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placement of circulator for radiant heat

sacandaga
sacandaga Member Posts: 15
ive searched high and low so now i have to ask. i put addition on small camp. now i have a utility room. i ran all the new addition pex tubing to that utility room. i ran the pex for the garage slab to a manifold in the garage. i ran the basement slab pex to a manifold in the basement. my existing camp radiant manifold is in the basement in the old side. my utility room is the center point. the million dollar question is do the circulators stay near the boiler and then 1 inch pex back to all the different manifolds or 1 inch pex to the different areas where the circulator would be near the manifolds?? another question that i have never seen is how dont the circulators fight each other and push more water to one zone over another? while were at it one more, i understand the basics , i installed the camp system 4 years ago and it is awesome and all the loops are all the same length and are on a single level . the final question that i have never ever seen is that if i have 9 loops on the new addition and there are 3 different floor levels and all the loops are exact length but run on different floors wouldnt water take travel of least resistance making the first floor warm and the third floor cooler. any genius out there that could answer any of these would make my day, im probaly over thinking this but i want done right. ty

Comments

  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 23,168
    As to the elevation of the loops -- so long as the static pressure in the system is enough to keep them full of water at all times, it doesn't matter at all whether they go up or down or sideways -- flow distribution will be governed by the relative head loss in the loops. Not how high they are.

    Each circulator will only circulate water in the loop of piping to which they are attached. Where the hydraulics gets interesting is where you have several circulators drawing from (or pumping into) the same manifold. The flow in the manifold is determined by the flow of the various circulators -- so it could all be in the same direction, or in different directions, depending on which circulator is flowing how much water.

    Should the circulators be at the boiler, or at a distant manifold? Well... to answer that, the question is does the distant manifold just split the flow into the differing loops in one zone, or is it different zones. If it's all one zone, I'd put the circulators in the boiler room/utility room, all arranged so that they are pumping away from your expansion tank. That ensures that the pressure at the inlets (suction side) of the circulators is as close to your static pressure as possible, and that the pressure in the rest of the system is always greater than that. Which is how you want.
    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
    sacandaga
  • sacandaga
    sacandaga Member Posts: 15
    ty then thats how ill do it. all the circulators will be at the boiler end and it is easier to control everything from that location. then i will run the 1 in pex from the circulators to their designated areas, garage , basement , and old part of cabin to the manifolds. thx again for your timely response!
  • sacandaga
    sacandaga Member Posts: 15
    and yes it is 4 different zones