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Old 09-25-2018, 03:43 PM   #1
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Hydronic walls?

We are designing our hydronic heated floor a little ahead of time, and i was just wondering....

Has anyone with a hydronic heated floor, tried to make heated walls?

I'm imagining a piece of pex coming from the pex manifold, going up to the top corner of a wall, and zig-zagging all the way down. I know it wouldn't be as efficient as the heated floor, since heat generally rises, but I think it could be a nice addition to the heated floor since the walls will also be insulated.

Thoughts?

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Old 10-01-2018, 10:40 AM   #2
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I don't know what kind of system you are thinking of going with, so my input my be way off base.

I think you should take a look at a different way to use hydronics than running tubes through the subfloor (and up into the walls).

View this page and watch the video. You may see something that you haven't seen before.

There are other manufacturers to go with. This is just a sample of how most RVs are heated using hydronics.
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Old 10-11-2018, 12:00 AM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by G Dub View Post
I don't know what kind of system you are thinking of going with, so my input my be way off base.

I think you should take a look at a different way to use hydronics than running tubes through the subfloor (and up into the walls).

View this page and watch the video. You may see something that you haven't seen before.

There are other manufacturers to go with. This is just a sample of how most RVs are heated using hydronics.
I get that. But aquahot is way way out of our price range. We are still in the planning stages of it, but ours will most likely be heated by a propane water heater. I know it's not going to be like a wabasto or anything, but it will be designed to suit our own needs the most efficient (and safe) way that we can.

But since we are already going the pex-in-the-floor route, I can't help but think that adding additional pex lines to go in the walls would be adding more BTUs or extra heat. The system would be on a thermostat so I can't imagine it would cook us out or anything.
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Old 10-13-2018, 07:51 AM   #4
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Originally Posted by Kandall View Post
I get that. But aquahot is way way out of our price range. We are still in the planning stages of it, but ours will most likely be heated by a propane water heater. I know it's not going to be like a wabasto or anything, but it will be designed to suit our own needs the most efficient (and safe) way that we can.

But since we are already going the pex-in-the-floor route, I can't help but think that adding additional pex lines to go in the walls would be adding more BTUs or extra heat. The system would be on a thermostat so I can't imagine it would cook us out or anything.
Well, good luck with that. I'm not getting a stellar gut-feeling about it, though. I tend to think that going all-out with insulation would be the biggest step. Still, I applaud your out-of-the-box approach!
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Old 10-13-2018, 08:01 AM   #5
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I would plumb water through one of the old floor heaters so you could warm the bus up faster when you wanted to. a switch or a thermostat on the fan circuit. I don't think you will get enough heat transfer from walls to justify the effort. Might also connect engine cooling system to have, second emergency heat source and have water up to temp when you got to camp spot.
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Old 10-13-2018, 08:08 AM   #6
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Kandall, we installed floor heat and it works good but additional heat is needed with out insulation and design. I am contemplating to use an additional steel flat plate radiator as a separation wall. They are about an 1" thick. The main problem with floor heat is getting rid of air bubbles that get locked in and restrict the flow. In walls you would have to design such that the tubes are always slanted up so that air bubbles do not get stuck.


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Old 10-13-2018, 07:41 PM   #7
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Remember that HEAT does NOT rise. Hot air does. There are homes heated with radiant heat installed in the ceiling. It has the advantage of not having things sitting all over it, as a floor does. So yeah, radiant panels in the walls could work.
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Old 10-14-2018, 03:29 PM   #8
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I’d like to have a heated towel bar so when you get out of the shower, nice warm towels
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Old 10-14-2018, 03:42 PM   #9
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I think it would be nice to have heated walls in the shower on its own zone so it could be nice and warm without running much water.

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Old 10-14-2018, 05:00 PM   #10
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Originally Posted by ennonne View Post
Remember that HEAT does NOT rise. Hot air does. There are homes heated with radiant heat installed in the ceiling. It has the advantage of not having things sitting all over it, as a floor does. So yeah, radiant panels in the walls could work.
The heat in heated water does rise.
Example.
Open up an old water heater and you will notice that the cold water inlet has a tube attached that extends down to the bottom third of the tank while the hot out has a tube that barely extends into the top third of the tank.
I do commercial hydronic heating and air for a living and when I have to help troubleshoot a system I can always look at a specific cools temperature readings and tell if one or all are piped in backwards or not.
To the OP. look up heating hydronic coil piping from bell and gosset's little red school house and it can/will explain some/all of your questions.
They are a big company and do continuing Ed. For engineers yearly around the world. Don't meen you have to buy there stuff which is priced comparably and top notch support all the way through for whatever your design and intentions but the little red school house will help your knowledge with air elimination devices,flushing,filling and proper zone valve's for your intentions.
I installed heated almost everything except the roof in 7 working dog kennels for one bases I work around and the piping was pretty straight forward.
The concrete man didn't like me.
The mason's hated me.
But the zone control panels and pumps required kicked my butt?
The system was an Italian manufacturer that I couldn't understand when I talked to and B&g worked with me through the troubleshooting mess.
Yes heat rises and so do air bubbles.
High point air vents whether manual or automatic is needed.
And ethylene glycol is better than water in most hydronic systems but in any closed loop hydronic system with automatic air vents you have to have an automatic feed system to replace what is lost in the air bubbles.
I have and can help build a flush cart system to get all air out of a closed system without vents but that more of the glycol type.
Food for thought?
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Old 10-14-2018, 07:14 PM   #11
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Originally Posted by ennonne View Post
Remember that HEAT does NOT rise. Hot air does. There are homes heated with radiant heat installed in the ceiling. It has the advantage of not having things sitting all over it, as a floor does. So yeah, radiant panels in the walls could work.

I lived in ohio in one og those "gold medallion" homes that were heated with radiant ceiling heat... it was the coldest house i ever lived in and it was nicely insulated and had nice Windows.. the radiant heat heated the OBJECTS.. so the idea is that it heats the people ad objects in a room.. however it was VERY condusive to even the slightest of drafts.. zero degree days in ohio are often accompanied by wind and NO building is FULLY proofed against a draft.. since the air tended to be cool anyway the result was chills esp if you walked across the room or when the radiant unit shut off.. you slowly froze until it came back on (which took awhile to warm back up).. I totally agree with floor heat... warm feet are happy feet.. but like another says pipe some water (warmer than the floor water) into some fan-coils and heat the air also when needed.. you can heat the walls but in most builds alot of wall space is occupied with cabinets, windows, appliances, storage shelves etc which you definitely dont want to heat
-Christopher
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