Should I Control My Radiant Floor With A Slab Sensor

A floor control is also used when the primary purpose of the radiant heat is floor warming.

Should i control my radiant floor with a slab sensor.

The thermostat operates the radiant floor to maintain the floor temperature. If you have a floor heating system installed under a tile or stone floor and the floor sensor fails your grout joints can help. A slab sensor measures the floor temperature in the area where the radiant floor is located. This easy to install thermostat is a direct replacement for the tekmar thermostat 509.

Simple up and down buttons and a display with large type make this thermostat easy to read and use. The result of using a slab sensor is that although the air temperature may overheat under certain conditions and may underheat under other conditions the floor temperature. The thin casing allows for retrofit installation between tile spaces if necessary. The floor sensor will allow the floor to come up to a comfortable and constant temperature while the primary heating system takes care of the air temperature.

Some people may want to warm a tile floor. Mainly heated slabs radiate outward rather than downward so insulation on the edges of the slab is most important. This why the tekmar thermostat has these temp feedbacks. Remember that your slab will be about 75 degrees f.

Others may want to simply make a room more comfortable. For concrete floor radiant heating systems the warm water tubing or electric heating elements can either be embedded within the slab on grade anywhere from the bottom of the slab to within 2 inches of the surface depending on the design and installation technique or fastened to the top of a concrete subfloor and then covered with an overlay. The slab sensor 079 is commonly used for floor temperature sensing in floor heating applications. One also needs to carefully read the installation instructions for the thermostat and properly set all the settings.

This will allow the floor sensor to get an accurate reading without adding to the floor elevation. People do it of course but it s a very poor method of control. A floor sensor is a fixed setpoint. It is impossible to control a slab with floor sensor only.

Bottom line for good hydronic radiant floor heating system temp control performance one needs to use slab outdoor air and indoor air temp feedback. Any cooler surface in contact with the slab will try to steal its heat. Your slab must vary in temperature to change its output depending on how much heat you need. It s possible to retrofit a replacement floor sensor into the grout joint.

This sensor is designed to provide a thermostat with the ability to maintain a minimum slab temperature or help to limit the maximum slab temperature.