To carry out the installation of a water floor, it is not at all necessary to have extensive experience with water supply systems or to buy special equipment. Let's figure out how to connect the system yourself. Warm water floor is an engineering system that can act as an alternative to the traditional method of space heating. In order to carry out the installation of such a structure on your own, you do not need to have special skills and abilities. It is enough to carefully study the technology of work.
Water underfloor heating device
A water-heated floor is a simple system that consists of the following elements:
- Flexible plastic pipes … They are products along which the coolant moves.
- Pump … It is needed so that the water in the system circulates continuously.
- Heat source … The water that comes from the centralized water supply system is cold. It must be heated before being fed into the engineering system. As a rule, a gas boiler is used for this purpose, to which heated floors are connected.
- Thermostatic mixer … It is designed to maintain the desired temperature in the system.
- Manifold cabinet … This element is needed in order for the system to be adjustable.
From the name it is clear that the coolant in this system is water, which, passing along the circuit, gives off heat. Accordingly, the water that leaves the system is at a fairly low temperature. Therefore, it is forbidden to install such engineering structures in apartments of multi-storey buildings.
The only exceptions are those living space in which an autonomous heating system is equipped. Regardless of whether the apartment has autonomous heating or not, you should contact the housing office and find out if it is possible to install a warm water floor. If it is possible, the employee of the housing office will tell you what is needed for this.
Flexible pipes, along which the coolant moves, are poured with a screed after laying. Accordingly, it is quite problematic to carry out repair work. The first step is to break the tie. All further actions are equivalent to the installation of the system. Therefore, you should choose high quality pipes.
Each circuit (and their number depends on the quadrature of the room) must consist of a solid pipe. Therefore, two types of pipes are used for water floors: metal-plastic and products made of cross-linked polyethylene.
Advantages and disadvantages of the water system
Before moving on to the features of installation work, we will consider what advantages this engineering system has and what disadvantages it has.
The advantages of a water floor are as follows:
- Installation work does not imply the purchase of special equipment or tools. Consequently, additional costs during installation are reduced to zero.
- The water floor can be installed under any decorative floor covering. It is compatible even with surfaces as delicate as laminate flooring.
- This system is economical.
- Warm water floors can be used as the main and only source of heat. This is especially true for rooms in which the outer walls are fully glazed. Installed traditional batteries near the windows will spoil the appearance of the room.
- The system does not depend on the availability of a power source.
The disadvantages of a water floor are as follows:
- If the integrity of the pipe is violated, there is a risk of flooding.
- Repair work is fraught with certain difficulties.
- Due to the fact that the pipes are in the screed, there is no way to monitor their condition.
- It is not always possible to obtain permission to install this equipment.
Warm water floors have more advantages than disadvantages. And the risk of flooding can be minimized by using quality materials during installation. Violation of the integrity of a metal-plastic pipe, which is not afraid of an aggressive environment, can only occur as a result of bending during installation.
The main types of warm water floors
There are two ways to install the engineering system. Based on the chosen method, there are two types of water floors: concrete and floor.
Most often, the contour along which the coolant flows is poured with a concrete screed. Floors that have been installed in a similar way are called concrete. They have several disadvantages. It takes a lot of time to dry the screed. You can start laying the topcoat only after it is completely dry. It may take 20-28 days.
If you need to complete the styling in a short time, then this method is not suitable. You can speed up the drying process of the screed by using mixtures designed for working with water floors. Mixing the mortar and pouring it is a rather laborious process.
If it is necessary to eliminate the leak, then the screed will have to be completely dismantled. After completing the repair work, you need to re-fill the floor with mortar. This is not very convenient and entails considerable financial costs.
In defense of this installation method, it can be said that the concrete screed conducts heat quite well. Accordingly, the system will work efficiently and the heat loss will be minimal.
Installation of a water floor in a flat way involves the use of ready-made materials that are laid on top of the coolant. An aluminum plate is laid under the floor covering, which reflects the heat received from the heat carrier.
This method of installation is used much less often than concrete. As a rule, builders use it when the floor slabs are weak and it is impossible to significantly increase the load on them.
It should be noted that when installing the engineering system in this way, the floor height does not increase significantly. Therefore, in rooms with low ceilings, it can also be laid flat. Well, and the last argument in favor of the flat method is the absence of wet works.
When making a choice between concrete and floor heating, you need to know that the screed will cool down much longer than the materials used when laying with the floor method. Concrete floor heating takes 40-48 hours to cool. Laying on the same almost instantly.
Installation technology for a water-heated floor
The laying technology can be conditionally divided into several stages. The first is preparatory. It is necessary not only to stock up on all the necessary materials, but also to make calculations. This is followed by the preparation of the rough base, the installation of the collector cabinet and the laying of the contours. And finally, connecting the system.
Rules for calculating the water floor
Many people mistakenly believe that the installation of a water floor should begin with the purchase of pipes and other building materials. But, before you go to the store, you need to do the calculations. After all, the contour of the warm floor must be solid. Therefore, you need to know exactly the length of the contour.
It directly depends on the square of the room. Experts recommend installing water floors in those rooms, the area of which does not exceed 40 m2… If the indicator is 50-60 m2, it is advisable to divide the room into several zones and lay several contours. At the same time, it is necessary to divide the room into zones so that all contours are approximately the same length. Otherwise, the floor temperature in different places will be different.
In addition to squaring, the length of the pipe should be taken into account. Experts agree that one circuit should not be longer than 60 meters. Otherwise, the coolant at the outlet will have a temperature significantly lower than at the inlet. Accordingly, the floor covering will not heat up evenly.
Drawing up a scheme for laying a water-heated floor
After finishing the calculations, you should draw a drawing. The scheme of the water floor must comply with all norms and requirements as much as possible. It is especially necessary to design it for a room that was divided into several sectors. Contours located in different sectors should not have points of contact.
The laid pipes must be at a certain distance from each other. This distance is called "step". The step size can vary from 10 to 30 cm. If the laying step exceeds 30 cm, the system will become ineffective. And it makes no sense to lay the coolant with a step of less than 10 cm. From this, it will not work more efficiently. And the length of the contour will increase. In this case, the step should be the same over the entire surface of the room.
Also, when drawing up a diagram, it is worth considering that pipes cannot be placed close to the walls. There should be at least 10 cm of free space. Near outside walls, the installation pitch can be reduced. This measure is explained by the fact that the heat leaves here much faster.
As for the pipe laying scheme, today there are two options: a snail and a snake. To minimize hydraulic losses, it is advisable to opt for a volute installation. However, in rooms with complex geometry, it is not always possible to use this method. In this case, the pipes have to be laid with a snake. As for the size of the room, a snail is more suitable for large rooms, and a snake is more suitable for small rooms.
To draw a diagram of a warm water floor, you must initially depict the room on paper. Next, draw lines parallel to the walls. The distance between them should be equal to the laying step. The number of lines must be paired. Thus, the diagram should have a grid. For such features, it will be quite simple to draw a diagram of the installation of the coolant.
Preparation of the base for the installation of a water floor
First of all, you need to clean it from dirt and level the rough base. It is leveled so that the thickness of the screed to be laid subsequently is the same. If its thickness in different parts of the room is different, then it will not work to achieve uniform heating of the floor.
Then it is necessary to lay waterproofing on the rough base. This is done so that moisture that is present in the lower levels does not get onto the system. After laying the waterproofing layer, a damper tape, 10-15 cm thick, is glued to the walls of the room. Next, you need to install thermal insulation. This is done to minimize heat loss.
When laying heat-insulating material, it is necessary to take into account the number of storeys in the room. If it is on the first floor, and there is a cold basement under it, then the thickness of such a layer should be 23-25 cm. If the room is located on the 2nd, 3rd, etc. floor, then you can limit yourself to a layer thickness of 3-5 cm.
Installing the manifold cabinet
The manifold is the part of the engineering system that makes it adjustable. On the market, you can find collectors, the cost of which is quite low. However, after installing such an element, the system becomes practically unregulated, since in cheap devices there is nothing but a shut-off valve. More expensive equipment is equipped with adjustable valves. It is worth stopping at this option.
To make the system as controllable as possible, it is recommended to purchase manifolds with valves fitted with servos and pre-mixers.
You also need to buy a collector cabinet. In it, the pipes into which the coolant enters will be connected to the heat supply system of the room. Also in the manifold cabinet there are adjusting elements. Therefore, there should always be free access to it.
When choosing a place for the manifold cabinet, it should be taken into account that the pipes of each circuit must be suitable for it. It is wall mounted. Therefore, in the selected place, it is necessary to make a recess, the dimensions of which correspond to the manifold cabinet.
Laying water floor heating pipes
According to the diagram, pipes must be laid. So that they do not move during installation, you can first lay a reinforcing mesh on the floor. It is convenient to attach the contour to it by means of a wire.
Do not tighten the wire too tightly. Otherwise, the pipes may deform during operation. And in places of deformation, the risk of integrity violation increases. But you can do without a reinforcing mesh. Fastening of pipes to thermal insulation is carried out using special clips and clamps.
One end of the pipe is led into a manifold cabinet. The rest of the contour is laid according to the scheme. After the circuit is installed, the second end is inserted into the manifold cabinet, where it will subsequently be connected to the return manifold.
When laying pipes, it is necessary to ensure that no kinks are formed, which can be identified by whitish stripes at the bend. The bend radius must not exceed 5 times the pipe diameter.
Connecting the "water floor" system
Each contour is closed. Water is supplied from the boiler to the system, which, passing along the circuit, gives off heat. The cooled water returns to the boiler, heats up there and again enters the system. In order for the continuous movement of liquid to occur, a circulation pump is present.
Stop valves must be installed at both ends of the pipe. If this is not done, then if necessary, it will not work to stop the water supply to the system. To make the connection of the pipe and valve reliable, compression fittings are used.
Then you should connect the manifold, which it is desirable to equip with a splitter with a drain cock and an air vent. To simplify your work, you can buy an already assembled manifold along with a manifold cabinet.
The do-it-yourself water floor is almost ready. It remains only to check the system performance and fill it with a screed. When checking, water is started up at a pressure that slightly exceeds the operating pressure. If the system is functioning normally, then proceed to laying the screed. In hardware stores, you can find solutions that are designed for underfloor heating.
How to make a water heat-insulated floor - watch the video:
To successfully complete the installation of a water floor, it is necessary to correctly calculate the length of the pipes and draw up a diagram. All subsequent actions require accuracy. You need to act especially carefully at the stage of connecting the system.
