Insulation Under Concrete Slab Radiant Heat

A common question that occurs during the design stage of a heated slab installation is one of slab insulation.

Insulation under concrete slab radiant heat.

Javascript seems to be disabled in your browser. The workers in the photograph at page top where our concrete slab. Some people use twice the r value at the slab edge as they do under the slab. Concrete insulation foam board blanket insulation is of crucial importance to a radiant heated slab with pex.

Radiant floor insulation under wood floors. A john siegenthaler a consulting engineer who specializes in hydronic heating system design responds. Need insulation for under concrete slabs slabs with radiant heat. Also make sure that you insulate the slab edge as that s where the heat loss from a slab is greatest.

Q how much insulation is necessary under a typical radiant slab. Without a thermal break between the slab and the ground heat will sink into the ground under the slab resulting in longer warm up time higher energy costs and overall poor performance of the system. Downward heat loss from a radiant slab should not exceed 10 percent of upward heat output a ratio derived from european installation standards for floor heating systems it s possible to calculate the r value needed to meet. Admittedly these alternate materials have two distinct advantages over blue.

This article explains how to avoid some fatal mistakes when installing radiant heat in a concrete floor slab by describing an incompetent radiant heat floor installation along with an explanation of why things went wrong and how to avoid these errors. Gyp crete and similar lightweight concrete mixes typically made from concrete and gypsum plaster are well suited for your application. The reflectix concrete slab insulation is an innovative easy to handle product that increases the energy efficiency of radiant floor and snow melt systems under concrete. When where how.

0 2 inch 5mm closed cell polyethylene foam. The foil within the product acts to spread out the heat signature of the heating coils. The climate the type of foundation whether the slab includes hydronic tubing for radiant heat and the severity of the local termite problem. Martin holladay explains insulating a slab on grade in the energy smart details department.

Insulating a slab on grade depends on at least four factors. Many of our customers ask us about alternate slab insulation materials like grid panels radiant foils bubble type insulation and thin foams of various kinds coated with vapor barriers. By lawrence drake published the radiant panel report july 2000. Radiant heating system design or installation mistakes that must be avoided.

A slab with such a heat sink could take days to fully cool down.