Remodeling and radiant heat
I am doing a house remodel right now and need to perform some radiant heat work.
The remodel requires the existing radiant heat manifold to be moved a few feet to a new location. From speaking to the radiant heat contractor, he is simply going to open up the concrete and moving it to another location by extending the tubes. Is this a difficult task?
On other parts of the house where the addition are, a new set of tubes are being fed directly from the broiler instead of tying it directly to the existing manifold system. It sounds like a new set of manifolds will be used to control the new feeds. Is this going to cause issues w/ differentiated heating or can the manifolds help control the flow to the new locations so that the heat is evenly distributed?
I believe we have existing copper tubes, the new tubes appears to be built out of some sort of hard flexible plastic.
I am just a bit worried because I am not familiar w/ radiant heat system at all. Any insight in this is greatly appreciated.
Thanks
- J
It will be far less expensive to redirect whatever is in the way of the manifold. You don't want someone messing with that if you don't have to.
I can pretty much guarantee it will cost you at least $3000.00 to move that manifold and repair your floor. I had some great guys come in to repair a pinhole leak in my cold water line, they had to break open the slab do the repair etc... and that cost $1300.00 not including tile replacement.
Unfortunately we will have to move it, so your cost estimate is well within what I had expected. I just wanted to make sure that it is doable and not going to cause huge problems to my existing working radiant heat system that I love.
Thanks
- J
It seems to me that as long as the flow can be balanced between the new and the old runs you should be okay.
If you are moving the old manifold at all, would it be possible to move it to where they will tie the new tubing into the system. That would allow one modern style manifold with zoned electric control valves to be used.
I haven't looked at your house that closely, but if it is like our courtyard model the original manifold and control valves are near an outside wall on the courtyard. Extending them through the new construction to the boiler in the garage might be possible. . .
Your street sure is humming with the remodels on it. And it is neat to see your new foundation work being prepped for radiant heat.
Tod,
Unfortunately, the manifold is in the closet of one of the bedrooms, which is about 30 feet from broiler. I will speak to the contractor to figure out if there is a way to move it that far, but I doubt it. For the new areas, I guess one possibility is to install a new manifold with a control for different zones.
thanks for the feedback. You guys are welcome to come over after we are all done.
The remodel pictures will be updated weekly and located at
http://www.yurtle.com/remodel
Thanks
- J
