Welcome! Here are the website rules, as well as some tips for using this forum.
Need to contact us? Visit https://heatinghelp.com/contact-us/.
Click here to Find a Contractor in your area.

old barn wood and radiant

m
m Member Posts: 1
in THE MAIN WALL
Was on a problem radiant job yesterday, a watts radiant subray over frame floor. R-30 insulation under the floor (it is an enclosed crawlspace), finished flooring is old barn planks, supposed to be 300 years old. the problem is the while the surface temp of the floor won't rise above about 70 deg, the underside is very hot to the touch (did not take actual reading in the crawl, but substancially hotter than the top.) Insulation appears to be installed properly, although the sub floor is not plywood, but wood strips, with visible gaps between them. The finished wood also has gaps in it, as it was not perfectly planed, to give a rustic appearance. Design temp is about 140 deg,
but no matter how high it is run the floor will not aprouch 85, while the underside is much higher.
The job has run this way for several weeks. I do not have moisture content reader for the wood, is it possible that it needs to dry out? It was recently stained.
Any ideas?

Comments

  • heatboy
    heatboy Member Posts: 1,468
    How thick........

    is the old barn plank flooring?

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

    There was an error rendering this rich post.

  • hr
    hr Member Posts: 6,106
    What's the design load?

    You really need to know that going into the project, or troubleshooting call!

    Personally I feel 15- maybe 17 BTU/ per square foot might be tops for that application. Very similar to a suspended tube method when you think about it. Largely a convection transfer.

    I'd like to see some universally accepted "guidelines" for chosing the installation method(s) to match the room or building load. Based on BTUY/ square foot output of various installation methods.

    Siggy, ASHRAE/KSU, and many others have done work in this area. And output numbers still vary widely. How can that be?

    Still too much vagueness, and guessing going on out there, at the customers and industry's expense.

    I hardly ever hear of an underperforming FA system. Noisey, uncomfortable, yes! On cold, cold days adequate warmth still is the bigger selling feature.

    But I continue to get calls on (recently installed) radiant systems that falls short when design days are approched.

    hot rod

    To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"
This discussion has been closed.

Categories