In your own home - the pleasure is not cheap. Like other types of engineering equipment, the heating system is installed seriously and for a long time. The heating boiler, its piping, control automation can be improved or replaced over time. Communications located hidden, including pipelines, will last at least half a century. This work must be done in the best possible way.
At a minimum, the homeowner must understand what the hardware company offers and what the visiting plumbers do. As a maximum, he can do the work himself, saving a considerable amount. Without skill, you should not undertake the installation of a boiler room, but you can figure out how to lay a warm water floor on your own.
Project - why is it needed?
Heat engineering is an exact science. The right decision is to order a project of a water heating system from a specialist. If you get most of the equipment in one place, a decent company will do it for free. If you order the project separately, it will cost from 2000 rubles and higher.
The designer will accurately calculate all the heat losses of your home, draw up a rational communication scheme, and select the appropriate equipment. The scheme will contain all the necessary solutions to create the necessary thermal comfort and economical fuel consumption. A qualified engineer will be able to provide the best combination of comfort / economy / price.
In terms of underfloor heating in the project, you don’t have to think about how to install underfloor heating: will be shown in detail schemes for laying and connecting pipelines indicating the required geometric dimensions, specification of materials.
If you still work without a project, you should understand a few basic points.
How to lay a warm water floor in the house yourself?
Device
Water heated floor has the following structure:
- contours. Heating of individual zones is provided by separate pipelines through which the coolant circulates. They are located in a layer of concrete or cement-sand mortar about 5 cm thick. In order for thermal energy to be transferred to the room, and not go into the ground or ceiling, a layer of insulation is placed below. The pipe in each of the circuits must be solid, connections are not allowed.
- Collector (comb). All circuits on the floor are connected to one collector. It has two distributor combs: supply and return.
- . Since the temperature of the coolant should not rise above 40ºС (it is often higher in batteries), a mixing unit is located at the collector inlet, which mixes cooled from the return line with the hot liquid from the supply line.
- To ensure the proper circulation of the coolant, a collector is installed pump.
- Control. Automatic or manual regulators are installed on the mixing unit and each of the circuits.
Hydraulic resistance and circuit length
The hydraulic resistance that occurs when the coolant flows through the pipes should not be too high, otherwise standard pumping equipment will not be able to effectively "push through" the liquid. The longer the pipe, the higher the resistance. It is recommended not to exceed the value of 120 m. It is also unprofitable to make the circuit too short, the costs increase unreasonably.
The optimal (economical and efficient) length of the circuit is 80 m.
Different circuits located on the same comb must have similar hydraulic resistance. Otherwise, it will be difficult or even impossible to balance them.
The difference in the length of the pipes of individual circuits should not exceed 20% and exceed 15 m.
Laying schemes
You can lay a warm water floor in a separate circuit in two ways: snake and spiral
When laying snake the pipe is located in series-parallel, like stripes on a vest. The disadvantage of this scheme is the uneven distribution of temperature: where the coolant enters the circuit, it is warm. Closer to the exit, the floor noticeably cools down. The improved double snake partly solves this problem..
When laying spiral (meander) the question of the uneven distribution of heat is not worth it: the supply and return pipes, alternating, are side by side in each turn, mutually balancing the temperature difference. In rooms with large windows, a double snake is used to compensate for heat loss. First, closer to the stained glass window, the first spiral is laid out, which will be warmer due to the fact that the supply is connected to it. Then, without interrupting the circuit, a second meander is laid, which will heat up to a lesser extent. The laying out of pipes in a spiral is more laborious, but allows for higher thermal comfort and is used more often.
Distance between pipes
The step between the pipes is determined by thermal calculation. Reduce the distance to the outer walls, increase further from the cold areas. 15 cm is considered optimal, it is not recommended to place pipes closer than 10 cm. On bends, the bending radius should not be less than 5 diameters.
In practice, for central Russia, the pipe pitch with fully underfloor heating in a house is on average 10-15 cm, when combined with radiators - 15-20.
Pipes
Widespread two options: metal-plastic and polyethylene PE-X pipes. Metal-plastic is more plastic and therefore more convenient when laying out. However, during the pouring of concrete, it will have to be handled with care, unlike polyethylene. There is no significant difference in properties, durability and price between them.
insulation
It is necessary to insulate the heating structure of the floor from below. When choosing a heater, there are two restrictions: it must be hydrophobic(do not absorb moisture) and tough. Excellent results with the use foam glass and extruded polystyrene foam. Also used high density foam plastics PSB-35 and PSB-50. Above the first, it is necessary to reinforce the concrete screed with a metal mesh, the second is desirable.
The minimum thickness of insulation for floors on the ground should be 10 cm, on floors - 50 cm. More is better, fuel will be more economical.
We mount the building structure and lay pipelines: how to lay a warm water floor correctly
- We order a project or draw up a scheme ourselves, determining the location of the contours and the place for the collector. All inlet and outlet pipes, supplies from the main risers should come to it. It needs to be connected to the power supply. The collector can be located in a standard plumbing cabinet.
- Preparing the foundation, if necessary do . We install a heater. In addition to flat boards, polystyrene foam boards are sold with one side on the entire surface protrusions - "navels". Laying pipes between them is much easier than on a flat base. If a cheaper insulation with a flat surface is chosen, it should be additionally closed from above foil or foil-wrapped polyethylene foam. Along the perimeter of the room it is necessary to lay damper tape, more often it is a strip of foamed polyethylene.
- Laying out the contour. How to lay a warm water floor on a flat plate? Will have to fasten. In extruded polystyrene foam with anchor clips. In foam glass with dowels and plastic (not wire) clamps. When mounting on foam, it is convenient to tie the pipes to the reinforcing mesh. We collect the collector.
- At laying concrete floor. Concreting should be completed in one shift so that there are no seams left. The optimal layer of concrete or mortar above the pipes is 35 mm. To avoid cracks, the screed must be divided over the entire height by expansion joints coinciding with the boundaries of the contours. The maximum distance between the seams is 9 m, the largest allowable area of \u200b\u200bthe “solid” section is 40 m2. The seams are cut in the finished concrete or formed when laying the mixture, inserting a damper tape at least 6 mm wide into them. During concrete placement, the pipes must be filled with liquid or compressed air at operating pressure.
- We trim the screed material with high heat transfer: ceramic or stone tiles.
It is possible to turn on the heating (supply a coolant with a temperature above 25ºС) only three weeks after the manufacture of the screed, not earlier.
Now we know how to install underfloor heating. The task as a whole is not very difficult, especially if there is a project. Being careful and observing the basic rules, even a “teapot” can handle it. With a lack of experience to assemble the collector, and even more so the boiler room and control systems, it is better to invite specialists.
