[Shop-talk] Radiant heat for garage

[eric at megageek.com]

Ok, I might be in the minority here, but I can't say enough good about 
radiant floor heat.

First, if you are near NJ, there is a plumbing company that I worked with 
"George's Plumbing" that were on the cutting edge of RF heat.

My installation- 2600 sq ft detached garage (Not a typo), in North West 
New Jersey.  New construction, Lester building (wood frame, steel skin.) 
Blown cellulose ceiling insulation, blown ploy insulation on the walls. 6' 
4500psi concrete floor.

Instead of putting in a new furnace, I added a zone to my home oil furnace 
for the garage and buried the insulated lines. No additional heating 
source in the garage, nor any heating equipment on the floor in there 
either.  Only a wall mounted controller board that feeds the tubes in the 
floor.  Tekmak controller.

I keep it 55 degrees all the time.  I find this is the perfect 
temperature, as once I start working in the garage, its nice and cool.

Since installing the floor (13 years ago), there has not been a noticeable 
increase in oil consumption (I notified my oil company to modify 'degree 
days' for my auto delivery, but they never had to change the use rate.)

Some of the major things that worked awesome for me.  There is a new 
(then) installation that gets put on the ground before you pour.  It looks 
like bubble wrap that is made from mylar, awesome stuff!  I also went with 
Pex tubing, easy and cheap to work with.

As for laying the pipes, you want to use the little 'chairs' to hold them 
off the bottom of the ground, and you want the pipes much tighter near the 
edges of the building and there can be lots of space between them in the 
middle of the building.

Once you lay the pipe (and before the pour) take photos and measurement of 
the layout.  This way if you need to break the floor for something, you 
know where the pipes are.*  I knew I was installing a lift, so I left the 
area for the posts open.

The TekMak  controller has about 5 sensors to determine the optimal 
heating.  It can also circulate the water in the floor without going back 
to the boiler to evenly heat the floor and not draw more energy.

In the end, the system has been FLAWLESS.  I would NOT change a thing 
(except make the garage 3X as big!)  8>)

Here are a few pics of the layout, and the controler board.
http://tinyurl.com/radiantgarageheat 

*=since then, I've bought a IR camera and I can use that to find any pipe 
if needed.

Please feel free to ask me any other questions and I'll help you out if I 
can.

Sent from my Commodore 64 on a 2400 Baud Modem.
Eric P
"Be as beneficent as the sun or the sea, but if your rights as a rational 
being are trenched on, die on the first inch of your territory." Ralph 
Waldo Emerson 
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