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Minimac · 10-14-12, 02:23 PM

It's been my experience that there are much better ways to do this-especially in an older home - than using Pex. Pex itself is cheap but by the time your done with a mixing valve, clips, pans, manifolds, etc., it isn't inexpensive. IMHO, a much better way is to run fin tube(without enclosures) in the space between the floor joists. Even if you only do every other joist, you'll end up with a well heated floor. I divert a line off of a return before it goes back to the boiler and hit 4 or 5 joist spaces, then back to the boiler return line for that loop.
You're pulling heat from the return that would normally just dump back to the boiler. Your heating line should be leaving the boiler @ somewhere between 180*-190* and even if it's returning at 140*, that's better than you can do with Pex.
I don't mean to offend anyone,especially in my first post here, but to me, Pex is glorified garden hose.

10-14-12, 02:23 PM	#5
Minimac Lurking Renovator Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Upstate NY Posts: 29 Thanks: 7 Thanked 2 Times in 1 Post	It's been my experience that there are much better ways to do this-especially in an older home - than using Pex. Pex itself is cheap but by the time your done with a mixing valve, clips, pans, manifolds, etc., it isn't inexpensive. IMHO, a much better way is to run fin tube(without enclosures) in the space between the floor joists. Even if you only do every other joist, you'll end up with a well heated floor. I divert a line off of a return before it goes back to the boiler and hit 4 or 5 joist spaces, then back to the boiler return line for that loop. You're pulling heat from the return that would normally just dump back to the boiler. Your heating line should be leaving the boiler @ somewhere between 180-190 and even if it's returning at 140*, that's better than you can do with Pex. I don't mean to offend anyone,especially in my first post here, but to me, Pex is glorified garden hose.