Radiant floor heating install how to start

[nywalleye]

Hey everybody, I plan to purchase a Ridgewood 1500 in the upcoming future. My home is about 1200 square feet, and I plan on installing the Ridgewood to accommodate radiant floor heating. I am thinking about going with 4-5 loops, not sure on the size of each loop yet but roughly 200ft-300ft per. I'm thinking of purchasing about 18 heat exchangers for the floor heat if my calculations are correct. Is there any advice that you guys can offer, or any help with making my decision. I'd appreciate it greatly, thank you very much.

 

[coyotencuttin]

Why so many heat exchangers? Why not get one hx that will accommodate the btu's needed for your house? The loop length should not be over 300 feet with 1/2" pex pipe so you should be good there. The last install I helped with we used the aluminum pex panels under floor to help with heat transfer. I've always been a zoned with circulators guy and not a big fan of zone valves but with the multi zone valve controller units they are a cost saving option for zoned heating.

 

[nywalleye]

Sorry I am confused you, I mean heat exchanger with 18 plates like this https://www.dudadiesel.com/choose_item.php?id=HX1220

 

[mga]

will you need to build a manifold for the loops?

are you putting any zones valves in or is it just one run?

I'm planned on doing that myself this fall with my gas boiler, but other projects came up and it will have to be a late spring job. we're building our own manifold with gages and flow controllers. I'm doing 2000 sq ft and will be zoning half of that.

 

[coyotencuttin]

I understand now. 18 plate heat exchanger. 10-4. You have a good start then. Try to keep you runs on the same zone as even in length as you can. If you can draw up a plan for your layout then follow it as best you can will help you down the road. We pressurized every run separately so if we had an issue we knew before we started running water through the piping.

 

[nywalleye]

@mga Im not too interested in building manifolds, considering I can purchase one for a good price pre-equipped with zone valves, flow controls, gauges, and even an air vent along with other features. Im going to be setting it up to fit around 1100 square feet, so im considering one of these two radiant heat manifolds.

http://www.canarsee.com/4-branch-brass-radiant-heat-manifold-set-w-1-2-in-pex-adapters
http://www.canarsee.com/4-branch-stainless-steel-radiant-heat-manifold-set-w-1-2-in-pex-adapters

@coyotencuttin I am planning on purchasing one of those two manifolds because they are already factory pressure tested and proven to work. There is also a 5 year manufacturer warranty which is swaying me to just pick a pre-installed one over creating my own. Iv'e seen plenty of handmade manifolds, but i don't trust the amount of fittings on those things. I know that the less fittings/connections there are in a system, the better flow rate and pressure is attained.

If my calculations are correct for 1100 square feet i will need 4 zones at around 275 feet each. Is this correct?

 

[skindaddy]

stapling under floor?

 

[mga]

If my calculations are correct for 1100 square feet i will need 4 zones at around 275 feet each. Is this correct?

sounds about right.

those manifolds look decent and not a bad price....free shipping too.

 

[coyotencuttin]

Those manifolds are like the ones I've used before. They are pretty good. I believe they also make a zone valve that fits into the top of the individual zone control. They should be able to add multiple manifolds to increase the amount of runs to the zone. Just watch what pex tubing you get. You will need the tubing with the oxygen barrier in it. You have a good start on your install