I visited a home in Calgary, Canada this summer that had the PEK installed
in the basement floor. By all accounts, it was a great heating system. The
contractor/home owner gave me a tour of the 'plumbing' for the floor.
He used a plastic sleeve over the tubing where it passed through the floor
to reduce abrading of the pipe where it meets the top edge of the concrete.
He also mentioned that the pipe was pressurized during the concrete
pouring/curing process. This caused the pipe to expand slightly, and
provided expansion room for the pipe once the hot water was circulated
through the system. He used a hot water recirculating pump that took less
than 100 watts of power. He noted you should use a pump designed for hot
water since most pumps will not hold up well under the elevated
temperatures.
Gil Fuqua
Nashville
-----Original Message-----
From: Rex Burkheimer - WM [mailto:rex@txol.net]
Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2001 4:03 PM
To: Eric Murray; Mike Sloane
Cc: shop-talk@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: building a shop - radiant heat
> Nowadays, they use plastic (probably polyethlyne) tubes.
The tradename is PEK. It appears to be widely available. It's about $1.00/ft
in 300-ft rolls, which does about 500 square feet the way I was looking at
it.
For a shop like we are discussing, you will likely be dealing with a
concrete slab floor.
When the foundation is ready to pour, you lay out the tubing on the rebar
grid with the ends sticking out so they will be exposed after the pour. The
plastic walls of the tubing takes care of expansion and corrosion issues.
Once the building is up you attach the heater - regular water heater, solor,
both.
This appears to be sufficient for Texas climate. If you are in te Great
Frozen North, there may be more elaborate techniques required.
I'm no expert, and have not done my own yet. Thiis is what I have learned
from my own casual research.
Rex Burkheimer
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