Radiant Heat Flooring

[nyrussell]

I was wondering if it would be hard to install radiant heat in the floor now that i am at the sub-flooring. I already have a hydronic heating system installed....

Wife seems to like bamboo hard wood for the floor, but we did bring home some samples. I am awaiting the Amtico samples

Noel

[REBrueckner]

Yes, it would be hard and you'll lose an inch or so of headroom as well...that would be a big job...

[SeaEric]

Last winter, I sold a 48' Ocean motor yacht for a customer who had been a liveaboard. All 3 heads on that boat had radiant electric heat under the ceramic tile flooring. There was a little thermostat in each head. He said it made it really comfy on cold mornings, and with the cabinet left open helped prevent fresh water system ice-up in the plumbing. If I were a liveaboard in a cold climate, I'd sure look into this.

[krush]

You have to have a base to put the piping in. Like, if you do it in a house with a wood floor, you need to bascailly use a grout material to lay the piping in.

Then, because radiant heat floors can't accept the hot water from the boiler, you need to put in mixing valves to get it down to around 120deg max.

I think putting in baseboards or radiators would be a lot easier and more practical in a boat.

[nyrussell]

Lets see, the saloon already as the floor heated from the engine room, so only 2 areas need to be laid, the masters cabin and the galley/v berth areas. I have most of the man runs for the coolant ran from the hydronics system so getting the system wired in should not be too big of a hassle. I have enough room in these areas to lose an inch. As for regulating the temperature of the flooring, that is where it might get a lil sticky but maybe not, a thermostat to control the temp going in.... will ave to see. Not too many runs either as these are small areas to begin with.

Electric is not what i am looking for as I have the basics set up with the hydronic heater for the coolant system. Not sure what I can use as an underlayment yet, maybe a hard foam?

Noel

[REBrueckner]

In thinking about your question, I'd still advise "more trouble than it's worth" however there are some possibilities. One would be to simply coil an extra length of your existing type of hydronic heater hose up against the underside of the wood sub flooring....wherever you can reach....attach with hose clamps..metal or plastic...Another alternative is to use a rug in cold weather, perhaps even with padding under for additional insulation down low.

An easier option is to use a 120volt space heater...a long wavelength type that heats objects and use it when you are in,say, a bathroom or as in winter on my boat, I just use a traditional fan forced electric heater in my head when I shower on the low (750 watt) setting. While I shower it's on and when I step out the small room is nice and toasty....so maybe I use it for five minutes or so daily... Even with exhorbitant Westchester county electric rates of about 24 cents per KWH it costs less than a penny.

When aboard my boat as I was a few days this week (NY, near freezing temps) I always wear either an extra heavy pair of socks, and sometimes slip on a pair of heavy duty woolen hunting type socks over reguilar ones...so while my aft stateroom floor may be cool, as it's down low, my feet are not.

And you can heat your salon floor, if it isn't already, by keeping your engine room under it warm. I have baseboard radiation/ fin type along the outer edges of my engine room. It stays at least as warm as the rest of the boat and as a result the salon floor is always comfortable.

[nyrussell]

Rob,

You had a great setup when I saw it the other day, I am looking into this as i had to tear out the carpet as stated in another post so why not look at all possibilities... Great idea about the fuel line hoses being added... think the heat transfer will be enough? might I want to consider another manifold for the hot coolant to run the flooring? BTW, the circuit board on the heater was the issue as to the thermostats not running right it seems.

will need to cogitate on this a bit more....

Thanks,

Noel

[nyrussell]

Okay, Spoke to a guy from the radiant design institute (http://www.radiantdesigninstitute.com/page71.html) or some thing like that, he stated why not hang some foil, double bubble, foil insulation from the "joists" and then route out the slots for the plex tubing like he did for his RV. This way the plex won't move and it will also heat the wood floor directly when we place it right over the plex. Also, he thinks the heater won't get the coolant over 120 so that should be fine too. I will check with the manufacturer to be sure but... might work . As for the pump, i will use the one already installed so that will be easy and just take the runs off of the ones already placed in the boat to the plex (easier too). If the routing goes as planned, woohoo we have lift off.

Noel

[Jackman]

I don't have a big enough Hat to do this but you got me thinking....Wouldn't the heating and subsequent cooling of a wooden floor eventually lead to its destruction? Not to mention the moisture that would buildup around the pipes that you'd install. Just curious. Sounds like a really neat idea.

[SKYCHENEY]

check out this: http://www.warmboard.com/

My dad has this stuff in his house and it works great. I think the only way to do it in a boat would be remove the sub-floor and start with the warm board, otherwise it would add too much height.