Heating Help

Aye, there's the rub

@ January 20, 2011 1:03 AM in Manifolds below tubing?

Yes, which would be less work?  Running home runs would involve drilling about 20 more holes across the petrified true dimensional 2x4's, or I get to make the maniflold station by carving it out of the lathe and plaster closet, which is tiny by the way.  The best candidate, the "master bedroom' has a closet of about 2'x4' with built in shelving, which I will need to remove/adapt to build in a wall box.  No carpenters around and no 2x6' walls on this one.  We are getting near the upper limit for the loop limits, but within perameters if we do home runs which is why I was asking about the trapped air, it might be the deciding factor on which way to approach this job.

Manifolds below tubing?

@ January 19, 2011 12:08 AM in Manifolds below tubing?

I am doing a small house radiant project with quick trak upstairs and wall rads downstairs. It would be nice to place all my manifolds on the boiler wall in the basement. Is there a functional difference in doing it this way vs doing a remote manifold upstairs? I'm going to put in uponor manifolds and isolation valves for purging and power flushing near my boiler. Will I have trouble with trapped air forming in the tubing down the road? I could talk to the homeowners about putting a manifold into one of the closets but space is at a premium and I don't want to do the extra work if there is no real difference.

Propress/REMS MCL fittings

@ January 16, 2011 4:13 AM in Propress/REMS MCL fittings

Hey gang,
I have several european made REMS guns.  They work great on Propress but they use their own system of jaws.  I am looking to move into MCL fittings for joining uponor PEX and I am looking for the correct size jaws to fit the REMS guns.  Anyone familiar with their sizing?  I am having a hard time finding resources locally.  Can anyone recommend an online resource as well.
Also, opinion on the Uponor MCL fitting?  Any problems?
Thanks

Here is what I came up with

@ October 21, 2010 8:04 PM in Mechanical room photos?

Thanks for the input guys.  Here is what the project ended up looking like.  Thanks for the inspiration and help with questions.

Thanks!

@ September 28, 2010 1:07 PM in Thanks!

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone here who answered questions and for the important resource base this forum has become for me.  I just finished my first concrete slab hydronic project and it works beautifully.  Keep up the good work fellas!
Paul
Stalwart Plumbing Inc, Seattle WA

How to stop squeeking

@ May 27, 2010 1:59 AM in How to stop squeeking

I am concerned about squeeking/ticking tubing in my latest project.  I am using Uponor Hepex and I have a coulple of runs that go quite a way through wood framing and TGI's  before diving into the concrete floors.  One suggestion given to me was to use 1 3/8" insert type pipe insulators, but one size larger than needed.  That way the pipe would slide back and forth without rubbing on the wood.  Is this sound advice?
The other question is what is the best material to use for my runs from the mechanical room to the manifold stations.  Should I run hard copper, Hepex protected by the same method as described above or use PEX-AL-PEX.  I understand that the three types have different expansion coefficents.

Thanks for your opinons,

Rebuild ripped out system?

@ May 24, 2010 1:19 AM in Rebuild ripped out system?

I have a client in Seattle who has purchased a foreclosed home that has a hydronic heating system. Unfortunately I am looking at a blank mechanical room where the previous tenant has removed everything. No boiler, no controls, no pumps.

I can tell they had a combo DHW/heating modcon, 3/4" copper running to to the manifolds from the empty pump stations. I have no access to blueprints and no contact with the previous tenant or the builders. I have Uponor barrier tubing peeking out at the four manifolds around the house, and 4 thermostats. Big place, about 5500 sf. The rest of the construction looks pretty slapped together so I can't necessarily assume that the original install was done correctly and I hate to make assumptions.
The house has a mix of hardwoods and carpet. Owner wants to remove a bunch of the carpet and replace it with more hardwood so her aged mother can get her walker around more easily. If I have tight spaced tubes I am worried that I will fry the new hardwoods. Not to mention trouble laying down new wood without hitting a nail through a tube. I have no idea what is underneath, warmboard, quicktrack or staple up. I guess we could lift a carpet edge and find out. Heat loss will need to be done but I am going to have to assume what and where they have done for a tubing layouts.

I know the sane ones out there are going to tell me to walk away from this but the owner is a family friend and long time client so I want to help her out if I can. I am looking for advice from the more seasoned pros on how to approach this one and what pitfalls to look out for.

Thanks in advance,

Mechanical room photos?

@ February 23, 2010 5:38 AM in Mechanical room photos?

I am just starting a hydronics job in a fancy modern single family house.  The mechanical space is going to be highly visible so I am looking for photos of nice mechanical room setups so I can get some ideas.  Does anyone know of a good website or link with some good "hall of fame" shots?
Thanks,

radiant neutral?

@ January 4, 2010 12:13 AM in Radiant under grand piano?

So is the heat issue neutral as far as the piano is concerned? If wood absorption is all about relative humidity should I be concerned about the client's request to avoid putting radiant loops underneath the area where the piano is supposed to go? Won't that make the area of the piano more likely to have temperature flux?

Radiant under grand piano?

@ January 2, 2010 2:25 PM in Radiant under grand piano?

My clients are concerned about putting radiant loops underneath the Steinway.  Should I avoid putting loops in the proposed area of the piano or shoud this be a non issue in a stable low temperature concrete slab house?