Therapy Room

Alan(CaliforniaRadiant)Forbes

Ninety-nine percent of our work is residential, but we were called in to do some work at a clinic where they have rooms for patients that need heat treatment for their ailments.

We installed tubing in the floor and about three feet on the walls which were heavily insulated; mortar and imported (from Brazil, Korea and Mexico) ornamental rocks formed the finished wall.

Initially, the owner wanted the radiant for only a base layer of heat. The plan was to install some sauna heat generators to boost the temperature, but we decided to experiment to see how hot we could get it with radiant only.

We used a Munchkin boiler; setpoint at 150° with tekmar 511 stats with floor sensors. After about a day, we got the system to 122° and the owner wants to keep going. Problem is, the tekmar 511's max out at 122°. I just got off the phone with hydronicsmike; he suggested the tekmar 150 stat which has a 239° max.

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hr

Ouch

how does one walk on a floor that is that warm?

hot rod

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Mike T., Swampeast MO

In shoes or tip-toes?

hydronicsmike

for once...

...we thought and took for granted that 122°F was toasty enough for any surface you would possibly ever walk on....

Unfortunately, the 150 seems to be the best bet. We could get it done with a resistor in parallel to the sensor to fool the thermostat and let it think that it is only 122°F while you're maintaining 130F+. But since the resistances for temperatures don't change linearly, it would be hard to set the thermostat if he wants to change the temperature in the future. That's why I suggested the 150. It will eliminate any confusion now and in the future.

If I can find a way that guarantees me to stay out of trouble, I'll take that road instead. Was great talking to you Alan. When are you coming to BC??

Alan(CaliforniaRadiant)Forbes

Toasty

Yes, the floor is very warm and the patients will have to wear slippers to protect their feet from getting too hot. (Did I really have to explain that?) :>)

There will be benches where they can sit, allowing the heat to relax their muscles; the type of rocks used determine the mode of therapy. As it was explained to me, one room allows the absorption of beneficial heat waves into the body and another room with different rocks on the wall allows for the removal of deleterious elements out off the body.

Can you see that in your mind's eye?

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hr

Rock on, Alan

I'd be up for giving it a try, next time I'm in the area

hot rod

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Paul Rohrs

Is it a California thing?

I have to get out of Nebraska more often, or.....maybe not. Lord knows I need various amounts of hydronic therapy, but it will have to wait until my lovely bride and I build the retirement house. Love to see the finished pictures Alan.

Regards from Nebraska,

PR

Tony_8

only in California

Do they work SOOO hard to find a cure for your ills by getting "stoned".(G) Does sound relaxing though.

Alan(CaliforniaRadiant)Forbes

I must say

the longer I'm in this trade, the more uses I see for hydronic heating, whether it be for space heating, growing plants or curing ailments.

And if you take the time to learn about the many applications of this stuff, you can't help but get known in your area as a "hydronic specialist" and that's the best kind of advertising you can have.

Paul & Hot Rod: You've got a deal; next time you're out west, we'll check out this place..............maybe go for a mountain bike ride before, huh?

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hr

Bike ride and pet rocks!

sign me up I'm going to take you up on that offer.

hot rod

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Matt Clina

Related Topic

I recently saw a show on the Travel Channel, where people travel to Montana and pay money to sit in old uranium mines. The radon gas is believed to heal all sorts of ailments.

Robert O'Connor_6

Around here

People put pumps in to pump the gas out of cellars. Its claimed it causes lots of ailments including lung cancer.

go figure

Regards

Robert

ME

Tony_8

cure ya or kill ya

Same thing around here with crude oil. Although the refined products are more dangerous and toxic you gotta wonder. Radon remediation is big around here, typically 14 times the considered safe level.

Bob Knebel

Speaking of Radon ....Go Figure!

Here in town when a home is resold, the bankers want radon mitigation fans and ducting installed before they will loan on the property. The radon jockeys get out their concrete hole saws to penetrate the slab and then run a negative fan pressure on the gravel below the slab. Do they ever ask us if there is radiant floor heating? Nooooooo!!!! If they would, we would give them a CAD tubing layout in 1/4" scale so they could more carefully plan where to cut a hole. Oh well ...... it's splice time again in the Rockies.

And then you've got the Montana folks paying to sit in the mine, play pinochle, drink whiskey, and soak in the radon. Check it out:

http://www.radonmine.com/

Now there's a new definition of Free Enterprise!

Some strange doings around here sometimes ...... In the same health category as bull riding, wild cow milking, chewing Copenhagen, ski-joring, and keeping the maggots in your cheek so they won't freeze when you're winter fishing the rivers.

Bob Knebel / Radiant Engineering, Inc. / Bozeman, Montana

Matt Clina

Same here

For a while, radon was "the new asbestos". That was until mold became "the new asbestos".

Shouldn't mold have been "the new radon"???

Or was radon "the new formaldehyde"?

It's very confusing.