Anyone have a feeling for how much time it takes to lay tube for hydronic heat in 4500 sf of slab with 12 zones?  One guy says he can pull it off in 40 hours, including sensor setting and 40 hours more to connect and install the zone pumps and controls.  Another guy estimates 220 hours for the whole thing.  That's like one week on the job for two guys versus almost three weeks.  That's a big spread.

If you have a professional design and specify your system, how long the contractor takes to install it becomes irrelevant. Your are not buying labor per se, rather a driveway snow melting system complete. If the bids are remarkably disparate, suspicion is a healthy response. Then it is to the references and credentials one must look.

Ask each if they have ever installed a snow melting system.

You should have any snow melting system designed by an experienced RPA certified designer or mechanical engineer. He can best assess the bids and advise on the conditions in your area.


Try this link.

http://www.badgerboilerservice.com/snowmelt.html

You should have any snow melting system designed by an experienced RPA certified designer or mechanical engineer.

System is designed. I just need someone to install it.

And it's an interior radiant floor heating system, but that is a cool looking driveway on your website!

Even though it doesn't snow much here that would be convenient to have when it does. I wonder if I could install a manual valve to send heat to the driveway and coast along on auxiliary over night while I melted the snow out there? That way I wouldn't have to have an extra boiler just for the snowmelt.

My mistake. I have been working on a lot of snow melting systems this week and have a little brain freeze...

I have designed single boilers systems that heat space and melt snow, but manual control are not viable option as you can spend a lot of money heating Mother Nature.

Maybe this link will help you more with your question.

http://www.badgerboilerservice.com/contractor.html

Best of luck.

I have designed single boilers systems that heat space and melt snow, but manual control are not viable option as you can spend a lot of money heating Mother Nature.

I was thinking about a system that you would turn on when snow was expected, which around here is pretty much in the early morning hours and then turn off when it had done it's job.

It took me a full day to install 1400 sq feet of 1/2 inch pex in 6 loops tying it to wire mesh and rebar. I had the loops mapped out on graph paper. I was working alone (another set of hands would have been extremely helpful), and had never worked with pex before. So if an inexperienced person working solo can do 1400 feet in one day (8 hrs) it should not take more than 3 days for an experienced solo person, or less than that for a 2 person crew.

As far as building the manifold etc, I can't tell you. I have been getting all the pieces bit by bit, will probably take part of a day to lay it all out, and then another day to put it all together and mount it - but I am just guessing.

-Rosalinda

It took me a full day to install 1400 sq feet of 1/2 inch pex in 6 loops tying it to wire mesh and rebar.

Thank you, Rosalinda.

How much measuring did you have to do, or were you able to just eyeball it using the mesh and rebar as a guide?

Since I already had it mapped out on my graph paper to scale, I pretty much knew exactly where each loop had to go and how it would fit in each room. So other than checking my room dimensions at the start of each loop, and an occasional spacing check, there wasn't lots of measuring needed. I have seen where folks have painted the walls etc on the foam board, but I was concerned about something dissolving the foam. I used chalk to mark the partition walls around the perimeter as a guide and then just rechecked the measurements at the start of each loop to make sure I was still on target.

-Rosalinda

Why did you tie mesh to re-bar?

My contractor does that in all his pours - uses rebar and wire mesh tied together. Then he lifts the whole shebang using small concrete blocks to keep it centered in the concrete during the pour. Fortunately I have really small feet, so I could get them between the holes on the mesh whilst laying my PEX, when walking on top of the mesh would not work.

Posted By BadgerBoilerMN on 26 Jan 2011 06:51 PM
Why did you tie mesh to re-bar?

If there is not a lot of cover height, it helps to tie the mesh to the rebar to keep it down in place. It's easy to step on a section while placing the concrete and have a corner pop up. Won't happen often, but if you have a hot mix it can be a disaster in a finished floor. (non-covered)

I interpreted Badger's question as "why did you have mesh at all?" Though perhaps I misinterpreted his question, I am curious as to "why you had mesh at all" given that you had rebar...

Jeff

As I said Jeff, this is the way my contractor does all his concrete slabs/floors - and he has been doing them for 35 years. By the by, the concrete floor is my "finished" floor for the ground floor - and it is absolutely beautiful.

The slab is 6 inches thick (12 inches around the perimeter), and is an FPSF.
-Rosalinda

The slab and wire are severe over-kill for residential, creating work with no appreciable return, but frost protected shallow foundations are the only way to go.