This is the PEX tubing for radiant heat. Next time I'll put the
bricks under it AFTER I run the tubing!
It's spaced 1' apart in a spiral. Note that the inflow line is
set at a 2' spacing with the outflow line between adjacent runs.
The first area to get the PEX tubing is the new porch. Took me about 90
minutes alone. Biggest mess was unwinding the PEX into a straight
line. Here we used about 270 feet in a 18x16 area, so we are
right on at 1 foot per square foot, i.e. tubes spaced 1 foot apart. The
bricks keep the grid off the polycyanalate sheet. It's 2" thick
with an R valve of about 12.
It strikes me that this would make an excellent hot tub cover.
A few hours later and the pour is done.
Jamie Gil and I attached the Basement on November 22, toook most of teh
day Sunday to run the four zones. Again a spiral was used.
We took care to keep away from where future walls woudl be placed.
That gap is where I suspect a north-south wall will go. It's
directly below the main girder.
When that wall goes up good to note where these runs are. We did
not put any under the stairwell.
THis shows the mice double-spiral. Trick is to leave a 2' gap
(skip 3 wires in the mesh) between runs, then when you turn around in
the middle you ccan run it between. That way the average temp of any
two adjacent runs should be constant.
When you get to the center and you do not have enough room for a turn
around just zig-zag a line.
We left a chunk of space unheated for a future wine cellar. It
should stay cool year round if we build walls and insuate. One
area may also be used for a 500 gallon water storage tank for the solar
system. We shall see.
Lydia pitched in as well. She cut off the 600 or so tie-wraps so
they won;t protrude from the cement!