Floor Sensor

Steve Ebels

I have done the very thing you describe for the very same reasons you are giving. I used the one that RTI sells (I am pretty sure it's Danfoss) and used 5 minute epoxy for filling the hole. It transfers the true temp of the floor better than silicone wwhich acts as a bit of an insulator. I had good results in both cases. Did exactly what I wanted it to do.

Wayco Wayne

I want to install

a Danfoss t/stat that has a floor sensor in an existing hardwood floor room that we'll be putting joist plates in under the room. I looked at the Danfoss instructions and they advise only for concrete situations. I'm thinking drill a hole from the bottom of the sub floor, at an angle, slightly bigger than the diameter of the sensor and then fill it with silicone and shove the sensor up in. Any other methods out there? Thanks in advance.

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AKO

I like the idea, but it may not do what you want it to. It's likely that the t'stat uses logic that relates to the particular heat storage/release characteristics of concrete, so if you install it in a hard wood floor, it may fool itself when it comes to actually controlling when heat gets delivered to the floor.

Maybe you could ask Danfoss whether the t'stat can be adjusted for a different material. I think you might be better off just using room temperature though.

Tony_8

I haven't

used one in hardwood only. When I put them in a tile floor I staple (romex type) a piece of ref. tubing to the floor in joint of durock board, then mud the tile right down like normal. Maybe you could bury a piece of 3/8 in the floor ? Use aluminized grease instead of silicone for heat transfer ?
There must be a way.

Wayco Wayne

The Danfoss MTD

thermostat with floor senson uses both an air temp sensor and a floor sensor. The flooe sensor can be used to set a minimum or a maximum temperature and is adustable. I just want to protect the hardwood floor from over heating since we have a bad floor area to window area ratio and need all of the heat we can get without warping the floor. I may need to add supplemental heat to the room. It's a hard call since heat from the main house may affect the room enough to make up the difference when it's real cold outside.

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Tony_8

sounds like

the ones from RTI I have used.

AKO

I see what you're saying. Certainly couldn't hurt to understand what the temperature is at the hardwood floor, but as Tony mentioned, you would want to keep silicon from getting on the sensor and use the couplant that he mentioned.

As far as supplemental goes, it may be a good time for a well worn cliche: better safe than sorry. Maybe consider adding the supplemental where you need it rather than trying to get too much from the radiant or from another zone.

Wayco Wayne

Yeah you're right

but the supplemental needed is only 1000 btuh, the equivalent of 2 feet of baseboard. I can't help thinking that I could get that much from natural convection from the existing house since I only need it below 20 degrees outside ambient. I guess as far as the sensor I could drill the hole and drive a piece of 3/8 copper tubing into it and then put the sensor in that. Since my floor setting is adjustable I could zero in on what's appropriate as far as temperature.

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