slab sensor question

Mad Dog_2

Could it be? Seen that enough: angry they didn't get the job or just simply like to play art critic after job is done. I watched a scorched air guy start a big argument with My Friend Jimmy Burke of Comfort Zone that he used the wrong thermostat on a radiant job around a pool. He did this right in front of the homeowner. With the whole jobsite gathering around, Jimmy totally debunked all of the fools assumptions and set the record straight. He was angry he didn't get the job. I think he had just come back from his first radiant seminar, and was in real know-it-all mode. Either way, as Steve said...kinda hard to add now w/out possible damage to tubing. It will be hard to keep that strictly floor warming, but so what, explain to the customer how superior radiant is too. Close the registers. I'm sure you'll do as I always do on everything but a small radiant job - run a "future" pex tube with well on the end of it. You can always slide in a slab sensor later on. On the large snowmelt job we did, I ran two futures in different spots - it's money in the bank. Mad Dog

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Rick_13

slab sensor question

I have a customer that has a 3000 square foot basement and is heated with in-floor radiant tube. It has 11 loops on one manifold and operating as one zone. The tubing was done by another company and the customer wanted me to finish it. He had a furnace guy install a furnace for the main floor and it also heats the basement.The furnce guy said he would heat the basement with a water heater which I talked the customer out of.I used a Trinity 150 and set the temp to 100 degree's F and used a wisbo thermostat in a central location. I should mention the customer just wanted a simple one zone job. I told the customer to close off the heating vents in the basement and let the slab heat the basement. The furnace guy came back when I was done and said I should have used a slab sensor to make it more efficient.I want to know if you guy's were to do the job how would you have done it, or what I could have done different.I told the customer to add a slab sensor I would have to add more controls to read the sensor.Do I need the slab sensor?

Please any help to clear my head would be greatly appreciated.

Rick

hydronicsmike

Slab Warming

The furnace guy most likely wants you to do slab warming only, which may not be a bad idea. Then depending on which Wirsbo Stat you have, it may already be capable of using a slab sensor. It would be best if you called the guys at Wirsbo to make sure, unless you have more details about the specific stat you have. If it is a WT series stat, then it would have to be replaced. But if it has 4 buttons and a large LCD display, then you should be able to simply add a slab sensor. You could also check out the 500 series thermostats from tekmar at www.tekmarcontrols.com.

Hope this helps.

Mike


Mike

Canuck

Tough not to heat

Pesonally, I think that with ~3000' of tubing in the floor (I'm assuming 12" c/c), that it's pretty tough to floor warm only and not actually heat the basement. That being said, why not control the basement environment with a simple thermostat and control the loop temps at the heat source. Quick, easy and inexpensive.

S Ebels

Slab sensor

I don't see how you could get the sensor buried where it should be if the slab is in place. So why even question it. Set your water temp at 90-95* (this depends on the heat loss) and just use a regular t-stat. It's about the best you can do at this point with out a lot of expense.

The F/A guy might want to leave his ducts open because he designed his part of the system to heat the whole place. If the basement is shut off, he now has an oversize furnace. (Note the advantage of a boiler here, it's able to "store" heat up to a point, hydronic heat wins again) You may want to pick his brain as to why he wants to leave the basement ducts open.