ART TEC
Guy Marsden

SOLAR HEATING SYSTEM CONSTRUCTION LOG

PROGRESS REPORT:
October 29, 2002: Installing 2nd floor radiators

Last year I never got around to installing the 2 10 ft. radiators
that I had purchased for the 2nd floor where my office is located.
I was a bit chilly in the mornings upstairs as I had to wait
for the heat to rise before the 2nd floor would be warm.

Installing the radiators was fairly simple.  I ran Rehau flexible
tubing (that I had left over from the radiant floor) from the
manifold up to the first radiator:

Then I ran a length of the tubing to the other radiator at the
far end of the building, and a return line from the end of the 2nd
radiator back to the manifold.  The exposed tubing will lose
heat into the building and will warm the upstairs floor a bit.

The radiators were simple to install; just mount the case to the
wall, then plumb up to the pipe.   I was surprised that the radiator
just clips into the frame, but it seems sturdy.

When I first ran the (seperate) pump for radiator loop, I found that
the water going to them was not hot (by feeling the pipe).
I discovered that the pump was pulling cold water in a reverse
flow from the floor loop!  OOOPS!

I ordered a couple of check valves from Grainger that would
force the water to flow only in the right direction!  I added them
right next to the circulation pump outflow:

Now when I turn on the upstairs thermostat the radiators
get 140F water right away and the temperature up here rises
by about 6 degrees per hour!  I am warm all day long,
and the temperatures outside are now in the 20's at night!

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