What's new
By:
Filters

In floor heat vs Radiant tube heat

Baconator

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 1, 2020
Member Number
1740
Messages
314
Title says it all. Getting ready to pour the pad inside my shop, radiant infloor has been the plan, however Ive never been a huge fan of working on warm floors. Maybe I run warm but my shop is usually kept around 60 and thats plenty warm for me.
I worked in a friends shop the last couple days that has infloor and my feet were sweating all day, which has me rethinking it, he also keeps his shop at 70, so a bit warmer than I prefer.
It would simplify things a bit and reduce costs by a huge amount to not go infloor as well.

How do the overhead radiant heaters work? It will be around 20' above the floor.
 
In floor and just keep it on the cool side.

IMO there is nothing more comfortable than a space heated, or warmed in your case, with in floor radiant.
 
One other consideration, right now I kick up the heat in my shop whenever Im out there working, keep it at 45 and bump it up to 55-60 when Im out there.
I know with infloor you need to keep it at a constant temp, so Id probably keep it around 55 or so.
Do the overhead tubes react any better to demand? I think they do from my limited experience.
My shop days in the winter are usually not very predictable, if I finish a job early in the day Ill head over to the shop to get some work in, or if I break something Ill head out there to get it fixed.
 
I had a shop with a tube heater and it'd warm the whole place (probably 40x40) in a half hour or less. The temperature wasn't maintained in there, so if it was 20 outside it was 20 inside. My plan has been to get one of those again for my new shop and just turn it on when I go out and it'll be as hot as you want in no time.
 
[486 said:
;n192618]
fuckin' hate them, got nothing but at work and while they work, if the doors are open a lot they'll cook you alive while trying to maintain the air temp
Click to expand...

This is my biggest concern with them, at first its nice but that gets old quick. Seems like all of the county shops I visit have them, I figure with the amount of door opening and closing in floor would make more sense
 
Do the in floor heat, you can't add it later but you can always turn it off or turn it down.

My plan has always been that if I were doing a new shop, it would get in floor heat and some sort of natural gas furnace/heater as well (and maybe even an AC unit lol). Keep the floor just warm enough to be comfortable on the feet and above freezing in the garage and then use the natural gas heater to bring it up to temp when actually out working.
 
Baconator said:
One other consideration, right now I kick up the heat in my shop whenever Im out there working, keep it at 45 and bump it up to 55-60 when Im out there.
I know with infloor you need to keep it at a constant temp, so Id probably keep it around 55 or so.
Do the overhead tubes react any better to demand? I think they do from my limited experience.
My shop days in the winter are usually not very predictable, if I finish a job early in the day Ill head over to the shop to get some work in, or if I break something Ill head out there to get it fixed.
Click to expand...

What's the reason for that? Is there possibility of the slab cracking if it's heated too quickly?
 
I did in floor radiant heat in my my 40x40 does the job but drinks the gas. I didn't insulate the perimeter like I found out later I should have. Drinks gas to keep it at 50 degrees...may add a tube heater to make it more me friendly...temperature wise.

J
 
Slammed&cammed said:
I did in floor radiant heat in my my 40x40 does the job but drinks the gas. I didn't insulate the perimeter like I found out later I should have. Drinks gas to keep it at 50 degrees...may add a tube heater to make it more me friendly...temperature wise.

J
Click to expand...

yeah insulation is key, directing the warm slab to heat up into the air space instead of trying to warm the earth makes a big difference.
 
Provience said:
yeah insulation is key, directing the warm slab to heat up into the air space instead of trying to warm the earth makes a big difference.
Click to expand...

in MI you only need r-5 under slab per code. I can't see it doing that much to keep heat going up instead of down. I put r-5 under my pads(except the shop is forced air with heat exchanger for outdoor boiler water) but used reflective insulation instead of regular old foam sheets. Seems to work well, but i have yet to use the snow melts under my approaches.
 
Sterlingfire said:
in MI you only need r-5 under slab per code. I can't see it doing that much to keep heat going up instead of down. I put r-5 under my pads(except the shop is forced air with heat exchanger for outdoor boiler water) but used reflective insulation instead of regular old foam sheets. Seems to work well, but i have yet to use the snow melts under my approaches.
Click to expand...

in theory it doesn't need to be a huge amount, but it does need to exist. otherwise the 40-50* earth will do a damned good job of sucking the heat out.
 
Provience said:
in theory it doesn't need to be a huge amount, but it does need to exist. otherwise the 40-50* earth will do a damned good job of sucking the heat out.
Click to expand...

True.

In the end i wish i did in floor in the shop, but it really could go either way. I can't stand sweat in my boots, and hate laying on anything too warm. If it's too cold under a vehicle, I'll get my super quiet salamander out and blow it under there for a couple minutes.
 
I used to work in a wood shop that had the radiant floor heat and the floor was probably 100 degrees when the heat was on. Feet would sweat. Tore up sneakers in about 3-4 months if you had sneakers that had a two (or more) part sole. That was a huge uninsulated block building. I think the floor would need to put out a lot of heat in order to keep things stable.

My shop has in floor radiant. Thermostat set at 55. Milwaukee IR thermometer reads a bit low (can't calibrate) says 47 at thermostat, 55 at floor, So I'd guess the floor is about 63. It is NOT hot. It's a newish 30x32 insulated pole barn with 12' ceiling. Now, set at 55, If you do 'anything', it's comfortable. Walk around, use air tools that fire up the compressor, use torches, use grinders and welder. It's 70 in there at the end of the day.

Mine is fired by outdoor wood boiler. The house, pre shop, used about 20 face cord for the year. With the shop, we are at about 30, so there's that.

Also, If I want it to be warm in there and I bump the heat up on Friday night to say 65. It'll be 65 by noon Saturday even if it's 20 outside. It looks like I might have to do some painting in there this winter. I'll bump it up to 70 and be fine. I like that there's no forced air blowing dust around and no ignitors or gas leaks to turn my shop into an explosion.

.
 
Last edited:
Slammed&cammed said:
I did in floor radiant heat in my my 40x40 does the job but drinks the gas. I didn't insulate the perimeter like I found out later I should have. Drinks gas to keep it at 50 degrees...may add a tube heater to make it more me friendly...temperature wise.
Click to expand...

dig out the perimeter and put insulation in after the fact
3" of EPS, from wherever your wall insulation ends to 2' down below grade will do wonders
use cement board like you'd back tile with to keep the critters from tearing it up
 
All of my experiences with in slab heat are positive. My experience with overhead radiant is mostly negative long run. If you're cold adn want to be warm fast, they're nice. The directional aspect can hot spot you, and eventually you're in your fawking underwear. Slab for me. Hooking one up hopefully this weekend.
 
jeepyj said:
I used to work in a wood shop that had the radiant floor heat and the floor was probably 100 degrees when the heat was on. Feet would sweat. Tore up sneakers in about 3-4 months if you had sneakers that had a two (or more) part sole. That was a huge uninsulated block building. I think the floor would need to put out a lot of heat in order to keep things stable.

My shop has in floor radiant. Thermostat set at 55. Milwaukee IR thermometer reads a bit low (can't calibrate) says 47 at thermostat, 55 at floor, So I'd guess the floor is about 63. It is NOT hot. It's a newish 30x32 insulated pole barn with 12' ceiling. Now, set at 55, If you do 'anything', it's comfortable. Walk around, use air tools that fire up the compressor, use torches, use grinders and welder. It's 70 in there at the end of the day.

Mine is fired by outdoor wood boiler. The house, pre shop, used about 20 face cord for the year. With the shop, we are at about 30, so there's that.

Also, If I want it to be warm in there and I bump the heat up on Friday night to say 65. It'll be 65 by noon Saturday even if it's 20 outside. It looks like I might have to do some paining in there this winter. I'll bump it up to 70 and be fine. I like that there's no forced air blowing dust around and no ignitors or gas leaks to turn my shop into an explosion.

.
Click to expand...

That is the one thing i hate about my forced air, it blows shit around. Gotta be in the right spot to mig weld, and grinding ends putting shit everywhere...
 
Slammed&cammed said:
I did in floor radiant heat in my my 40x40 does the job but drinks the gas. I didn't insulate the perimeter like I found out later I should have. Drinks gas to keep it at 50 degrees...may add a tube heater to make it more me friendly...temperature wise.

J
Click to expand...

Same size garage and same results. I found that my system is good for 20*-25* over outdoor ambient temperature before it starts running constantly to keep up. If I have to open a garage door to pull a vehicle in/out while its really cold out, the system will run forever trying to catch back up. Every year I tell myself I'm going to look into a supplemental system to add in addition to the floor heat, but never end up doing it.

And yes, you have to leave the thermostat set at all times to keep the slab at temperature. That reminds me, I need to fire mine up here soon before it gets too cold out.
 
Years back I was wiring a shop that had in floor heating installed. They ran it out to the apron out front as well so they didnt have snow/ice build up. Just make sure you dont make the same mistake they did and make sure the apron is sloped away from the shop and not a huge level slab. It worked great melting the snow but the water would pool up and run underneath the door.
 
Radiant floor is sweet but every time I rolled under a crane to service it felt like nap time. Thought about it for the house but it didn't make sense. I might go days without spending much time in there. Went with a tube. Keep the thermostat at 40, walk out and crank it to 65. 15 minutes later it's t shirt time in a 24x30x12h.
Heat.jpg
 
I've had infloor heat before, I really liked it and it make comfortable to work on. The biggest problem I see is you have to keep it at a set temperature because it take a lot of time to warm up a building, but there are many variables in how long it takes.
My new shop that I'm finishing up now I put the tubing in the concrete along with 2" of foam insulation under the concrete and 2" of foam on the outside of the footings. I also put a ceiling hung furnace in, I figure I'll keep the floor at 50* and then turn the ceiling unit to bring it up to 60*.
My other barn is a typical pole barn, no footings, no insulation in the floor, in the middle of winter the floor gets down to less than 40* (I've checked it with a inferred gun) which just sucks the heat out and sucks to stand on.
I would definitely recommend infloor heat if you're in the rustbelt.
 
Baconator said:
Title says it all. Getting ready to pour the pad inside my shop, radiant infloor has been the plan, however Ive never been a huge fan of working on warm floors. Maybe I run warm but my shop is usually kept around 60 and thats plenty warm for me.
I worked in a friends shop the last couple days that has infloor and my feet were sweating all day, which has me rethinking it, he also keeps his shop at 70, so a bit warmer than I prefer.
It would simplify things a bit and reduce costs by a huge amount to not go infloor as well.

How do the overhead radiant heaters work? It will be around 20' above the floor.
Click to expand...

"reduce costs by a huge amount" Really? How much? O2 barrier pex is not that expensive and you can't go back and put it in later.

High bay tube heaters are not that cheap. Also you get hot spots and shadows in the heat. Think of them as a light source, since they kind of are. If you can't see them, they won't warm you up unless the air is warm. If you can see them when the air is warm they overheat you. Have overhead radiant at work and it takes a lot of them to get a decent distribution of heat.

This is all trivial to me because I'm happy with any kind of heat source at home, but when I pour the slab for my shop there is no question that it's getting r20 worth of foam under the slab with several zones of o2 barrier pex. Pex is too cheap to even be having this discussion.
 
Baconator said:
Title says it all. Getting ready to pour the pad inside my shop, radiant infloor has been the plan, however Ive never been a huge fan of working on warm floors.
Click to expand...
dunno, sure beats the frozen feet that you get around here unless you're moving around
got a heated doormat in front of the lathe because otherwise I'd probably lose toes, it was a hundred bucks and electric heat is expensive heat
much rather have the ability to heat with a boiler, then you can easily choose whatever heat source happens to be cheap at the time.
Around here I'd use propane for base load heating to 35 degrees, then wood to keep it "warm", and if NG ever came around, or I found/made a waste oil burner setup it's dirt simple to switch.
 
arse_sidewards said:
Wood stove

Burn trash and scraps.

/thread

:flipoff2:
Click to expand...

I will have some form of wood heat for my shop build, but it's not the perfect answer. For one, my home insurance policy specifically says that unless you have prior approval, you can't have wood heat in a garage on your property or you policy will be voided for everything including the house, even if it's not attached to the house. It's odd because they are pretty lenient on wood heat in the house. I think a lot of fires start from burning ??? in a garage stove.
Also, it takes a while to get a garage warmed up with wood. My plan is to have it available so that I get it cranking friday morning before work and keep it hot all weekend in the winter, but I'll have propane heat too to keep it above freezing all the time.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Back Refresh