gypcrete vs concrete pour

Wayco Wayne

Where there will be three different zones of radiant flooring. It will have plates upstairs and tubing in concrete in an addition, and gypcrete in an existing basement where they plan to pour gypcrete over 1/2 foam over existing concrete floor. My question is water temps. Does the gypcrete have similar temperature needs as the concrete or should I plan for a separate temp zone. Was hoping to use a Duomix 201 control and just have two temp levels, one for the plates and one for the concrete/ gypcrete zones but also don't want to set myself up for trouble.

<A HREF="http://www.heatinghelp.com/getListed.cfm?id=255&Step=30">To Learn More About This Contractor, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Contractor"</A>

Troy_3

Gyp and concrete

That will work fine. The 4" slab will take longer to react than the gyp floor. We often run the same mix for gyp and concrete slabs. The load in the 4" slab is probably less do to it being in the ground. We find that the basements don't turn on much. That Duomix works well for the type of job you describe.

Tom Meyer

Temperatures

Temperature settings for hydronic designs are a matter of heat loss for individual areas. If you have multiple loops going into different areas, each one could have a different temperature. This could be due to heat loss or restrictions on heat transmission because of R-values of flooring etc.

Manifolds generally are set up by collecting loops with temperatures within approximately 10 deg F range.

The best thing to do is to perform a heat loss and calculate the actual temperatures for the loops. If you want to have a single manifold, adjustments can be made to the design to bring the temperatures closer.

Two areas to pay particular attention are: wood floors have a max temp, and areas with probably continual foot contact should have floor temps not exceed 85 deg F. The perimeter and areas without continual foot contact should not exceed 90 deg F.

It's all part of the design side of hydronics.

Senior Designer/Trainer
Precision Hydronics Corporation
www.precisionhydronics.com

Paul Pollets

good advice

I've designed slab and gyp projects where there could be as much as a 30 deg. difference between the two materials. Impossible to balance unless on different mix temp zone. 10 deg. difference is doable. The heat loss calc tells all!!

To Learn More About This Contractor, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Contractor"

Paul Pollets