My cat has found a warm spot in my office floor which has radiant heat. I don’t know whether this is a problem and whether it should be repaired.
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My office is basically a triangular room with a couple of corners cut off. It is a long narrow room with 2 outside walls. To insure the whole office is warm here in central <!—-><!—-> <!—->Michigan<!—-><!—->, I installed a custom radiant heated floor.
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The base floor of the office is a slab. On top of that I laid 0.75†furring strips. Between the furring strips I laid 0.625†PEX tubing. I filled the space between the furring strips and the tubing with Sacrete sand mix. Over this I laid 0.25†Durock set in thinset. Over the Durock I laid ceramic tile set in thinset.
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My concern is that when I screwed down the Durock, I punctured the PEX tubing. I could repair a leak by digging out the tubing and installing a coupler. But I don’t know if the warm spot is from leak and whether it is worth worrying about a leak with all that stuff around the tubing.
Replies
A simple pressure test on those lines should tell you if there's a leak.
Do a simple pressure test, that will answer your leak question. I would bet against a leak though. If you had a leak you'd most likely know it. I would be willing to guess that the tubing somehow rose in that spot touching the dura rock, wich is more conductive than the sand, leading to a hotspot.
We do alot of radiant tube heated floors under plywood subflooring, and it seems that there are a lot more hotspots under the tiled areas than under the carpeting or laminate wood flooring. I am gussing it has something to do with the conductivity.
Your response is what I have been looking for.
I see no other indications of a leak. In almost 2 years, the hot water system does not appear to have lost any water. (It is a closed system.) So if there were any significant leak, I would think it would have shown up.
One of the steps in building the floor was first to cut and fit all the Durock. Then I marked the location of the furring strips on the Durock. Then I took up the Durock and laid each piece separately. First, I spread thinset. Next laid the piece of Durock. Then screwed the Durock down.
I have been bothered by the question, "Did those marks on the Durock really align with the furring strips?"
I believe in the adage, you get what you paid for. Since I did not pay the installer anything, ...
Presure testing for an insignificant leak is not something I want to rush to do. Jim would have to bring the air tank over, disconnect the floor loop, and presurize it. Then come back in a day or so to finish the test and reconnect the system.
I am installing another RFH system this year in a bathroom remodel. I may have JIm pressure test the office loop then. (I am using the same installer. At least this time he can use panels where he need only pop in the PEX.)
(I wanted to send a diagram of the tube run in the office. I can't make the 'attach files' function work this morning. I have worked with computers for only 42 years now. Just not motivated at 0500.)
Are you sure that the warm spot is warm from a defect in the heating system, and not just from being insulated by the cat? ;-)
-- J.S.
The cat, SeSe, is an very 'active' cat (like Active Americans, who must be over 60 to be active). SeSe is of an age where she brags about her age.
In our bedroom, she uses a heating pad. When the pad shuts off, SeSe comes and gets me to turn it back on.
SeSe has found this spot in my office where it is warm. It is still warm when she is gone.
SeSe goes around the house finding warm spots - in the sun, a heating pad left on, in front of the kitchen sink where there is a fin coil under the floor, and this spot in my office.
SeSe says, "Getting old is not for sissies".