Looking at a house on a slab with radiant heat ?s

[luberhill]

Anyone here knowledgeable on this type of home in a cold NE NY climate?

Couple questions

Edited July 23, 2022 by luberhill

[BowmanMike]

yup,as long as it is a well insulated slab that works just fine. It is called an Alaskan slab and is thicker at the perimeter and thinner in the middle. 

 

It works well when done correctly.

[Dinsdale]

20 minutes ago, BowmanMike said:

yup,as long as it is a well insulated slab that works just fine. It is called an Alaskan slab and is thicker at the perimeter and thinner in the middle. 

 

It works well when done correctly.

Unless someone got away with it, and it does happen, you cant build a house with thick edge slab in NY to code. Has to have a permitter foundation wall to a footing below frost.

If its newer construction it should have appropriate permitter and slab insulation.

I'd want to look at manifold where the radiant tubing emerges from slab to know what was used for tubing. Some older systems used a product called Entran by Heatway corp., it had warranty issues. My 3000 sq ft shop is Entran, i have been lucky no problems. 

My house is PEX, newer system, its also in a slab; thats about the best it gets.

Radiant has the benefit of using the slab as a huge heat sink, and because you warm the space from your feet up, most run folks run a lower thermostat setting as the perceived feel is comfortable. On the other end radiant systems have long responce times, you want to consistently keep a setting. Once you turn down a temp, it takes a long time to get back up. Its always better for cost to leave it at where you are comfortable. I'm fortunate to run 3 zones in shop, so main space is warmer; i leave my high bay cooler as i know if im going to be in there welding, or spraying, i can turn it up in advance if i need too.

Both my builds are super insulated frost wall, slabs, no crawl space or basement. They are very cheap to heat. Id never put up another building without radiant  for myself.I build for a living, almost 35 years, almost every new build has radiant in my area. With the wall hung super high effeciency boilers around now, its very cost effective. 

[Jeremy K]

My buddy did radiant floor heating , it's wonderful . Its really nice if it's in a mud room type situation ,we would take our snowmobile clothes and just lay them on the floor and they would dry over night. 

[Moho81]

My parents house is radiant heat slab with masonry block walls. I can tell you that’s the most comfortable home I’ve every been in. No crazy temperature swings like a forced air system and more efficient than a traditional base board heating system. Like someone said before it does take a while for it to heat up so my parents always keep the temp at one temperature all winter long.

Also their heating bills are always lower then mine with a forced air system and we are in a pretty comparable house.


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[luberhill]

2 hours ago, Dinsdale said:

Unless someone got away with it, and it does happen, you cant build a house with thick edge slab in NY to code. Has to have a permitter foundation wall to a footing below frost.

If its newer construction it should have appropriate permitter and slab insulation.

I'd want to look at manifold where the radiant tubing emerges from slab to know what was used for tubing. Some older systems used a product called Entran by Heatway corp., it had warranty issues. My 3000 sq ft shop is Entran, i have been lucky no problems. 

My house is PEX, newer system, its also in a slab; thats about the best it gets.

Radiant has the benefit of using the slab as a huge heat sink, and because you warm the space from your feet up, most run folks run a lower thermostat setting as the perceived feel is comfortable. On the other end radiant systems have long responce times, you want to consistently keep a setting. Once you turn down a temp, it takes a long time to get back up. Its always better for cost to leave it at where you are comfortable. I'm fortunate to run 3 zones in shop, so main space is warmer; i leave my high bay cooler as i know if im going to be in there welding, or spraying, i can turn it up in advance if i need too.

Both my builds are super insulated frost wall, slabs, no crawl space or basement. They are very cheap to heat. Id never put up another building without radiant  for myself.I build for a living, almost 35 years, almost every new build has radiant in my area. With the wall hung super high effeciency boilers around now, its very cost effective. 

Ok here’s what I know 

The owners husband built it in 2009

He has passed away

I can see where the tubes go into like a conduit .. they are translucent per looking tubes.

The entire slab including the 5 car garage is radiant, no crawl space .

It has three zones propane fired .

Now originally it was off an outdoor wood furnace , after he died she didn’t want to mess with the wood so had it propane heated .

What if one of the tubes leaks in the floor ?

Could the pipes freeze ?

The floors are all laminate , would putting area rugs down be a problem ?

They have two mini splits for ac 

Edited July 23, 2022 by luberhill

[Dinsdale]

47 minutes ago, luberhill said:

Ok here’s what I know 

The owners husband built it in 2009

He has passed away

I can see where the tubes go into like a conduit .. they are translucent per looking tubes.

The entire slab including the 5 car garage is radiant, no crawl space .

It has three zones propane fired .

Now originally it was off an outdoor wood furnace , after he died she didn’t want to mess with the wood so had it propane heated .

What if one of the tubes leaks in the floor ?

Could the pipes freeze ?

The floors are all laminate , would putting area rugs down be a problem ?

They have two mini splits for ac 

Translucent tubing is a PEX type product, no problem. Unless you drill a hole into the floor, those tubes will outlast the life of the house. 

Carpet is no problem, they’ll become warm, just like the laminate floor above them.

Propane or natural gas is the standard, I do have oil boiler in my shop and its going this coming year for propane.

Many jobs fill pipes with Cryotek, its an HVAC antifreeze. You can have it tested for concentration, as it breaks down over time; its a chemical treated paper strip you dip in the boiler water, reaction color tells the degree of concentration and the degree of protection. If off, the HVAC company take an injection pump with a 5 gallon pail, pull some old water out, push some new cryotek in and let it circulate. Roughly $150/ 5 gallon. That’s pretty new being 2009, who ever installed probably left a sticker with name on units; if I was buying I’d call see if they have been serviced if there are no hang tags with dates.

Mini splits are also common stuff for air, some units act like a heat pump to add some heating, some just do AC. 

 

[Dinsdale]

1 hour ago, Moho81 said:

My parents house is radiant heat slab with masonry block walls. I can tell you that’s the most comfortable home I’ve every been in. No crazy temperature swings like a forced air system and more efficient than a traditional base board heating system. Like someone said before it does take a while for it to heat up so my parents always keep the temp at one temperature all winter long.

Also their heating bills are always lower then mine with a forced air system and we are in a pretty comparable house.


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Can’t stress that enough when living with radiant; you can’t be fiddling with the t-stat. Its a deal killer on efficiency. It saves nothing turning the temp down because it costs more to get back up then if you just leave it alone.

I do have weekend clients who control temps via online; and for long term they turn down, and 12 hrs before arriving turn temps up. But that only pays for 4-5 days away or more. I never change mine, its been the same for 20+ years, even if I’m gone for a week.

[luberhill]

41 minutes ago, Dinsdale said:

Translucent tubing is a PEX type product, no problem. Unless you drill a hole into the floor, those tubes will outlast the life of the house. 

Carpet is no problem, they’ll become warm, just like the laminate floor above them.

Propane or natural gas is the standard, I do have oil boiler in my shop and its going this coming year for propane.

Many jobs fill pipes with Cryotek, its an HVAC antifreeze. You can have it tested for concentration, as it breaks down over time; its a chemical treated paper strip you dip in the boiler water, reaction color tells the degree of concentration and the degree of protection. If off, the HVAC company take an injection pump with a 5 gallon pail, pull some old water out, push some new cryotek in and let it circulate. Roughly $150/ 5 gallon. That’s pretty new being 2009, who ever installed probably left a sticker with name on units; if I was buying I’d call see if they have been serviced if there are no hang tags with dates.

Mini splits are also common stuff for air, some units act like a heat pump to add some heating, some just do AC. 

 

These are heat pumps too

She had it changed after he died to propane because they told her if she started switching back and forth there maybe issues with getting air in the system ???

She said they charged her like 1500 and took off the pumps ??

[luberhill]

45 minutes ago, Dinsdale said:

Translucent tubing is a PEX type product, no problem. Unless you drill a hole into the floor, those tubes will outlast the life of the house. 

Carpet is no problem, they’ll become warm, just like the laminate floor above them.

Propane or natural gas is the standard, I do have oil boiler in my shop and its going this coming year for propane.

Many jobs fill pipes with Cryotek, its an HVAC antifreeze. You can have it tested for concentration, as it breaks down over time; its a chemical treated paper strip you dip in the boiler water, reaction color tells the degree of concentration and the degree of protection. If off, the HVAC company take an injection pump with a 5 gallon pail, pull some old water out, push some new cryotek in and let it circulate. Roughly $150/ 5 gallon. That’s pretty new being 2009, who ever installed probably left a sticker with name on units; if I was buying I’d call see if they have been serviced if there are no hang tags with dates.

Mini splits are also common stuff for air, some units act like a heat pump to add some heating, some just do AC. 

 

Wonder if the water supply’s are also in the slab for the sinks etc ?

[Dinsdale]

3 hours ago, luberhill said:

These are heat pumps too

She had it changed after he died to propane because they told her if she started switching back and forth there maybe issues with getting air in the system ???

She said they charged her like 1500 and took off the pumps ??

I think thats in regards to the wood boiler and switching to propane and back.

Mini split heat is all between the exterior compressor and then wall mount unit inside.

Typically domestic water is in slab where its warm.

In the end if your buying, a building inspection with the right company should answer many questions looking on site; good luck.

Edited July 23, 2022 by Dinsdale

[ncountry]

9 hours ago, Dinsdale said:

Unless someone got away with it, and it does happen, you cant build a house with thick edge slab in NY to code. Has to have a permitter foundation wall to a footing below frost.

Not necessarily true.

  A shallower, properly  haunched slab with both vertical and horizontal insulation works well and has been used extensively in more northerly climates than NY.

Most code enforcement officers will not recognize this without proper architectural prints though. I believe the code says more or less , that the "foundation/ slab needs to be free from the effects of frost"

I like/agree 100% with everything else you stated..

[luberhill]

10 hours ago, ncountry said:

Not necessarily true.

  A shallower, properly  haunched slab with both vertical and horizontal insulation works well and has been used extensively in more northerly climates than NY.

Most code enforcement officers will not recognize this without proper architectural prints though. I believe the code says more or less , that the "foundation/ slab needs to be free from the effects of frost"

I like/agree 100% with everything else you stated..

so one would assume that since this was built in 2009, if done in correctly there would have been issues before now

[ncountry]

Chances are. Often they are issues you wouldn't see without living with them though. Like doors not closing properly depending on the season and poor efficiencies.