copper radiant

kevin coppinger_4

replace an old Arcoliner boiler that is running an original copper slab radiant floor system....It had a tankless coil on it so the aquastat is set for 180F (they now have an electric water heater) Does anyone happen to know what the design temp tended to be for the old systems...6 circuts 1/2" 1100sq. ft. I am looking for a starting point...ty, kpc

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Run the radiant

at the temperature needed to get the surface temperature of the slab between 80- 85°.

Easier said than done! Some of the older copper slabs I have worked on had real wide spacing. It's hard to get an even temperature, and most comfortable floor surface with wide, high temperature tube.

Install some sort of mixing device that is adjustable, preferably outdoor reset. Then play around with max. supply temperatures.

Don't forget return protection for the boiler. A cold concrete slab, even a 65° slab, can keep the boiler running too cold too long

hot rod

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kevin coppinger_4

Will primary....

secondary piping work well enough to protect the boiler or should I figure a low limit piped either in the boiler or on the return?...kpc

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Maybe

I like to error on my, and the customers, safe side and add a protection method that senses return temperature. Give it a brain so to speak.

A simple method, used on entry level Viessmann cast iron boilers, is a non adjustable 140° aquastat in the boiler block. I suppose a strap on stat near the boiler return would also work. It merely drops the boiler circ off till the block warms up sufficiently.

Every Euro gasification wood boiler brand, I have installed uses the exact same method for protection. Even with that clever triple header, small cap tube diameter, aquastat well!

hot rod

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Mt. Falls Mikey

Wish my old man was still alive

Because he did a LOT of these types of jobs. I agree w/hot rod,I believe Dad ran those systems around 14o degrees. He did one house with copper radiant in the ceiling,in plaster and lath construction! I put central air in the house a few years before I got out of the trade,and it still worked great.

Rodney Summers

We still service a ton of these types.

With carpets and foam underlay, it is not uncommon to run water temps at 180° - even higher (220°)

Everyone quotes "ideal" surface temps without consideration to floor covering and location of the slabs surface function. If the "function" is to heat a hallway, where no one will sit and place theri feet on the unfinished concrete or tiled floor for more than a 3 second walk-through, and you NEED that kind of output to aid an ajacent marginal area, there is absolutely nothing wrong with running over 100° surface temps under a couch, along a wall or under a tub. When area rugs cover the center 3/4 of a room, running the floor at 100 with an oriental rug on top in 3/4's of the room covered by rugs may become an ideal solution to many design problems.

More frequently than not, we must think outside the box. Just because a general rule of thumb is touted as surface temp max of 85° - does not mean there are no spaces where 95 or 105 is not perfectly acceptable! In fact, under those double french doors you would never get to that temp and no one will be standing with their face to the door anyhow!

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