I am renovating a house in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, NY. I don't have any ceilings and I want to keep the actual pine subfloor as the finish floor (1 inch before sanding). Planning to do a Retrofitting Radiant Heating. I was thinking of one zone per floor and maybe two zones in the bedroom floor. Anybody has any experience with that? I am looking at different possibilities and I found a company called Radiantec that sounds reasonable. I think we can do the work ourselves and maybe get the help of a plumber to do the connections. In New York the bloggers are absolutely against any DIY. Please, if anybody know Radiantec or any other company that would provide me with the calculations of the right PEX tubing, manifolds... share it with us. http://www.brownstoner.com/forum/profile_post_images/retrofitting_ra_2.jpg

Unless you have a boiler already in place that can handle the load, take a look:

http://www.comfortradiant.com/zmeshinterior.php

If it sounds too good to be true.

I have corrected many such systems. Look for an independent RPA certified designer before sinking money and time into your project.

I retrofitted my 1st floor with radiant and went through Radiantec. They are very knowledgeable and actually have a good deal of information available on their website that would help you plan the install. You will have to find a heating/plumbing contractor that is willing to do the hookup once you have the pex and alum plates in place. Not all contractors are willing to allow you to do some of the work. You will also need an air space, reflective barrier and insulation. Then you will have to put up a ceiling to hide it all. I am assuming you already have a hydronic heating system, if not you will have to put in a boiler or comparable system to supply the hot water to the radiant. Radiant floors are very comfortable. You will need a thermostat with a floor sensor and room air temp sensor to fully control the system. I wouldn't hesitate to do this yourself and a company like Radiantec can help you do it right so you don't have to hire someone to come in and fix it!

You are mistaken.

Posted By BadgerBoilerMN on 04 Mar 2010 07:27 AM
You are mistaken.

Care to elaborate as to what you think I am mistaken about?  I have been using my radiant for four years that they designed and I installed.  It heats very well and I was happy with their service.  All I can offer is my own experience and your response seems unnecessarily harsh (especially to someone new to the forum)...

Wood Not Oil, I did the same thing in my home in Maine using www.RadiantCompany.com and am very happy with the outcome. They provided me with wonderful advice and my system works well. Only thing I did differently is use MicroFoil insulation instead of bubble.

Posted By radiantbarrier on 04 Mar 2010 08:41 AM
Wood Not Oil, I did the same thing in my home in Maine using www.RadiantCompany.com and am very happy with the outcome. They provided me with wonderful advice and my system works well. Only thing I did differently is use MicroFoil insulation instead of bubble.

I actually only have the bubble on three joists because the floor had previously been insulated with fiberglass that had a foil face.  I simply flipped it over and used the foil face as the reflective barrier.  It saved me a lot in the cost and was actually suggested to me by Radiantec.  I have also heard good things about RadiantCompany...

The use of foil (of any kind) in any radiant floor application, adds vary little (if anything) to the overall efficiency of the system. Good money is better spent on real insulation of any verifiable quality.

The advocacy of foil should be a warning sign to the savvy homeowner.

This string smells of astroturf.

Posted By BadgerBoilerMN on 04 Mar 2010 09:11 AM
The use of foil (of any kind) in any radiant floor application, adds vary little (if anything) to the overall efficiency of the system. Good money is better spent on real insulation of any verifiable quality.

The advocacy of foil should be a warning sign to the savvy homeowner.

This string smells of astroturf.

In plated radiant systems, the value is VERY close to zero, since the emissivity of the aluminum plates is extremely small relative to that of bare PEX tubing and bare wood.  In a plated system the PEX temps are lower, the amount of exposed wood is a fraction of the total and the net flux of radiated heat into the cavity that the radiant barrier is reflecting is already less than 1/3 (maybe under 1/4) of what it would be with 180F water in a suspended tube or staple up. 

And the fact that you have to leave a gap between the foil and radiating surface for it to work at all makes it worth somewhat less than nothing since it creates a potential thermal-bypass channel for air currents to flow, which wouldn't be there if the fiber was snugged right up against the plates.  Only with the tightest installation methods is it a net-positive, and getting it up to even net-zero benefit requires some attention to detail.  There's some evidence that there might be some benefit with the fiber snugged against the plates and the RB on the side away from the plates, but not enough to make it cost effective at low temp.  A best-case laboratory scenario gives RB about an R6-effective if you have an inch of air-gap, but filling that inch with another ~R3.6 of fiber is more reliable.