found myself in a situation where I need to locate plastic wirsbo heat piping encased in 1 1/2 inches of light weight concrete with 3/4 inches of plywood and 3/4 inches of hardwood flooring on top. I have tried an infared camera, but it does not seem to give me accurate enough images. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

kevin_5

grasping for straws

It seems a lot more crude than your camera, so I don't know if it would work, especially with all the stuff on your floor, but in one of Dan's books an elderly homeowner showed the hot shot tech where the tubing was imbedded in concrete by simply mopping it and watching the pattern that showed up as it dried. Wish I had a better idea for you. Kevin

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hot_rod

I'm surprised

the IR camera didn't work? I have been shooting thru 3/4 plywood with carpet and it shows the tube very well. I can even see the screws and mounting clips!

Try boosting the temperature or it may be the quality of the camera.

hot rod

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Terry

or kill it first

I would kill the system (not litterally), let things cool a bit, then turn system back on & elevate temps a bit. This should help things show up.. whether you are using IR Camera or IR Mop.


Terry

Tom Meyer

Cool the system then restart with higher intial temp

If the system was designed properly, the intent was to prevent "striping". The idea of cooling the system and restarting it, giving a larger delta T between the tube locations and the surrounding floor space is an excellent idea. You're going to have a small window of opportunity to take the IR photo or use the wet mop before the lateral temperatures start to equalize, so it might be an idea to be ready when you restart the system.


Senior Designer/Trainer
Precision Hydronics
www.precisionhydronics.com