A question about underfloor heating

[Brigadier]

Just watching Grand Designs (French Alps episode).

They've just laid 2km of underfloor heating pipes, then poured the screed over them.

Out of interest, how rare are leaks, in such installations? And if they do leak, is it a case of digging up the screed, repairing, and relaying the screed?

TIA

 

[Dan Robinson]

Rare.


Yes.

 

[Aquaheat]

Very rare, system is pressurised to 10bar when screed is being poured and spread. Any leaks show up immediately really.

Laid 2.5km not so long back but did have a leak but that was only down to the screeders labourer hitting the pipe with his spade! Didn't tell anyone he had done it so had to rip the pipe up out of 90m2 of freshly levelled screed! No one was particularly happy that evening and the labourer didn't come in the following day funnily enough.

Jon

 

[Echo the husky]

I have seen quite a few wet UFH installations, and have seen 3 leaks in 3 different properties. All 3 were caused by someone drilling through the pipes with a masonry drill...

 

[Dan Robinson]

Did a 2500 square foot job a few years ago, system was in and working for months with the screed down.

The German chippies flew in to lay the floor, and as they are sweeping up they notice a damp patch at the far end of the room.

Was asked by the builder to drive a 4 hour round trip to get my thermal imaging camera from the office.

He stayed there with the plumber to scrape (literally) the screed up on that area.


I get back just as they got to the pipes.


Turned out it was just moisture rising to a fracture point in the screed.


Lot of squeaky bums that afternoon .


Thankfully, on those jobs I just supply the stuff and the builders chaps lay it

 

[Dan Robinson]

Freddo, may one I did with that builder they needed the stair company to build a bespoke hand rail.

Had to use the thermal camera again to mark the floor so they knew where the pipes were in the incredibly exigencies parquet floor layed by the same German dude's.

I marked the pipes, then wrote on masking tape "brave zone" where they shouldn't really be screwing due to the fidelity of the images.


The seemed to think those lines were a fricking target

Thankfully they missed the pipes, which is more than could be said of the sparks, who hot one with s jigsaw just where the pipe came up from the floor to the manifold. Luckily for him there diet enough room to get a repair coupling in

 

[Echo the husky]

Reading that last post reminded me of a fourth leak, one caused by me. I was wiring in the wiring centre and the UFH actuators and I dropped my side cutters. The point of the cutters hit the 90° bend where one of the pipes came out of the floor and up to the manifold, there was a little fountain of water as the pressure was released. Fortunately the plumber and I are good friends!