"Karl Townsend" remove .NOT to reply wrote
in message k.net...
If anybody has some experience's lets hear about it


I guess my experiences are slightly different from the rest. I put radiant
floor heat in my outside shop. The tubes are on 12" centers in a 6" thick
floor. Even with a very well insulated sidewall and ceiling I'm finding it
takes forever to bring the shop up to heat - more than 24 hours. (I'm not
in
the shop all day every day) It also just isn't enough heat source for when
its below 10 degrees F outside. A nearly equal size salesroom in the same
barn with a standard furnace takes WAY less propane to heat and comes up
to
temp in 30 minutes.

In my case, I need to add a space heater and use the floor only as a
supplemental heat source. Awful expensive lesson here, but it is nice to
have the floor not to be an ice box.

Karl


Yep, using it for part time heating isn't a good idea, especially with
thicker concrete. Look at it like it's a flywheel that you spin up. Once
it's to temperature, it's not a big deal to keep it there, but if you allow
it to cool off, it's starting over each time, so it doesn't do you much
good. My floor is an honest 6¼" thick, and has hoses @ 18" centers (as
per Heatway's design) and keeps the shop very warm with no effort. However,
in order to bring up the more than 40 yards of concrete to a temperature
that keeps the shop warm takes hours. I fully intend to keep the heat on
full time in my shop, even after I'm living in our new house, but I'll lower
the thermostat so it keeps the shop at a more comfortable temperature for
working. Costs a little to keep it warm, but to me it's worth it. I
hated my old shop that had a cold concrete floor.

Harold