Forums > Specific Focus > Home, Garden & Construction in Mexico

stina

Nov 7, 2007, 2:52 PM

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In - Floor Radiant Heat

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Again, I'm submitting my ideas for public comment. Thoughts, criticisms, ideas are most welcome.

We’re planning on self-installing an in-floor radiant heat system. Our home is quite old (70+ years) and all of the floors are currently tiled with red pasta tiles. As part of our full-house remodel, we plan on running circuits of plastic pipe every foot or so, covering this with some sort of wire mesh, and then pouring about 1 ½ inch of concrete which we will polish as use as our final floor surface (we’ll embed tiles to make decorative borders, patterns, etc.)

We’ll attach a low-flow pump and small hot water heater, plus a solar array on the roof. Early in the cold winter Guadalajara morning (4 a.m.) the pump will kick on and circulate water from the hot water heater. As soon as the solar array warms up, a zone valve will swap out the hot water heater for the solar array.

As an added bonus, we’re rewiring the whole house with grounded circuits and this 1 ½ inch of concrete will allow us run conduit to the outlets without digging into the walls (I’ll be extra careful to keep the power, the water, and the steel mesh separated!!)

Does this sound like it will work? Any cautions? Helpful tips?

Thanks,
Andy

Oscar2

Nov 7, 2007, 3:04 PM

Post #2 of 7 (2914 views)

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Re: [stina] In - Floor Radiant Heat

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Andy, not sure if this would help but ran across this Costco item which may be of interest.

http://www.costco.com/...&topnav=&s=1

stina

Nov 7, 2007, 6:20 PM

Post #3 of 7 (2904 views)

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Re: [Oscar2] In - Floor Radiant Heat

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Oscar: Thanks.

We had an electric system like this at our house in San Fran and it was great. However, I think that this would be better suited to a smaller place. Ours house in Mexico is 4000 sq ft and at $200 for each 11' X 3' panel, we'd go broke. I also suspect that the Guadalajara skyline would dim when they all kicked on.

We're looking for a way to heat the whole house and still limit the cost to install and run. A hot water based system seems like better approach, no?

robrt8

Nov 13, 2007, 12:05 PM

Post #4 of 7 (2847 views)

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Re: [stina] In - Floor Radiant Heat

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A couple of thoughts:
Are you going to have zones, or are you going to try to heat all 4000 sq. ft.?
How about electric radiant in the areas you expect to be in the morning?
It looks like a monster of a project. It will be very technical (expansion tanks, timers, thermostats, hard water issues).
Chiseling the walls for wiring is not a problem, a lot of dust though. Nothing like the mess from adding 1 1/2" of concrete on the floors.
Propane heaters are alright (not ideal). They only have to be left on an hour or so. The walls will radiate heat for a while longer.

stina

Nov 15, 2007, 6:40 PM

Post #5 of 7 (2801 views)

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Re: [robrt8] In - Floor Radiant Heat

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Thanks Robrt8:

We intend to heat just the bottom floor which, I guess, would be about 2K Sq Ft. We're planning on connecting this solar boiler http://funcosa.com.mx/...CALENTADORES_WEB.pdf to a standard hot water heater. Our expectation is that the water that's heated during the day will be retained in both insulated tanks and circulated in the morning before the sun comes up. On especially cold nights, the gas hot water heater will kick in to boost the temp.

Anyone have any experience with solar hot water heaters down here. The sun here in Guadalajara, due, I suspect to the latitude and altitude, is amazingly powerful - even in the winter. Seems a shame to let it go to waste.

andy

robrt8

Dec 4, 2007, 3:42 PM

Post #6 of 7 (2761 views)

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Re: [stina] In - Floor Radiant Heat

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Hi Andy,
Have you made a any progress on this system?

esperanza

Dec 4, 2007, 3:50 PM

Post #7 of 7 (2761 views)

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Re: [stina] In - Floor Radiant Heat

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A friend here in Morelia has that same solar heater. She can't say enough good about it. She adores it. Last time I was at her house, she insisted that I go up on the roof to admire it. She says she could make tea with the hot water that comes directly from the spigot on the tank. I felt the hot water (she made me put my hand under the faucet that comes from the tank!), and she's right: she could. She says that there are days the water gets so hot that the tank boils over a bit.

She lives alone and says that she has used exactly half a small tanque estacionario of gas in a year, for cooking. Her house has two bathrooms, kitchen, and laundry room that all use hot water. The tank is plumbed on the roof and connected to the hot water pipes of her 100-year-old house; she did not have to replace any plumbing to install it. She has never run out of hot water, even in Morelia's rainy season.

Best of luck!

http://www.mexicocooks.typepad.com

(This post was edited by esperanza on Dec 4, 2007, 3:51 PM)