Hello readers of my blog! Today we will talk about how to properly install a manifold for a heated floor with your own hands. It would seem that the matter is not tricky, but when you are faced with this problem, you have to think about how to do it correctly, what preparation to do, what materials to choose. Thus, I decided that this article would be useful to someone, and I am devoting my efforts to this subject. In it I will answer a number of questions that will arise immediately before How to properly install a manifold for a heated floor with your own hands, and some even after that. This topic is quite broad, because before work, thorough preparation is necessary, but how to do this? And this is a separate topic. You can learn about all this in great detail in the article below. How to properly install a manifold for a heated floor
Traditional radiators, for many years considered the only possible source of heat, are gradually giving way to systems of warm floors and ceilings. Many people experience innovative methods and are very satisfied. However, heated floors can hardly be called an innovation.
They have proven themselves well and become a fairly common heating method.
Such systems can run on electricity or use hot water energy.
According to experts, a water heated floor is considered the most effective and practical to assemble with your own hands, but it is quite possible to assemble it if desired.
Unit #1 - water heating boiler
The boiler selected for installation must have sufficient power to cope with the heating of the coolant during peak operation of the circuits. In addition, it should have a small power reserve.
Approximately, this value should be the total power of all maintained heated floors, increased by 15-20%. In addition, a circulation pump is needed. Most often, it is already included in most boiler models.
An additional device may be needed only if the area of the heated room is more than 120-150 square meters. m. In case of preventive maintenance or repair of the boiler without draining water from the entire system, shut-off valves are installed at the outlet and inlet of the heating device.
Boiler connection
The most effective source of heating is considered to be connecting a heated floor to a gas boiler and for this reason it is better not to consider other types of heating units. This statement is explained by the high cost of electricity and the ability to independently regulate the temperature regime in the system.
After the location of the collector has been determined and its installation has been completed, you need to install the heating device and begin connecting the heated floor to the boiler.
Unit #2 - collector
The collector is a device responsible for distributing hot water through heating circuits, as well as setting up and adjusting heated floors. The device must have a sufficient number of terminals to connect all circuits to them.
The simplest models are equipped only with shut-off valves. They are extremely cheap, but do not provide even a minimal opportunity to customize the system.
Devices with control valves allow you to adjust the water flow for each circuit, which allows you to adjust the heated floor for the most uniform heating of the premises.
The manifold of any model must be equipped with a drain outlet and a special air vent valve. The most convenient to use are devices with servo drives on valves, equipped with pre-mixers that mix the heated water supplied to the system with the cooled water returning and thereby regulate its temperature.
Such a device fully automates the functioning of a heated floor, but its cost is very high.
Manifold with servomotors on valves and pre-mixer. Necessary system adjustments are made automatically
Settings
As a rule, a special balancing table is attached to the diagram, on the basis of which the comb can be adjusted according to two parameters: circuit length and heating load.
The table relates the circuit number and the number of revolutions from the position of the balancing valve - “closed”. Set up the comb like this:
- remove the cap from the valve that serves to protect it;
- close the valve all the way - use a hex key for this;
- determine the number of revolutions for a given circuit;
- turn off the valve to this number;
- The remaining circuits are configured in the same way.
Correct configuration and connection of the collector are necessary for long-term operation and efficient operation of the system.
How can water floors be installed?
Warm water floors can be laid in different ways - by laying and using concreting. Let's take a closer look at each of them.
- Concreting. The pipes through which the coolant circulates are laid as required on the prepared base and filled with concrete screed. The main disadvantages: labor-intensive “wet” work, the heavy weight of the system and the complexity of its dismantling.
- Laying method. Involves laying pipes in a specially assembled deck.
It can consist of plastic modules or wooden blocks with grooves prepared in them for installing pipes. Wooden mounting modules can also be found on sale. The main disadvantage is that the system takes longer to warm up than a concrete one.
What is a “warm floor”?
The “warm floors” system is a densely laid mesh consisting of thin pipes with a diameter of 15-20 mm. They are placed at a distance of 10-30 cm from each other. The system is poured with a concrete screed or covered with a floor covering. The coolant moving through the pipes transfers heat to the floor surface, which spreads throughout the entire space of the room.
The significant area of the heated surface allows for low coolant temperatures - in the range of 30-50°C.
What needs to be done before installation?
Proper installation of a warm water floor requires careful preparatory work. During their course, all the little things must be taken into account, on which the effective functioning of the structure will subsequently depend:
It is best to entrust the design of the future system to specialists, since it is quite difficult to make independent calculations.
It will be necessary to determine the length of the pipe, the pitch of its installation and the power of the heating circuit, if there are several of them, then for each separately. In this case, many nuances and parameters are taken into account. There are special calculation programs that many people use.
However, you need to understand that a flaw in the calculations will lead to a decrease in efficiency or simply the impossibility of functioning of the entire system. Equipment for heated floors must be of high quality, manufactured and purchased from a reliable company that offers good guarantees.
It will be cheaper to pay for a quality product than to subsequently constantly shell out decent sums for expensive and labor-intensive repairs. To minimize the thermal load on the screed and prevent it from cracking, the system should be divided into sections of no more than 40 square meters. m. The base for heated floors must be carefully prepared.
It must be clean and level, differences of more than 5 mm are not allowed. To prevent heat loss, a heat-insulating layer must be spread on the prepared base, with a height of 3 to 15 cm, depending on the operating temperature of the coolant. This could be special heat-insulating materials or mats designed for warm water floors. The latter can be equipped with pipe mounts, so-called bosses, which is very convenient.
A damper tape is laid around the perimeter of the room and between the installation areas, which can compensate for temperature fluctuations of the screed.
Mats with bosses designed for water heated floors are very comfortable. They not only act as a heat insulator, but also secure the pipes in place
When drawing up a laying scheme, you need to avoid a large number of pipe joints, which carry the potential danger of leaks under the floor. It is best to arrange the safest option, where connections are present only at the outlet and inlet of the collector. In this case, the length of the solid pipe should not be more than 90 m, otherwise the temperature of the circulating coolant may drop.
Purpose
The collector unit is an important element of a water heated floor, which is designed to distribute coolant in the heating system. Thanks to the special design, hot and cold liquids are mixed inside this unit. This feature allows you to adjust the temperature of the heated floor and control its operation.
Valtec manifold assembly design for heated floors
The collector unit operates thanks to the circulation of the coolant. The heated liquid enters the heated floor, where it cools and returns back to be heated.
During operation of the device, circulating substances at different temperatures are mixed to achieve optimal characteristics. This process is controlled using several additional elements - various sensors, valves and others.
A manifold group with a pump is the most efficient. The coolant circulates through the water circuit using a forced method.
Connection diagram of the collector unit to the heated floor
This allows you to obtain productive floor-type heating, which is installed in rooms with a large area. To install a heated floor with natural circulation, it is necessary to ensure that there is an optimal slope, which can be quite difficult.
Laying a heated water floor in a screed
Work begins with determining the installation location of the collector, which is most often “hidden” in a special cabinet. It is usually mounted on the wall.
The device should be placed so that the length of pipes from each of the heated rooms is approximately the same. You can bring the collector closer to the largest contours.
The main thing is that it is installed above the level of the heated floor, without venting pipes upward, otherwise there may be problems in the air exhaust system.
The next stage is marking the prepared base, taking into account the division into sectors of 40 square meters. m. Then a thermal insulation layer and damper tape are laid.
Next, the reinforcing mesh is laid on which the pipes will subsequently be attached. If special mats are chosen as thermal insulation, the mesh will not be needed. You can start laying out the pipeline.
It can be done in different ways: snake, spiral, loops, etc. The laying step varies from 10 to 40 cm, and the distance from the wall to the nearest pipe cannot be less than 8 cm.
The pipes are secured to the reinforcing mesh using plastic clamps.
It is important not to pinch the part; it should be in a loose loop, otherwise, under the influence of heat, the pipe will expand and may become deformed in the area of tight pressing. The fastening clamps are installed in 1 m increments. You must work with the pipe very carefully.
Most often it is supplied in the form of a coil. Pulling it out from there one by one is unacceptable. You should gradually, as it is laid, unwind the pipe, placing and securing the element on the floor.
There are several options for laying pipes for heated floors. The most common:
- spiral,
- snake,
- loops,
- double snail
Rotations of the part are performed very carefully, observing the minimum bend radius requirements. Typically it is about five pipe diameters. If you squeeze the product, a whitish crease area will form.
It indicates a sharp stretching of the fragment and loss of its strength characteristics, which leads to an increased risk of pipe rupture. It is not recommended to install a part with such a defect in a heated floor system. The damaged fragment must be replaced, which leads to the appearance of unnecessary joints in the pipeline, and this is also undesirable.
The laid pipes must be connected to the collector. For this purpose, special compression fittings or Eurocone systems are used.
The beginning of the pipe of each heating circuit is connected to the supply outlet of the manifold, thus the number of outlets and circuits must match. The end of the pipeline is connected to the return manifold. If the pipe is laid near an expansion joint, a corrugated tube must be put on it.
Upon completion of installation, the system must be checked.
To do this, water is poured into the pipeline and a pressure of 5-6 bar is applied throughout the day. After which a careful inspection is carried out to identify possible expansions on the pipes or leaks. More details in the video:
If the test run was successful, proceed to pouring the screed.
It should only be carried out with pipes filled with water and operating pressure in them. After pouring, the screed will dry completely no earlier than after 28 days. After this time, you can begin work on installing the flooring.
Before you start pouring the screed, the pipes are attached to the reinforcing mesh using special plastic clamps that prevent the elements from moving
There are some nuances regarding the formation of screeds over water-heated floors. They depend on the type of flooring that will be laid on top of it. If you plan to install tiles, the screed should be 3-5 cm high or the distribution of pipes should have intervals of about 10-15 cm.
Otherwise, according to the principle of heat distribution, there is a danger of the appearance of a “thermal zebra”, which can be clearly felt by the foot. But under laminate or linoleum it is better to lay a thinner screed. In this case, in order to strengthen the structure, another reinforcing mesh is laid on top of the heated floor, which will also reduce the thermal path to the surface of the coating.
You can find many recommendations on how to make warm water floors yourself.
However, you need to clearly understand that this is a complex and responsible undertaking. A pipeline laid in a screed is practically beyond repair, and if installation or design errors are discovered at this stage, it will be extremely difficult to correct them. That is why the work should be approached very responsibly, then the new heated floor will only delight you with its long and effective operation.
How to properly assemble a manifold for a heated floor
When the installation of water floor heating circuits is successfully completed, before pouring the screed, it is necessary to connect the underfloor heating pipes to the collector. This is done in order to check the tightness of the circuits and identify manufacturing defects or possible pipe defects that may arise during the installation process.
The operation of testing the pipelines must be carried out, otherwise in the event of an accident after starting the heating, the floor covering will have to be destroyed.
After the screed has been completed and the solution has hardened, it is connected to the main pipelines and the system is put into operation. How to properly assemble a manifold for a heated floor and combine it with a mixing unit will be discussed in this material.
Connection rules
In most cases, a ready-made manifold is purchased, in which all elements are selected according to technical characteristics. If you have experience in assembling such structures, you can assemble the device yourself. How to properly connect a heated floor, take into account the parameters of the overall heating system and the technical properties of the combs? To do this, you must follow certain installation rules.
Attention
First, a general connection diagram is drawn up, which indicates the dimensions of the pipes, where they are laid and connections to the heating. The throughput capacity of each comb must be calculated, their diameter and material of manufacture must be selected. The most commonly used products are stainless steel or copper.
The location of the device is selected based on the following rules:
- The highways should be approximately equal in length.
- The section of the wall where the manifold cabinet for heated floors will be installed must have free access. Furniture or other parts of the interior do not interfere with a full inspection of the device or carrying out preventive or repair work.
- The connection point of the device must be higher than other elements of the system.
A security system must be installed. It consists of an air valve and a bypass. When the temperature of water rises sharply, it expands. The air valve releases excess air, normalizing the pressure in the pipes. A bypass is necessary to quickly shut off water in case of emergency situations.
Once the installation of the collector is complete, the underfloor heating pipelines are connected to it. The quality of the joints, their tightness and reliability must be checked. The system is started before the main covering is installed. By changing the temperature conditions using the control device, the heating quality of each line is checked, and the pipes are inspected for leaks. After this, you can begin installing the flooring.
The role of the collector in underfloor heating systems
The collector is an element that underfloor heating cannot do without; all pipelines from the heating circuits are connected to it. Since the temperature of the coolant supplied to the network from the boiler room is too high for the operation of heated floors, a mixing unit always operates together with the collector, ensuring the water temperature is within 40-45 ºС.
Mixing units and manifolds for heated floors perform the task of preparing the coolant at the required temperature and supplying it to all circuits.
To understand how the entire assembly works, let’s look at the collector device in more detail. It consists of two horizontal tubes connected to the supply and return lines. The manifold body and parts are made of the following materials:
On the supply tube there are branches with thermostatic valves (actuators), and on the return there are branches with flow sensors. There are plastic caps on top of the thermostats for manual adjustment; twisting them leads to pressing on the rod and blocking the flow. Flow meters or flow sensors located on the return pipe of the manifold for a warm water floor serve to visually monitor the amount of water flowing and perform hydraulic balancing of the system.
The cheapest versions of collectors may not have flow sensors.
In order to control pressure and temperature, a thermometer with a pressure gauge is installed on the manifold, and a special valve is installed to bleed air. The kit also includes plugs, bends, taps and brackets for attaching the unit to the wall or to the metal slats of the cabinet. Many suppliers practice a complete set of the entire assembly, where there is a distribution manifold assembled with a pump and a two-way or three-way valve.
Positive and negative aspects of the collector circuit
When planning the installation of heating with collector wiring, you should carefully study the technical side of the issue and determine all the positive and negative qualities of this system. Taking these qualities into account when building a house, you will be able to achieve its greatest energy efficiency.
Positive qualities of the collector system:
- direct control of each individual radiator of the system;
- a differentiated approach to heat distribution in each room, which makes it possible to effectively maintain the required temperature throughout the house, while saving money;
- ease of operation, the ability to access each component of the system without interfering with the operation of the others;
- aesthetic component, which consists in the possibility of installing the pipeline and auxiliary components of the system in the wall or floor;
- high payback associated with efficient consumption of energy resources.
Negative qualities: high costs at the initial stage of design and installation associated with the need to use pipes and additional components;
As you can see, there are not many disadvantages, they are not significant in comparison with the advantages of the system. Therefore, a collector heating system is rightfully considered the best solution today.
Operating principle
The unit works like this: the coolant circulates through all underfloor heating circuits, driven by a pump.
The flow rate in each circuit is controlled by a valve manually or automatically, by a capillary or servo drive. When the temperature in the supply or return pipeline (depending on the circuit) drops below the set value, a two- or three-way valve begins to mix hot water from the system, and the coolant from the return flows into the general network. The figure shows a diagram of the operation of a manifold with an attached water temperature sensor and a two-way valve:
There are several operating schemes for the mixing unit, they use different parts, but its task remains the same: to maintain the required temperature in the underfloor heating system and control the coolant flow in the supply branches.
Mixing valves
When connecting the manifold, two types of mixing valves are used: two-way and three-way. They are designed for mixing liquids: hot, which comes from the boiler, and cooled, respectively, from the heating circuit. They are controlled manually or automatically - requiring additional installation of a servo drive or control device.
Three-way ones are used, as a rule, for collectors intended for heating large rooms with an area of more than 200 square meters. m. Such schemes also include weather-dependent sensors, which are programmed to determine the required floor temperature based on external conditions.
Two-way ones are used for rooms with a smaller area - less than 200 m2. In such a scheme, the floor temperature is controlled by a valve. If necessary, he himself adds hot liquid coming from the boiler or, conversely, water from processing. If the collector is configured correctly, overheating of the floor is completely eliminated. Two-way valve circuits provide smooth and stable adjustment.
There are many other collector schemes and installation types.
Recommendations for manifold assembly
It is not difficult to assemble the underfloor heating manifold, supplied as a complete set.
The tubes for the supply and return coolant are already equipped with valves and flow sensors; they only need to be twisted together if the manifold included is divided into sections of 2 or 3 branches. Then, for the convenience of further assembly, it is better to fix the tubes on standard brackets, then the distributor will be a single unit. Then plugs, connection elements, shut-off valves and control devices are installed.
The delivery set of each product includes instructions, with its help you should assemble and install the underfloor heating manifold.
The next step is to attach the collector to the wall, and after that you can install the circulation pump and valve.
There is no point in doing this in reverse order; then it will be inconvenient to attach the entire assembly. The pump and valve with a thermal head or servo drive are mounted in accordance with the selected diagram, after which the main heating pipes coming from the boiler are connected to them, and pipes from the heating circuits are connected to the outlets. There are situations when the distributor is installed not in the boiler room, but in a corridor or other room, then for installation it is better to use a decorative cabinet for the manifold.
Since the cost of a factory-made manifold is quite high, such a unit can be made independently. True, you will still have to purchase a pump and valve for the mixing part, as well as shut-off valves. The most popular way to assemble a homemade manifold is to solder it from polypropylene pipes and fittings.
This will require sections of PPR pipe with a diameter of 25 or 32 mm, tees and bends of the same size and valves. The number of fittings and valves depends on the number of heating circuits. Tools you will need are a soldering iron for polypropylene pipes with nozzles, scissors and a tape measure.
Before making a polypropylene manifold, you need to measure and cut sections of the pipe so that after connecting the tees are as close to each other as possible, otherwise the assembly will not look aesthetically pleasing.
Then taps and transitions are welded to the tees, and the remaining fittings for connection to the pump are welded to the resulting manifold.
It should be noted that a homemade manifold for heated floors, made with your own hands, will have some disadvantages.
For example, there are no thermostatic valves on the branches in the supply line, and there are no flow sensors on the return line. In their absence, the system will have to be adjusted manually, and this does not always give good results. Of course, all these elements can be installed and connected separately, but then the labor costs will be such that it is easier to purchase a finished product made of plastic, whose cost is quite affordable.
Despite the apparent complexity of the mixing and distribution unit, assembling it is not that difficult. The product usually comes with detailed instructions and should be followed. It is more difficult to make a distributor with your own hands, but this is always advisable, since you still need to buy components, and there will also be difficulties in setting up the manifold.
DIY collector
Warm floors have long been a sign of high-standard rooms.
Their use is due to the high quality of heating - the room is heated throughout the entire volume due to natural convection, since the entire floor area serves as a heater for the air in the room.
The floor itself is heated by an electric, film or good old water heater - a hot water boiler.
Function performed
A residential building or apartment has several rooms, and in each of them a thermal circuit is laid in the floor.
It is connected to the coolant main through an input-output unit in the form of two pipes.
The need for thermal energy for each circuit is usually different: the temperature in different rooms may differ. On the other hand, the areas of the rooms are not the same, which means the volume of coolant for each room is also different.
Thus, a distributor with regulator functions must be installed between the boiler and the heating circuits. Such a device is called a collector. In terms of its functionality, it is a mixing unit. Its task is to ensure the supply of water to the circuits.
Specialist's note: the inlet temperature from the boiler can reach 80 degrees, and for a heated floor circuit, according to the standards, the water temperature should not exceed 40 degrees.
You can achieve the required value, i.e. reduce it to 40C, by mixing hot water with cooled return water.
Typically, the collector pipe has connecting nodes - according to the number of thermal circuits.
In total, the collector contains two pipes:
Hot water from the boiler is added to the mixer by turning on a thermostatic valve, which is placed in the path of water supply to the mixer. When the temperature in the mixer drops below the permissible level (we remember - this is 40°C), the valve supplies a portion of hot water.
Please note: a thermostat is installed at each outlet of the mixer comb to limit the volume of hot water for each heated floor circuit.
This group of bimetallic valves changes the flow area, as well as the volume of water passed through.
This allows you to set the temperature as desired. Flow sensors are installed at the return inlets, and the return comb is also equipped with an air vent. The coolant is pumped through the system using a water pump, which creates the necessary pressure in the line.
A complete set of manifold parts also contains various plumbing fittings. In the set of devices for warm water floors, the collector is perhaps the most important of them, as it provides:
Homemade designs
The collector has a significant drawback - high cost.
Therefore, many “homemade” people assemble various options for collectors with their own hands, depending on their wallet and the availability of components.
There are two options for this path:
The 3-loop collector circuit can be implemented as follows:
First, you should assemble the collector pipes - return and coolant supplying the heating circuits. To do this, use one comb for 3 channels or 3 single-loop units for each manifold. The return manifold is equipped with a flow sensor or flow meter and a counter-mounted connection unit for return supply hoses along each loop.
Single-loop manifolds are connected by threaded elements into a comb. Each coolant loop contains a heat sensor with an actuator and a connection point for the power line of the thermal circuit. Air vents are connected to one end of the collectors, and at the other, a coolant pump is connected to the collector pipes, and in addition a thermostatic valve or servo drive is connected to this point, which from time to time replenishes the mixer with hot water. The collector assembly is attached to the wall, checked for functionality and connected to the thermal circuits. After this, final installation and configuration of the entire system is carried out.
Here is the simplest working version of a manifold for heated floors, available to a wide range of DIYers. The capabilities of real collectors are often expanded by connecting more complex control and metering systems.
For example, they connect heat meters, additional temperature meters and much more, no matter what - that’s why homemade inventors exist, to “assemble something yourself.”
If a homemade manifold is soldered from polypropylene pipes, then you need to replenish your arsenal of tools with a special soldering iron for welding parts made of this polymer.
When assembled by welding, the size of each single-loop unit increases due to the seams, and if there are more than 3 thermal circuits, then the entire collector becomes bulky and its installation becomes problematic. Otherwise, the design of the plastic manifold and its settings are no different from those described earlier.
Well, now it's time to finish the article. All the material I wanted to share has been reviewed. I hope it will be useful to you, and you will use it if you need to install a manifold for a heated floor with your own hands. Improve your own practical skills and gain new knowledge, as they say: “It’s never too late to learn!” That's all, thank you for your attention, successful and easy repair!
Feed and return manifold comb device
Combs are one of the main elements of the collector circuit; their main function is to distribute the coolant flow along the heating circuits. The element has a different design for lines of connected radiators and heated floors, the maximum number of involved circuits per collector does not exceed 12.
In relation to the diameters of the outlet fittings, the comb has a large cross-section (1.1 1/2 inches versus 3/4) and is connected to the main line through an end connection with elements of plumbing fittings. Typically, the pipeline is connected to the outlet fittings using compression fittings (Eurocones) - this method can be used to connect pipes made of cross-linked and heat-resistant polyethylene, metal-plastic, most often used in manifold heating systems. Combs are made of stainless steel, brass, plastic, some modifications are assembled from individual links.
