Hey guys, in the process of my design phase I have stumbled upon these. Are they any good? Can anyone give me good reason not to use them?

I'm a little concerned about trying to shove pipe in a groove sidways, personally.

I did about 2000 square feet of above-the-subfloor sandwich, on 7" centers, using a mix of the U-fin and C-fin extruded aluminum.  I must say that the tubing does fit very snug, which can make it a bit tough to do the install.  At least I know that the PEX is making good contact!

To me it seems that the C-fin plates would be the best choice for installation under the subfloor, where the tubing is inserted from the bottom rather than the side.  With the side-track, narrow joist bays could be especially painful -- no room to swing a rubber mallet against a 2x4 as the radiant-side-track site suggests.

JefflnCO, can you give a little more details on the products you used, including pricing? My issue right now is that the build will max out all my financing before I look into the radiant options. I can't afford the full radiant package yet, but want to be sure that I don't screw myself out of it by not doing these steps initially.

We offer a heat transfer plate combined with our floor panel system that works quite well if you are doing a top mounted or sandwich system.
Our plates are about 1/3 the price .69 foot.
While the extrusions may offer a faster heat transfer, they also are expensive.
Just my opinion.
Dan

Eli98,

NRT Radiant designed my system.  I used plates from http://www.radiantengineering.com, purchased through NRT.

I sent you a PM with details.

Jeff

Has anyone used this or similar panel/plate that would work in a radiant ceiling application where the roof/ceiling is a SIP with a sheetrock finish? I envision one would make these work with furring to accommodate the groove and layout the tubing with no crossovers. Assume the SIP would be adequate back insulation? Would the air gap have any appreciable effect on efficiency? Looking to incorporate radiant cooling as well. Any fundamental roadblocks to that besides the condensation issues (which are manageable)?

I do know this would take some engineering and would certainly look to this site for help (payed) in that area. Just trying to get my ducks in a row as to possibilities while I wait for my designer to get me my floor plan far enough along to start on that side of things.

you can use heavy gauge plates in a ceiling application. I'm not sure how much benefit there is, but we have recently learned that tighter on centers are better for radiant ceiling cooling! Thermofin U would be easiest for this kind of app but honestly if you're trying to upgrade radiant ceiling from lightweight plates I think a panel product like Roth might make sense.

I would tend to favor tight on center lightweight plates though... like 8" o.c. with a 7" wide plate or something.

Thanks Rob..  I would prefer is light weight wide panel as well.  Seems that would be an easier installation if it meets the heating/cooling needs.  I think cheaper as well, but that may need a design to confirm.  Attached is a .pdf of how I think it would go up.  Is this what you were thinking?  Sorry if this is too elementary, but so am I to this stuff.

something like that. use PAP though, not PEX, and be careful, your flow rates may need to be very high. this is not "rule of thumb" territory.

I just finished a radiant ceiling design for a local SIP.

I specified light panels seeing no advantage to heavy (which I always use in sub-floor radiant system). Designing radiant ceiling is a whole different world but fantastic in flexibility of application with much greater potential output (no you won't get a hot head) and much lower operation temperature (your condensing boiler will love it). Since I haven't designed one for some time I was thrilled to use my new Uponor module in my Wrightsoft design software.

Last year, I worked on a WWII vintage home with copper embedded in the ceilings. It was so comfortable and responsive I thought it was a radiant floor system at first. Ambient 70°, floor 71°, ceiling 72°.