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[Farmer85]

Hey all. Another question. My kitchen is relatively small. Guessing 10x12 floor space inside cabinets with a table in the middle. I have a vent in ceiling but the floor stays cold in the winter. This is because I have a cellar below it. While I've made big changes to the insulation and cellar door it has made a big difference but still not happy with it. My boiler loop goes through my cellar so it would be easy to do something. Should I tear all the insulation out of floor and put in radiant heat, or put in a toe kick heater under the cabinet blowing across the floor? I'm guessing radiant would be my best and most efficient bet. I am concerned once the oven gets turned on and the room gets warmer that my wife might get too hot and melt. Lol. What would you guys do here?

[Jared43758]

I can not tell u which is better, and not sure a kickspace heater will heat your floor. Prolly just the room, I can say is I hve a kick space in my bedroom cause it's a add on and always stays colder.  It works great and is easy to install. Way easier than radiant floor I'm guessing. I ran two tee's off my main loop. 18 inches apart. Normal copper tee 1"X1"X 1/2" feeding the heating and a monoflow or Venturi tee on the return side. It works great

[coolidge]

Insulate the exterior basement walls.

[mlappin]

Insulate the exterior basement walls.

personally I’d do what coolidge suggests, add the radiant heat, then also add a ceiling fan set on low to help circulate the air.

People greatly under estimate how much a ceiling fan properly sized can increase your comfort level. Due to how our house is laid out we have no registers or vents in our bedroom, when it was built in the 1800’s it was the kitchen and they relied on the wood cookstove to heat that room. During the 1900’s till about ’63 it was still the kitchen so no additional heat needed. After remodeling, refilling the walls with insulation and adding fan fold and house wrap to the outside before residing and of course new double pain windows, we have a ceiling fan running on low all winter long set to pull air up and we don’t get cold in that room, matter of fact I have four orchids blooming in our bedroom right now. It does lack in AC during the summer as it’s on the southwest corner of the house and catches full sun most of the day but a box fan set on low and blowing in the door is adequate for now during the summer months.

[slimjim]

I happen to be sitting at my office desk, it's 4 AM and about 0 degrees F outside, I have a leaky outside door with a window cracked open to get rid of the cigar smoke and I happen to be in my boxer shorts!
We installed Ultra Fin radiant heat under this side of the house this summer, it is so nice to have a warm floor for my bare feet, yes it's a lot of work but soooooo worth the extra effort!

[mlappin]

and I happen to be in my boxer shorts!

Well that was a mental image I could have done without right before breakfast. 

[slimjim]

My wife thinks I'm handsome that way, sure wish I could do a selfie, don't you?

[mlappin]

My wife thinks I'm handsome that way, sure wish I could do a selfie, don't you?

Well sure, post it all over the net and might scare ISIS right back to where they came from. 

[atvalaska]

Heat the floor and use this with floor sensor http://www.supplyhouse.com/Tekmar-521-Two-Stage-Heat-Heat-Cool-Programmable-Thermostat-Includes-079-Sensor ....= warm feet and room with out cooking u out .….u can set it on a timer or motion sensor if work at it! Happy wife =happy life !

[Farmer85]

Slim Jim, I looked up the ultra fin. Looks nice. If your joists are on 12" centers can you get away with 1 pass inbetween joists? Looked like the website showed it. Most I've seen run pex closer together. I guess the way the aluminum find spread hear it works good that way,ah?

[slimjim]

Yes on 1pass per bay and I do no more than 250 foot loops, it works so well because you are heating the air in the bay not the wood directly. No mixing valve needed!

[Farmer85]

Cool deal. My 1" pex loop is in the middle of my crawl space. How would you hook this up? I am currently slightly undersized with my circulator so I will need to upgrade. But for now let's talk plumbing. Thanks

[Farmer85]

Edit. I said crawl space. I meant cellar which is the under the kitchen. So this should be very easy to tee into. Just wondering what is your opinion slimjim. Thanks

[slimjim]

Here is a basic drawing to get you started, your pex will be 1/2 inch so feed your loop circ with 3/4 and then reduce down to 1/2 inch after the outgoing isolation flange, be sure to put a purge tee and ball valve on the heat loop return for air evacuation. ( hint ) DO not use single nail clips! no pipe should be in contact with any wood or whenever the heat loop comes on, the pex will expand and make a clicking sound that reverberates throughout the house! it sounds like a bunch of pigmies in the basement with tiny hammers! it will drive the dogs nuts at about 1 AM and your wife will lack sleep. Ask me how I know!

[Farmer85]

What circulator do you recommend for this loop. I'd say we would only be talking less than 100' loop. Also I have a wilo star 32f main circulator. When looking up specs it is very close to taco 007. I was going to use this for my shop in the future but could use it here maybe? Currently I have about a 30* delta t when furnace is running. If water heater is being used it's worse yet. In the back of my stove it does build slight mousture where bottom and back meet. I make sure everyday to shovel this to keep ash from sticking but I'm sure it's from a high delta t. What is a good recommendation here? Thanks