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Staple up radiant in-floor heat

Ar1976 | Posted in General Questions on

Looking for some opinions on this. Planning to do a home build this summer, I’ll be doing the majority of the work. Looking to install staple up radiant, in climate zone 7 (very cold). All the floor joists are 19.2” O.C. TJI with 3.5” wide flanges. Anybody ever use staple up with that spacing? I know typical is 8” O.C. spacing but I’m wondering if different is desired with that floor framing system and being 19.2” O.C. ? It’s a two story house, about 280sq ft is a great room with a 20ft ceiling open to the second floor. Sits on a ICF crawl space.

On another note, I have been trying to find some ways to calculate optimal length of circuits (under 300’ for 1/2”) and determining my heat load. Any larger windows are triple pane. Walls R30, ceiling R60.

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Replies

  1. Expert Member
    DCcontrarian | | #1

    Underfloor heating systems have to be engineered. Building it by rules of thumb is a recipe for an expensive disappointment.

    Have you done a Manual J or other heat loss calculation? You need to do a room-by-room heat loss calculation and then design to meet that load.

    1. Ar1976 | | #2

      Thank you I will start with the manual J calculation. I did pretty rough estimates but I’ll go from there and get it much more detailed.

  2. Expert Member
    DCcontrarian | | #3

    To the question you asked, the limit on PEX spacing is usually the bending radius of the tubing being used. The smaller the tubing diameter the lower the bending radius.

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