Radiant floor or Radiator

Jeff_26

I'm renovating my bathroom. Currently it's stripped down the the 2x4's and the floor joists. My house is heated with hot water and I either want to match the current radiators (see attached picture) or install some other heat source. Possibly radiant heat in the floor. If I use radiant heat i'd like to attach it to the hot water system I already have.

Any thoughts?

Kal Row

go radiant...

attach a mini-manifold with a thermostatic mixing valve - since radiant needs 110f supply and 90f return and your reg heat is 180/160

then pipe loops all around the bathroom, floor, ceiling, (only hot air rises – heat, radiates) in the shower stall, and a towel warmer,

best would be if you somehow pipe it directly to the boiler off it’s own pump and thermostat, - since this is not a high GPM load, you could snake pex lines down to the boiler,

Another option would be a heat exchanger off you domestic hot water heater with two pumps, (brass pump on heater side, reg pump+exp tank on load side) - this way it works even in the summertime, that right you could air-condition the bathroom so that you can breathe in there, nevertheless, if the floors/walls/ceiling are at 90f (you own skin temp) you will feel nothing - which is perfect all year around -

to have radiant is to - "F E E L - N O T H I N G !!!!"

that why radiant is set for 85f at the slab surface in dressed areas - which is your clothing surface temp, and 90f in naked areas - which is your skin temp - the overwhelming majority of people are ok with this, whereas with air convection based heat (which is most others) peoples breathing and circulation differences vary greatly - as much a 10 degrees, not to mention the wind chill effects from the convective flow - a loosing battle!!!

O make sure you control it with slab sensing thermostats – air sensing ones, are all but useless for this application, try http://www.tekmarcontrols.com/prod/509.html

hr

Radiant floors, hands down!

That being said, you need to do a heat loss calc and design. This will indicate how much radiant surface you need to heat the space.

Not all bathrooms are "heatable" with just floor radiant.

Plenty of options for tie in to the old system, depending on how it is configured, zone-wise.

Or, as much as I like hydronics, small bathrooms with electric embedded in the tile set is a do-able option in some cases.

Here is a link to possible hydronic tie in options. You may need a hydronic contractor to decipher your pipe arrangement.

http://www.pmmag.com/CDA/ArticleInformation/features/BNP__Features__Item/0,2379,62497,00.html


hot rod



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Kal Row

also ..

if you really want please the lady...wrap the bathtub with a 102f loop - it's a pity - you just missed valentines day