Radiant Floor Leak Concrete Slab

The leaks are usually not in the pex encased in concrete.

Radiant floor leak concrete slab.

Radiant heating system design or installation mistakes that must be avoided. For concrete floor radiant heating systems the warm water tubing or electric heating elements can either be embedded within the slab on grade anywhere from the bottom of the slab to within 2 inches of the surface depending on the design and installation technique or fastened to the top of a concrete subfloor and then covered with an overlay. Many homes today in various parts of the country are built with concrete and in floor radiant heating in concrete slabs and homes dating back to the 1950s as. Pipe leaks within concrete i e slab leaks are identifiable with a thermal imaging camera but due to a variety of influential factors they aren t always identifiable unless you know what to look for and have the right tools.

This is about installing hydronic radiant floor heating in a slab floor system. The workers in the photograph at page top where our concrete slab. 5 8 barrier pex can be used for larger projects where high btu load is present due to lack of proper insulation larger than normal slab thickness or special project considerations. 1 2 oxygen barrier pex is the most popular size used for radiant floor heating in both thick and thin slabs.

A slab leak can be difficult for the average person to detect until the home begins to exhibit signs according to angie s list those signs may include increased water bills the sound of water running the loss of water pressure damp baseboards or wet carpets and floors. If you spot cracks in your garage s concrete floor there could be an underground waterline leak. A drop in water pressure. What causes leaks in tubing or piping used for radiant heat in floor slabs and what repair options make sense when the radiant heat system is leaking.

The system works via pex pipe a small pump a water heater and a thermostat. While it was done as a new house was being built in my last house i poured a concrete floor on top of a wood framed floor system and could have put radiant heat in that as well. If you can operate the system an infrared camera is helpful in finding the leaks. If enough water seeps into the concrete floor it can also cause discoloration.

This series article discusses the suitability of various tubing materials for radiant heated concrete floor slabs and choices of heat conducting fluids for radiant floors. A slab leak can also affect your garage flooring. Radiant heat can be an electrical heating element embedded into a very thin concrete overlay then tiled carpeted or have wood flooring installed over it. 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.

They are usullally found in places where the tubing was not pulled up during the pour or at the manifold locations.