In floor heat. Finishing the basement. Fridge guy looking for advice

[bryan l]

Well Im a market guy that has never done in floor heating. I have seen some systems but never installed one. First question I have is if there is some threads I could find that you guys know of that I can read up on.

Next is the question of the best floor to build.
Wood subfloor? Concrete skim coat? I am planing on carpeting the basement as well.

Is there any rules of thumb for typical zone sizing? such as how long of a loop is recomended (length of pipe for the size). Best pipe to use? what info do I need to collect in order to size my pumps and boiler?

thanks for the info you guys can pass along. Just starting to look into this all and I got nothing but time, wont be finishing the basement for most likely a year.

[rich pickering]

hope this link works. http://www.heatinghelp.com/library.cfm#IPEX
It's a good start on infloor.
tekmarcontrols.com has some good stuff too.

[chadman]

Roth makes panals that you can glue down and the the tube snaps in.I dont know how big of area you are talking about, but as far as loop size goes have the person you buy the tube from design the loops. Chances are they have the sotware to do this, I'd hope anyway . Are you planning on using a boiler, Or something like a comby core water heater?I have installed many different types of infloor systems, and this seemed to work well A little pricey if I remember right, but all infloor radiant systems are.

[johnsp]

Since you're working with an exsisting slab that cannot be insulated, I would go with warmboard. Foil face foam insulation over the slab and then the warmboard or similar product over that. Lay tubing in tracks.

[bar7]

go to a plumbing supply store give them all the specs.. Wirsbro offers a load calc & prices out the job with all the material needed.. Great program to get your hands on for radiant heat