Tracing piping

Phil_6

I have a customer who bought a large (10,000 sq ft) house with RFH throughout. The problem we're having is that there are parts of the house where we aren't sure which loops heat which areas. The t-stat wiring was destroyed during the initial demolition for a renovation before we got there, and now some parts of the house there are areas where the t-stats are obviously activating the wrong telestats. Rooms to hot, too cold, etc. There are dozens of loops and telestats coming off of 8 manifolds. Most of it's ok but there are some we cant figure out. I tried starting with the floors cold and energizing one loop at a time and checking the floor temps with my infared thermometer, but with the carpeting in some of the rooms it seems to take 100 years to sense the temp rising in the floor.
The job is kinda far away so I can't just crank up one at a time and come back in a couple of hours to see what happens, so I'm looking for a better way if possible.
Any ideas?

Thanks,

Phil

Mark Eatherton1

Find someone...

with an Infrared camera. You may be able to borrow one from the local fire department. It's like looking at an Xray of the floor. You can see EVERY THING.

ME

hr

I agree

with ME. Of all the methods I have tried by far the IF camera is quickest.

Waiting for heat lines through carpet is a long slow task. The camera will detect it in less than an hour, from my experience.

Call around, someone has a camera in your area. Call around or contact the camera manufactures.

www.flir.com is the brand I have used in my projects. it is owned by the local electric utility.

Got any connections in the military? Seem to be where the latest and greatest IF stuff ends up

Check out some more IF pictures in Siggys PM column this month.

hot rod

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Kal Row

common is a sony video camera with night shot

is the most common infrared device you will find
make sure the video booster light (controled from menu) is off, as well as other heat sources in area

Kal Row

common is a sony video camera with night shot

is the most common infrared device you will find
make sure the video booster light (controled from menu) is off, as well as other heat sources in area

flange

dont laugh, but most times you can hear the water flowing by using a stethescope. borrow one from a nurse and try it.

Phil_6

Thanks guys

I'll start snooping around for a camera, and I'll give listening a shot while I'm looking

GEO_3

How about just using a hand held infra red thermometer. They work well enough to locate pipes when an new partition goes up.

steve l

I would just set one thermostat at high temp and then
feel the supply on each loop by hand to find out which is getting the hot water? No need for infra red or other fancy tools or gadgets.