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Does a radiant heated floor of a 20’X 22′ space(gypcrete/ceramic)on the main floor of a structure produce enough heat to keep a 250 sq ft space above with a fenestrated dormer of 10 ft warm enough during Detroit winters?
What are the options if you do not want to heat the second story floor?
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It might be if the tubing is spaced properly and the circulation of air is right. You got me with the fenestrated thing. If it isn't enough you could figure a way to run a zone of radiant basebd in the separate upstairs room.
My house is pretty open to the second floor and we experience only mild temp drop in the remote room. I put a six ft. pc of rad. basebd in each and rad. in the bathroom floors. Ceiling fan in the great room to mix it up a bit.
Your best bet is to ask a radiant specialist. Give them all the information and they'll be able to hit it on the nose.
best of luck.
Shoulda used the full words for your title, I thought you meant something else. Perhaps a fear of heights.
*Judge: First, congrats on being a guest user who can describe the situation and GIVE HIS LOCATION. Local climate makes such a difference.I have a similar arrangement on a slightly larger scale: 1004 square foot footprint with 900 linear feet of tubing in the slab on grade. 1/3 open to the 21' ceiling, 2/3 of the ground floor standard 8-foot ceilings. One third of the upstairs is that cathedral ceiling, 1/3 a loft bedroom, and 1/3 is enclosed in 3 rooms. The loft bedroom and the cathedral space heat fine from the open floor below, although slower (longer pumping cycle) than the enclosed ground floor rooms. The enclosed upstairs rooms stay about 6 degrees cooler than thermostat settings if I turn that loop off (I put tubing in the floor of those rooms). Although we have have extreme winters, the house is extremely tight (0.07 air changes per hour).So I think you will need to do something to get a bit more heat into the upstairs (radiant thermostat at 64F less 6 degrees = 58 which is getting quite cool). You could do it passively if there is an open stairway and you cut return vents in the floor back to the downstairs. But those return ducts have to be fairly good sized - 2 or 3 square feet if you don't use a fan and will transmit sound easily from room to room. Or you could put a fan-powered return duct and if you run it through a purpose-built or site-built muffler you'll have minimal sound transmission. Most flexible is to add hot water baseboards upstairs or radiant tubing with clip-on aluminium fins between the floor joists. That seperate loop can be run off its own thmermostat for independent control of the upstairs temperature - to avoid overheating from those windows on a sunny day. -David
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Does a radiant heated floor of a 20'X 22' space(gypcrete/ceramic)on the main floor of a structure produce enough heat to keep a 250 sq ft space above with a fenestrated dormer of 10 ft warm enough during Detroit winters?
What are the options if you do not want to heat the second story floor?