Hydronic Heat

This came in from someone who unfortunately, was never a client of mine.  The problem boils down to lack of proper hydronic heating design…

I had radiant floor heat put in my new home (2850SF) in Oklahoma City. It is run by propane. The propane tank was installed in Sept 2008. I moved in during Jan 2009. Since then (12 months), I have blown through 3000+ gallons of propane! The gas people are blaming the floor heat and the floor heat folks are blaming the propane company. I’m at a loss as to where to go next. I’ve spent more than $8000 for propane since last Jan. Can you give me any advice?

There are a few possible reasons:

1)     The structure/poor insulation or excessive infiltration – you may want to have a local HVAC or mechanical contractor perform an energy audit to see if your structure has infiltration or insulation issues.

2)     Heat source inefficiencies – for systems I design and sell, I typically recommend the heat source be set up and fired off by a local pro – where applicable, a combustion analysis should be performed on gas and propane-fired heat sources to insure they are operating within manufacturer tolerances and at peak efficiency.

3)     System installation issues – depending on your system design, there may be issues with the amount of tubing, spacing of tubing, water temperatures, water flow rates, floor coverings with high r-values.

Bottom line – it sounds like your system is working hard to keep your structure at temperature – and it sounds like it’s working.  (You don’t mention being uncomfortable or cold) – your home loses “x” amount of BTU’s per hour – and your system needs to put out “x” amount of BTU’s per hour to keep up.

If it’s fighting poor insulation or thick floor coverings – well, that makes it the structure, not the system.

If it’s inefficiency at the heat source – a local pro should be able to test and adjust for that.

If it’s a design/installation issue – there may be some things you can adjust like water temp and flow rate…and some other things that would be less practical to go back and change – like amount and spacing of tubing.

Bottom line - it sounds like this could have been either avoided or explained to you by a competent radiant heat designer.  Hopefully, you’ll be able to use these answers as talking points with your local contractor - hope you can get your radiant system working better soon!

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Parhydronic heathydronic heat - basics series, where we briefly give an overview of several common methydronic heating systemdronic heating system.

A hydronic suspended system is similar to a staple-up system, however the tubing is not attached directly to the sub floor.  It may be stapled to the sides of the joists or suspended from the sub floor.

This installation method is often used in retrofits - including projects where access from below is limited.  Hanging systems generally run at a higher operating temperature and because they heat the joist cavity - the heat above is very even.

The materials costs are normally low - but this can be a labor intensive way to install hydronic heat.

Technorati Tags: hydronic heat, hydronic heating system, hydronic heating systems, hydronic suspended system, retrofits, staple-up system, sub floor, tubing