Under floor heating in the workshop

[Quattromike]

Has anyone had experience of putting underfloor heating in an Industrial workshop? If you have a 200 mm concrete slab with heavy machinery sitting on what is used for insulation underneath and how far into the slab do the pipes sit?

 

[CPS]

Big in the states I believe, used to see it alot on Heavy equipment forum.

 

[fred]

what we do on new builds is. 100mm celtox, heating pipes stapled to it. 65mm screen on top. You could do 100mm screed to be sure ?

 

[Shovelhands]

If the floor is to be jacked on or have serious weight, that would concern me with regards to simply screeding a floor like a house. If I was doing it for myself, I’d want a decent reinforced concrete slab on top of the insulation. But the insulation needs to also be on a concrete slab, so your effectively concreting the job twice! Can’t see how else you could do it? Unless the insulation could be bedded down on sand? Never seen that done though.

 

[fred]

Could just thicken up the slab and put mesh in it, it will end up being a bigger radiator!

 

[Smiffy]

Could just thicken up the slab and put mesh in it, it will end up being a bigger radiator!

Have to have something under the spab or you will loose heat to the ground but i believe there are foil sheets available to reflect the heat up into the slab then simply cable tie the pipework to the reinforcing mesh and dont put normal conectors in the slab otherwise when the spab expands with heat it will push on the release tab of the connector and the joint will become loose with no way to fix it without digging it out

 

[pettsy]

The thicker the insulation underneath the pipework the better. Haven’t done an ufh system for a while now. It might be worth speaking to John guest/hep2o design departments and seeing if they have done workshops before?

 

[fred]

Have to have something under the spab or you will loose heat to the ground but i believe there are foil sheets available to reflect the heat up into the slab then simply cable tie the pipework to the reinforcing mesh and dont put normal conectors in the slab otherwise when the spab expands with heat it will push on the release tab of the connector and the joint will become loose with no way to fix it without digging it out

thats what the celotex does mate.

 

[Smiffy]

thats what the celotex does mate.

Sorry from you previous post i thought you meant just use a thicker pad with no insulation

 

[Quattromike]

Would kingspan/cellotex at 100 thick compress with a n 8" slab on top and forklift driving about on top?

 

[fred]

i wouldnt think so. Here is the tech spec, it mentions 175kPA whatever the hell that is.

https://www.celotex.co.uk/assets/fi5000_productdatasheet_nov17.pdf

 

[J C Builders]

I would be looking at polystyrene as the insulation

 

[Quattromike]

I'd have thought polystyrene would compress more than kingspan insulation? You wouldn't want big cracks in the new floor

 

[J C Builders]

That’s why you need lots of steel reinforcing, what ever insulation you use you’ll need steel reinforced concrete on top. Be cheaper to buy heated socks and jumpers. https://www.blazewear.com/our-gear?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI7t3r6byJ3wIVYbvtCh1Jrw83EAAYASAAEgIk-fD_BwE

 

[Quattromike]

Been working in a building this week that has underfloor heating, it's only set at 12 degrees but it's very pleasant, the doors are all open with the machines being inside, you don't realise it's cosy until you go outdoors to the - 2 and you find it's chilly as f*#k. It's more a radiant heat in the whole area.

 

[V8Druid]

i wouldnt think so. Here is the tech spec, it mentions 175kPA whatever the hell that is.

https://www.celotex.co.uk/assets/fi5000_productdatasheet_nov17.pdf

Kilopascals Fred ..... 1Kpa = 0.145038 PSI ......
for an approximation divide the Kpa figure by 6.895 to give you a PSI figure ....
so 175Kpa = 25.38 PSI
so 3,654.6 pounds per sq ft or 1,658.2 kg per sq ft UDL (uniformly distributed load) ...... a lot !! ... 53 odd tonnes over an 8' x 4' area
Point loading'd be very different though

 

[V8Druid]

Been working in a building this week that has underfloor heating, it's only set at 12 degrees but it's very pleasant, the doors are all open with the machines being inside, you don't realise it's cosy until you go outdoors to the - 2 and you find it's chilly as f*#k. It's more a radiant heat in the whole area.

sounds very nice ... aside from the running costs ..... especially when the bloody builders leave the doors open all day

 

[Quattromike]

Kilopascals Fred ..... 1Kpa = 0.145038 PSI ......
for an approximation divide the Kpa figure by 6.895 to give you a PSI figure ....
so 175Kpa = 25.38 PSI
so 3,654.6 pounds per sq ft or 1,658.2 kg per sq ft UDL (uniformly distributed load) ...... a lot !! ... 53 odd tonnes over an 8' x 4' area
Point loading'd be very different though

I spose the slab would act like a load mat and spread the weight over a much greater area.

 

[pettsy]

Ufh runs at a lower temp than radiators so is cheaper to run. If I’d got a workshop with some ground around it I would look at a ground source heat pump setup.

 

[V8Druid]

I spose the slab would act like a load mat and spread the weight over a much greater area.

absolutely Mike ... dare say there's a formula for working out the load distribution for various differing thicknesses / re-enforcement densities / areas / point loadings, for every eventuality ..... and materials
'swhat structural engineers get paid inordinate amounts of money to 'look up' in their tables books ... I have one for steel beams, etc. for UDL, single point loading between two points, UDL loading for cantilevers, point loading for cantilevers, etc., etc.. ...... but ...... some one, somewhere had to formulate them in the first place