Radiant Floor Leak Concrete Slab

A drop in water pressure.

Radiant floor leak concrete slab. 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. 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. 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. 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.

Quite simply concrete floor radiant heat is a system of pex tubes that carry hot water throughout a concrete floor or slab. They are usullally found in places where the tubing was not pulled up during the pour or at the manifold locations. 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. This is about installing hydronic radiant floor heating in a slab floor system.

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. If enough water seeps into the concrete floor it can also cause discoloration. If you can operate the system an infrared camera is helpful in finding the leaks. The system works via pex pipe a small pump a water heater and a thermostat.

This size is adequate for all small to medium size jobs both in residential and commercial projects. The leaks are usually not in the pex encased in concrete. Radiant heating system design or installation mistakes that must be avoided. 1 2 oxygen barrier pex is the most popular size used for radiant floor heating in both thick and thin slabs.

The workers in the photograph at page top where our concrete slab. 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. If you spot cracks in your garage s concrete floor there could be an underground waterline leak. The floors inside your house aren t the only property susceptible to water damage.

A slab leak can also affect your garage flooring.