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floor heat temp measurements

Etowah
PaulLovesJamie

PaulLovesJamie

rural 5 bay SS
My bay floors got a little bit of ice this year, I had to turn up the temp on the floor heat higher than normal. Seems suspicious to me, so I'm checking out my floor heat system. Good opportunity to buy another toy, so I did - Fluke IR thermometer.

I measured the temps of a whole bunch of things, but so that I dont bore you to death I'll get to my first question:

The water that comes out of the floor heat boiler, what temp should it be before it goes out to the bays?

Mine varies between 70 and 90 degrees. Which doesnt sound right to me, because the boiler lower & upper limits are 165, 195. Doesnt that mean the water temp coming out of the boiler should be between 165-195 when the boiler shuts off? (Note: I have an open system - water from the boiler goes to an open expansion/holding tank, and is then immediately pumped to the bay floors. I measured the temp of the water in the expansion tank.)

Just for the curious among us, 2 other numbers that surprised me:
- temp of gas going up the chimney pipe: 250 degrees
- avg temp of the floor in bays 1,3,4,5: 35 degrees
- avg temp of the floor in bays 2: 24 degrees :eek: (yes this is a known problem)
 
Do you have a bypass valve somewhere in the piping? My return line from the pad is only about 75*, but it is mixed in with glycol from the outlet side of the boiler. I use a ball valve to control the volume of glycol that is recirculating. Are you sure you aren't measuring the temp on the return side of the system?
 
Washmee said:
Do you have a bypass valve somewhere in the piping? My return line from the pad is only about 75*, but it is mixed in with glycol from the outlet side of the boiler. I use a ball valve to control the volume of glycol that is recirculating. Are you sure you aren't measuring the temp on the return side of the system?
Click to expand...

My system is plumbed so that water/glycol flows from the boiler to the expansion tank, then the pump pushes the water out through the bays, then returns to the boiler. There is a ball valve after the pump (between the pump and the bays) to recirc some heated water back into the return line, but the heated water definitely flows from the boiler directly to the expansion tank.
 
Paul what kind of boiler are you using, Raypack?

All of our Floor Heat boilers are Raypacks and off the top of my head the outgoing temperature is about 100 degrees (I'll have to check tomorrow to confirm that). Our return temperature is set for 65 degrees. To adjust the outgoing temperature, you would use the adjustment knobs on the gas manifold. There should be a tag hanging on the adjustments that will tell you the temperature range for each numbered setting. Huron Valley should be able to tell you what setting you should be using for your set up.

As for the Hi and Lo limits, on a Raypack those are your safety limits. The lower of the two is an automatic reset limit, the higher is a manual limit which would require you to physically reset it, should it trip.
 
My Thoughts.
1. If you are using plain water you are flirting with disaster. Lack of power or some other failure during a cold spell will freeze and likely destroy the floor heat.
2. Boilers typicaly work on a "Rise" meaning that they are rated to rise the temp of the water XXX degrees over the incoming temp as they apss thru the boiler. So, if you have 50 degree incoming water and it's rated for a 60 degree rise it could get as high as 110 but any max safety limit below that will turn it off sooner. If it is cold and the return line gets down to 35 then the max output will be 95.
 
GoBuckeyes said:
Paul what kind of boiler are you using, Raypack?
Click to expand...
Yes, Raypak. H1-0403C. Natural gas.

GoBuckeyes said:
To adjust the outgoing temperature, you would use the adjustment knobs on the gas manifold. There should be a tag hanging on the adjustments that will tell you the temperature range for each numbered setting. Huron Valley should be able to tell you what setting you should be using for your set up.

As for the Hi and Lo limits, on a Raypack those are your safety limits. The lower of the two is an automatic reset limit, the higher is a manual limit which would require you to physically reset it, should it trip.
Click to expand...
No tags hanging anywhere at all, but I do thank you for the explanation about the adjustments and t-stat purposes, thanks for that.
 
Earl Weiss said:
My Thoughts.
1. If you are using plain water you are flirting with disaster. Lack of power or some other failure during a cold spell will freeze and likely destroy the floor heat.
2. Boilers typicaly work on a "Rise" meaning that they are rated to rise the temp of the water XXX degrees over the incoming temp as they apss thru the boiler. So, if you have 50 degree incoming water and it's rated for a 60 degree rise it could get as high as 110 but any max safety limit below that will turn it off sooner. If it is cold and the return line gets down to 35 then the max output will be 95.
Click to expand...
Not plain water, I'm using 50/50 antifreeze.
 
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