Replacing Entran in a slab

John Wheatley

I have an Adobe house in Taos, NM with radiant floor heat using Entran. I know it will fail- just don't know when. I am looking at replacing with hot water baseboard but my wife prefers in floor radiant. My floors are concrete slab with Saltillo tile in most of the house and carpet in bedrooms. Would it be practical to add a new heat layer and tile on top of the existion floor? What is the minimum thickness for tubing, mud, etc? I have high ceilings (min 9.5') so a bit higher floor is not a problem.
Any ideas, comments or suggestions would be appreciated.

Boilerpro_3

Not all Entran is bad.....

apparently was just a short production period of bad tube. There are tons of earlier production and later production that have been completely troublefree. There are many contractors that still install Entran (now Watts Radiant), myself included. If you haven't yet, find out if the tubing you have is from this bad run..... I believe it was sometime around 1993. You may want to contact Watts Radiant... they bought out the remains of Heatway and still produce this type of tube.... to get more detailed info.

Boilerpro

Richard Miller_2

also

cnsider steel panel rads. high comfort level

Mad Dog

Hey John, unless you're looking to get rid of $$$$$

for the hell of it, ride it out as long as you can, see how long it will last. Even some of the levitt homes with copper radiant tubing put in in the 1940s are still working. Put that $$$ aside and let it earn interest. MAD DOG

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

John@WattsRadiant

Entran

"Entran II" is the only tubing that has had failures. I believe it was made from 1989-1992 (the tubing has date codes on it) If you have Entran, Entran 3, or Entran 3d, then you have nothing to worry about.
John

John Wheatley

Thanks for the quick feedback. I have Entran II tubing that was installed in about 1989. I left a voice mail to Dan Chiles at Watts Radiant. I would like to get any advice regarding how to minimize damage or maximize life if possible.
Anyone have suggestions about putting new tubing over the existing tile/slab floors? What is the minimum thickness for new tubing and mud?

hot_rod

Run it

at as low of supply temperature as possible. This should be easy in a slab application. (make sure the boiler has adequate low return temperature protection)

Don't drain the fluid! If plasticizers have come out of the tube you want to keep them in! What was the original fill?Water or glycol?

Draw a small fluid sample and have it checked. PH is always, always the critical number in any hydronic system regardless of the fluid. I'd like to see 8- 10 ph.

Goodyear has a website with some good, and some not so good advise.

http://www.goodyear.com/corporate/heatway/index.html

That vintage has not typically been a problem. Generally it was the later years in combination with high temperature systems. But not always

Wouldn't hurt to have a plan B on the back burner. Especially if you are doing some remodeling or floor covering changes.

I assume you are aware of the class action suits in Colorado and New Mexico, involving Goodyear?

hot rod

J. WALTER BOOTH

replacing entan

John I did just what your asking about 5 years ago
we had an old 1957 radiant sytem (steel pipe in sand)
at the family cottage. The last five years I tried
everything from boiler sealant to putting a vacuum on
the system to keep the system alive.
Removed all the furniture and floor coverings and installed
1/2" pex with conduit clips and then had 1-1/2" of gypcrete
applied over the tubes. Ordered the same carpet and no-one
knows the difference.