[TheForge] RE: radiant heat

[Ron Lass]

I have radiant heat in the floor of my house.  My wife and I stapled the 
Wirsbo tubes to the subfloor, then had 2" of conrete pored over it.  Our 
house has a full basement and we didn't insulate the basement floor nor did 
we put tubes in that floor.  The tubes in the first floor keep the base ment 
comfortable.  We used 2" blue foam to insulate the exterior of the 
foundation.  The rest of the house is R-45 polyurethane foam walls and R-55 
roof (panels, no attic).  We did this about 17 years ago and at that time it 
cost about $30.00 a month to heat our house in Colorado.  I have shut down 
most of the zones and just heat the house by heating the bathrooms and 
kitchen tiles (everything else is carpeted).

My shop has a 6" slab with 2" blue foam under the outside 2' foot of the 
slab.  The slab has the fibreglass and re-bar (I'm a belt and suspenders 
guy) and I heat it with one of those overheat tube radiant heaters.  I keep 
it just hot enough to keep things from freezing unless I want to work out 
there.  It is great because it only takes 15 minutes when I turn up the heat 
to 55 F until my tools and things are warm to the touch.  I think that 
in-floor heat is great for the house (five paws up from our cats) and 
overhead radiant tubes work great for my part time shop occupation



Ron Lass





>From: "Roger Olsen" <erik at methow.com>
>Reply-To: Sponsored by ABANA <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
>To: "Sponsored by ABANA" <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
>Subject: [TheForge] RE:  radiant heat
>Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2006 11:56:04 -0800
>
>
>
>To: Sponsored by ABANA
>Subject: Re: [TheForge] Re: WAAAAAAAAY OT (while we're talking about
>heat
>
>
>Justin Fellenz wrote:
>
> >>Andy and Frosty and anyone else with in-floor radiant heat,
> >>
> >>  Do you have insulation horizontally under the slab or no? I'd like
> >>to avoid it since it's expensive and it sounds like it makes it more
> >>likely the slab will crack under hard (power hammer) use. I'm told
> >>you need it but it seems to me that insulation vertically on the
> >>fronst walls 3' deep should isolate the 6" of crush and 3' of earth
> >>pretty well.
> >>
> >>  JRF
>____________________________________________________________
>
>You most definitly want insulation under the concrete.  If you don't put it
>in the ground will continually suck the heaat from your system and cost you
>a fortune to heat.  That mistake has been made by others in the very cold
>valley where I live.
>
>As far as under the hammer you shoud isolate a separate pad just big enough
>for your hammer and much much thicker depending on the size of your hammer
>than the rest of your floor.  I have a 4 inch slab in my shop but I have 2'
>under my 100 lb hammer and 18" under my 25 lb hammer.
>
>We have radiant heat in the house and I love it but why someone would put 
>it
>in a blacksmith shop is beyond me.  I have spells where it does not get
>above zero degrees F. for weeks on end every winter and cold snaps to as
>much as 30 below.  I run a propane forge and between that and the body heat
>radiated by working I still end up with the doors open.
>
>my 3 cents worth.
>
>Roger Olsen
>
>
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