Radiant Heat Basics

Ok, so a lot of investors have done it. We walk into the mechanical room, take one look at the boiler with all its spaghetti pipe and:

1. Call it a Furnace

2. Look closely at all the piping, like we know what we are doing, and nod with a "looks good" to follow

3. Close the door quickly

There are a lot of savvy investors out there, who totally know what they are looking at, but there are an equal amount who just don't know.

I personally worked on a house for a seasoned, Biggerpockets investor that had been sitting as a foreclosure for a couple of years.

Now I don't know about your areas, but my area banks do not care for their foreclosure houses very well. Now he assumed that it would be a couple leaks and it would be up and running, and he budgeted accordingly.

Well two boilers, several pumps, over 20 burst pipes,, and a couple of weeks later, the system was running. The lesson? Radiant is tricky stuff and a good general knowledge can save you a lot of headaches.

So with that.......

This is probably the most basic pic I can give you of a radiant heat idea. the whole premise is that water goes out to the system (Supply) and then comes back (Return). Its really just one big loop.

So what does it all mean?

Lets break it down:

Thermostat

Everyone know what this is. You get cold, you walk over to the little box on the wall and turn that darn thing up, because you lost feeling in your toes 1/2 hour ago. lol

This is what communicates to the mechanical room. It tells everything to come on and turn off.

Control box

These are  the most common type of control box where I am at, but you could have a different brand in your area. They all have the same job. What Job is that you ask? They are the brains of the operation.

Thermostat wires come in the top and put the "call" out, alerting the pumps for that zone and the boiler that there is a need for heat in that area. That area could be one room to a whole house depending how it was constructed.

Pumps 

These are two the most popular in my area as well.

So the thermostat has spoken to the control box and now the control box is talking to the pumps. so the main pump for the boiler itself will come on and any pumps related to the zone that needs heat. Pump sizes and quantities can vary depending on the size of the house and the distance to the zone.

Zone Valves

These are only a few of the zone valves or actuators available on the market, and they all have the same job as well.

In many heat systems zone valves will replace pumps. So when the control box calls the zone valve will electronically open to allow flow through that zone. in theses cases the main boiler pump and maybe an additional loop pump will push that water through the zone needing heat.

These are the general mechanics of the heat system, and I don't want to drown you "heat Talk". How boring would that be?

In the next blog we will go over things like expansion tanks and feeder valves. Then you can begin to see how they all tie together. Before you know it, you will be able to walk into a house with radiant heat and at least have an idea of whats happening in there and know what questions to ask.

Until then, keep moving forward!