Hydronic floor heating update

[Kevin D Pem]

I tested my floor heating last night! I will tell you it made quite a difference.

Floor Panel is 15×26 inches. And because it is a test, I connected it to my existing house plumbing!
Room temperature was 55 degrees Fahrenheit, Panel 85 degrees. I didn't use the brick heater and didn't need to! Quite a change for sure!

About the setup!!!

1/2 pvc heat exchanger
Tankless water heater
Existing plumbing
Return spliced into house pump suction line.
Control valve is irrigation valve

System benefits!

Slight increase in fresh water tank temperature
While the valve is open water bleeds through entire system.
System is designed to run off grid (no water loss)

The further I got into the design. The goals became as follows!

Reduce propane use.(optional)
Use solar heat collector.(optional)
Offer plumbing freeze protection for RV's that are regularly used during cold weather.

This system is still in testing, but the results were so solid, and bad weather is still a problem for many. I thought you might find a use for it!!!

 

[Buster]

Congrats. Sounds like a successful test to me.

Will definitely be interested to hear if solar gives you enough juice to run that system the majority of the time without having to use the propane. I like your use of the irrigation valve as those are cheap and plentiful.

 

[TheLooks]

Pics or it didn't happen and then I may have an opinion. Oh who am I kidding, I always have an opinion! I worked around radiant heat back in Maine and had it in my garage floor. I had to learn more about it then I wanted to make it work. And so did my brother.

 

[Jim]

Pics or it didn't happen and then I may have an opinion. Oh who am I kidding, I always have an opinion! I worked around radiant heat back in Maine and had it in my garage floor. I had to learn more about it then I wanted to make it work. And so did my brother.

We have it in our home in NC, works fantastically!

 

[Kevin D Pem]

Pics or it didn't happen and then I may have an opinion. Oh who am I kidding, I always have an opinion! I worked around radiant heat back in Maine and had it in my garage floor. I had to learn more about it then I wanted to make it work. And so did my brother.

tried to add pics when I first posted! guess the system didn't believe me either as they wouldn't parse them. To make this real, I really don't care if you believe me!

 

[Kevin D Pem]

I did find a way to share the pic! Don't know that it would keep anyone from questioning my honesty, but here is a picture!

 

[TheLooks]

Ouch, I have offended the other grumpy curmudgeon on this forum.....it is a saying thats all, pics or it didn't happen....lol.

 

[TheLooks]

And NC is about where I would expect it to work well. Up in the colder regions YMMV.

 

[Jim]

tried to add pics when I first posted! guess the system didn't believe me either as they wouldn't parse them. To make this real, I really don't care if you believe me!

Lighten up, @Kevin D Pem, he was joking with you. Geeze.

 

[Jim]

I tested my floor heating last night! I will tell you it made quite a difference.

I admire your ingenuity! And yes, they do make quite a bit of difference.

Our setup is similar. But we also use large windows with a southern exposure to gather heat from the sun during the day and then revert to an outdoor wood furnace that heats water and pumps it through the floors at night.

The pumps only pull a few amps combined, and the wood for the furnace is basically free. Total power bill in the winter for a 3,600 sq ft house is under $100 a month. Very uniform heat, as you are experiencing I'm sure.

Here are a couple of pics of (some) of the plumbing that makes it all work.

 

[Kevin D Pem]

Still contemplating wood boiler. Quite complex for a trailer, but I like projects! More than likely will stick with solar with propane backup.

Nice equipment room Jim.

 

[Jim]

Still contemplating wood boiler. Quite complex for a trailer, but I like projects! More than likely will stick with solar with propane backup.

Nice equipment room Jim.

Thank you, Kevin!

 

[Kevin D Pem]

Another update?

Well yes! So predictions are, we look forward to another big freeze before the month is out! Beings how I am here, and many of you are there, I don't have much to worry about, but you may.

The fact some have had freeze issues lately, and I need projects to prove to myself I am alive, I push forward with this project.



I have dug out my junk drawer, and pulled out an arduino! Connected it to a driver board, wrote a sketch to use the internal temperature sensor to control water flow to my feet warming plate!

I dusted off the Linux machine I have used for this kind of thing, and realized by the release of the distro, that it has been a while!!! True to my realization I found I too had gathered some rust!!!

Anyhow, after many fixes, failures to properly declare variables, and functions(bugs), I now have a working controller for those that may want to build their own system!

I use the arduino IDE for development, so open source is key here! Depending on your heater values will need tweaking, but I will update with the sketch when the system preforms as I expect!!!

This method is designed to continuously (in cycles), run water through the entire plumbing system while allowing some heated water to return to the holding tank. No sewer connection, no city water connection! Roll up your supply lines and operate off grid and keep the RV safe! That's the idea!!!

 

[Jim]

Good progress, Kevin!

 

[Kevin D Pem]

So the sketch is doing it's job! The number of lines could hardly be considered a serious coding issue, but this is the code should anyone want to tackle such a project.

This code keeps the valve from getting to hot! Furthermore I added a second valve at the end of the hose! Done over the valve would have been placed at the end of the hose to begin with. Irrigation valves don't handle heat well.