Advice on picking a radiant heat system

Charles-j

We are, my wife & I building a house in Maine.We would like advice on what on-line company would be the best to use for a radiant heat system. I'm going to do it myself & i'm interested in buying a system set up to the specs of the house. I've found a few companys that sell the whole system already all set up. Any help on this would be greatly appreicated.

prm_8

Don't use radiantec or radiant floor company or any other company that promotes an "open system". Search the wall for explanations of that opinion, there are many. Find a contractor here by picking Find a Professional at the left of the page. There is no one company that sells the best of everything. The best, most comfortable, most efficient systems are built by having the system designed by a readiant specialist and assembling the best components around that design.

My big advice would be to buy a book and spend your evenings reading it. John Seigenthaler's book "Modern Hydronic Heating" is very complete and very accessible. There is no other item for less than $100 that will make as big a difference in your comfort. Also, it will teach you how few local heating contractor have a clue (not Wall watchers, of course). Get educated first, nothing is more expensive than ignorance.

Mike T., Swampeast MO

Which on-line company?

Honestly none that I've seen.

Post links to the places you're considering--maybe something will change my mind...

While there are exceptions (see current post named, "Thinking staple-up or bare tube installation are for you?" [or something like that]) you'll probably be much better off involving a good radiant heating contractor from the beginning.

This isn't saying that DIY is impossible, but be prepared to study A LOT and to spend an extraordinary amount of time not only in design, but in figuring out how to install in a time-efficient manner. Prepare for mistakes as well--some of which may be very costly.

While the internet companies may claim that their systems are designed for your home, I have my most sincere doubts. You'll most likely find that they absolve themselves from ALL liability regarding the ability of the system to work as they claim it can--dig deep in the websites--you'll find the disclaimers even if they either 1) virtually hide them or 2) put such in language that doesn't seem to be a disclaimer.

Radiant panel heating is not rocket science, but I have sincerely heard from a radiant contractor who worked for rocket scientist who essentially gave up on designing his own radiant system. Why? I'm not sure, but my guess is that rocket science works with highly predictable laws and real numbers. Radition REMAINS the least understood method of heat transfer and I suspect that this really bothers rocket scientists who want their perfect laws and numbers...

Charles-j

There are a few i've been looking at.....
aimradientheating.com
radiantdirect.com
superhvac.com/kitec/

Mark Eatherton1

NONE of these suppliers...

offers to perfrom the requisite (by code in some cases) heat loss calculation. As a court approved expert witness, I can tell you that if things don't work, and the judge/jury finds out that the system was installed without having first done due dilligence (heat loss calcs) you have no legal legs on which to stand. Buyer beware...

If nothing else, hire a pro to design the system for you, then purchase the parts through him and let him do the difficult and dangerous (boiler install) part. You'll save a LOT of money on the install and end up with a professionaly designed system.

JM$0.02W

ME

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kevin coppinger_4

Why don't you find....

a contractor who will work with you???...He can get the design done,provide good material and you can get the tubing in and maybe work on the boiler set up w/ him thereby providing sweat equity....Where in Maine are you? kpc

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Robert O'Connor_7

Get a heatloss calc.

Get a pro in your area, or find help here. I strongly recommend that you do. As an inspector I require that upon submitting plans to my department it also be accompanied by the energy code calculations that refer to insulation, windows, air changes per. and followed up by the heatloss calculations. If the system fails or underpreforms you are on the hook for alot, and guess what? If you don't have this info and it does fail or underperform, you won't have a leg to stand on in court. Why spend so much money and guess as to it's performance? In the great state of New Jersey, where I'm from, we have some of the most stringent building codes anywhere. With that said, a wise person would also choose a registered builder within the state to take advantage of the Home Owners Protection Act which assures compliance reletive to warentee issues. If you experience a problem within 10 years of the build and the builder doesn't fix it, the fund that that builder paid into to become registered will fund the repairs and remove his name from the list. Pretty good A?..Robert O'Connor/NJ

Weezbo

Sir , Be very careful about the internet....

there are all kinds of things to awe and boggle the mind available....trusting hard working SOB's get taken to the cleaners every day...its a sad deal in this day and age... many people would like to do it like they see on t.v. or some designed blip movie on some tape or Q time movie,it aint really quite so simple.
say i sold books...i could tell you oki,what you need is to first read plumbing101...now that you perused it and found it informative though somewhat lacking in content though it had some Really Nice pictures.....you e-mali me for the package deal...well i say yah buh you got to read the heating application book.... this type of thing can go on endlessly.... the one time special order deal Turns into Your Ordeal....
there are no redress that a computer cannot turn off...so how do you get the thing to work right? well eventually you come to the correct opinion that indeed you could use some help with the subject...only thing is if you installed it and maybe by the paint by number "plan for you!"you might become sadly dissapointed with the look in their eye as they gracsiously decline your offer to fix the problem..right now you are well ahead of the learning curve..Your local plumbing company might know someone nearby who will take a look at the home,perhaps someone here... maybe a cooperative extention service at a local university ,a P.E..........this is only to assure that your home is thought through for your area its codes and requirements and to protect you from losses, being your own general contractor could lead you down some dangerous slopes on to ledges you cannot clearly see from.
Say i sold pieces of things....now that you have the heat calcs in hand and have figured that the btu output will be so many btus a sq ft in the coldest days of January or December. and have struck upon the plan to follow the advise that i have to offer,and so now i send you all kinds of pieces,and more pieces and more pieces:))) Yikes! hence going to the local plumbing company has decied dis advantages also. many times we take the pieces the homeowner guy has accluminated from the adventure and take them Straight Back to the plumbing company and choose a few sailent pieces of interest to us dash back hook them up and the gut reaction of the guy is Ugh..they did all this work it all works correctly and they saved me Thousands of dollars!
....so maybe its worth it to ask someone here who happens to live near you to check it out let you do some sweat equity,keep your perplexity down to a dull roar and save you some real agonizing realizations.

Mark Hunt

Sounds too good to be true


doesn't it?

Which means it is.

You have ONE chance at doing this correctly.

I hope all goes well for you.

Mark H

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TomasLenman

www.Houseneeds.com

Hi,

Try www.Houseneeds.com
They are close to you.

Rgds,
Tomas Lenman - Mr. PEX

Unknown

You're in our neighborhood

Guess I need to toot my own horn a little bit. My company works with DIY'ers all the time to do their own radiant installs. We do, however, draw the line at heat source installation; you will need a contractor for that. We might be able to help you find one as well depending on what area of maine you are building in. We can certainly advise on that selection process as well.

for the rest of the system, we do full heat load calcs, work with you to figure out what features are desired and what is needed to build a system that meets your expectations, tubing layouts, installation instructions, plumbing and wiring diagrams all customized for each job. Personally, I think it's a pretty good package, but then, I'm biased

My contact info is below if you are interested in hearing more. 90% of what we do is from phone calls and plansets. As a bonus if you are anywhere except extreme northern maine we can make site visits on this as well. We're not the cheapest, but I'd put our systems up against anyone else's out there in terms of quality.

Sorry for the ad everyone, but this was a direct request in my neighborhood

_______________________________

Northeast Radiant Technology, LLC

Robert Brown, Co-Owner, RPA certified Radiant Designer

207.899.2328
NRT@maine.rr.com