Automatic with no floor heat in Kansas City?

[wash4me]

Well I thought the bay I was installing the High Velocity in had floor heat. It appears that it does not. The other auto bay and the rest of the wash does have floor heat but none in that bay. It had a non working automatic in it since I bought the wash so I never gave it a thought. Now I'm trying to decide what to do. The options as I see them.

1. saw a slot under the automatic doors and run one loop around the room for glycol then supplement with a gas radiant heater. In the slot I suppose I'd fill it with repair epoxy of some sort.

2. Tear up the concrete and put it in floor heat right.

3. Go with a radiant heater and no floor heat and use some sort of electric heat to keep the doors from freezing down.

Thoughts?

 

[Jeff_L]

Strange that the rest of the wash has floor heat but not that one. Does it look like an add on after the wash was built where they wouldn't have ran the lines? Are you 100% there's no heat line or perhaps the line is clogged?

 

[wash4me]

Strange that the rest of the wash has floor heat but not that one. Does it look like an add on after the wash was built where they wouldn't have ran the lines? Are you 100% there's no heat line or perhaps the line is clogged?

I agree. I have an infrared camera and can see the floor heat in all the bays except this one. One Manifold heats a 20 x 20 area outside the exit of the bay but it clearly stops. The bay was there originally. I am tempted to get a concrete saw and saw up a 2 foot square area just in case I'm missing something.. I am also going to turn on one poly tube at a time and with the camera trace it to make sure they all do something. While it's easy to see the lines they start in a bundle leaving the manifold so it's hard to isolate them. It was a Raypak boiler and system installed in 2005 so I wonder if they would have prints on file.

 

[pgrzes]

I installed a High Velocity in an unheated bay last year. I have airlift extremes on both ends of the bay and I did not have any freezing problems. I am installing a radiant tube heater in my equip room with an elbow thru the bay this week to add just a little heat. I do have tubing in the floor for heat loops at each end but have not done anything to tie into it yet. We had a few cold snaps last year. Hoping for a mild winter with just some freezing rain!!

 

[soapy]

I run several IBA and only use radiant heat in a much colder area than you are in. You should be fine with just the radiant heater.

 

[Jeff_L]

...I am also going to turn on one poly tube at a time and with the camera trace it to make sure they all do something...

This sounds like a great starting point and a way to map out & label each line. I'm in the KC area too, you have a good couple more months at least before we really need that floor heat.

 

[ultra_spray]

try radient tube, but us the stainlees tube and burner. if not happy with result do it right and tear out floor and do floor heat. i assume you have auto doors and timer on both ends of the bay.

 

[Whale of a Wash]

We cut out the concrete for the first 4' and put in lines and then laid down new concrete. The young guys had it all out in a couple hours. We have doors so only covered the perimeter, not the whole slab.

 

[Buzzie8]

I use Ultimate radiant heat here in Pittsburgh. Works OK but have replaced exhaust fans in both bays.

http://www.ultimate-products.com/prod_carwash_heaters.html

 

[wash4me]

We were turning on the top and bottom glycol lines in pairs and successfully mapping them with the infrared camera. Only this particular bay though they were all off one spot so opening top and bottom didn't allow flow. Floor heat is present and functional!

 

[Jeff_L]

good to hear, case closed.