A floor heating system uses pipes to convey hot water under the floor and heat it directly, rather than the building walls or ceiling. This is known as an in-floor radiant (or hydronic) heating system and can be either wet or dry, depending on the flooring material chosen.
The ideal pipe for a floor heating system needs to be corrosion-resistant, flexible and easy to install. It should also be able to withstand high water pressure and temperatures. Lastly, it should have good heat conductivity, allowing a maximum amount of heat to transfer from the circulating fluid to the floor surface.
When selecting the tubing for your floor heating project it's important to take into account several variables, including:
Determine the square footage of the room to be heated:
Once the total square footage is known, divide it by the number of circuits needed and multiply by the recommended minimum circuit length. This will provide you with the amount of tubing that is required. It is generally preferred that the circuits are not too long and that they be run close to each other in order to avoid reducing system performance. The reason for this is that a tubing run that is too long will lose too much heat before it gets to the end of the loop and may not be sufficiently hot to transfer its energy to the floor. The shorter the circuits, the less heat loss occurs.floor heating pipe