In Floor Heat Freeze Risk

Hydronic floor heating systems use hot water pumped through plastic tubing laid out in a serpentine pattern to heat the floor.

In floor heat freeze risk.

As a guide floor heating systems increase the floor height in a room by an average of a less than 1 2 inch depending on the system you choose. If only freeze protection is needed a 20 25 solution is usually adequate because the more dilute solution forms a non rigid slush that will not flow well but will not damage the tubing. Once heat and or pumping are restored the slushy like solution melts and becomes fully liquid again. If freeze protection is an issue than a closed system with anti freeze is a good idea.

Use a 50 solution of glycol based antifreeze solution to water for a system that must operate at very low temperatures. Granted the unit dedicated to heating the floor only wastes heat during the winter months. This causes the moisture within the soil to freeze forming an ice lens that pushes upward heaving the concrete floor above. Guide to radiant heating temperature settings.

It s also possible to protect the system to burst point which is approximately 30 lower than the freeze point say 30 to 20 f. In floor heat thanks guys. If you install it you leave it on otherwise go get yourself an oil gas furnace as the system will not meet your needs. The down side is two heat sources.

I m feeling better about the in floor heat how it operates as well as what is normal i ve been plugging up some spots in the home where cold air has been seeping in and consequently think that might be where the heat loss was from. They re ideal for whole house heating but professionals suggest installing them during the home s construction because they can be difficult to retrofit if the home isn t already outfitted with the proper equipment. Furthermore you may want to place insulation boards underneath the heating equipment to maximize efficiency potential by ensuring all the heat goes up rather than down. All water heaters waste heat energy even when the burner is off and the unit is sitting idle between heating cycles.

At the freezing point the solution won t flow but the pipes and coils won t rupture. However if your heating system malfunctions and the soil isn t heated to above 32 degrees fahrenheit the extreme cold can penetrate through the concrete floor past the insulation and through to the soil. Most are rated to change the temperature of a room by 1 2 degrees hour max.