Ski Builders Forum

Hey all,

I'm about to install the heating in my new garage/workshop.
The tubing for radiant heating is already in the concrete slab but I'm no expert at all for all the stuff needed to complete the setup...

From what I understood I would need a water heater + thermostat, a pump, an expansion tank and a few fittings + manifolds.

The thing is my heating will be a closed loop as I have no water in the garage. Some people say I would also need a "glycol injector" or something like that to keep the system under pressure (@15PSI or so). Is this really mandatory or can the system run without it ? this "injector" almost doubles the cost of the setup

Thanks for any help !

Ben

Hi Ben,

My brother-in-law installs radiant heating systems. I can ask him for his opinion.

That would be awesome... it's not that I don't want to call an installer here but I really want to install it myself (so I can say I made 100% of my workshop) and I would feel pretty cheap asking someone to come give me an estimate of the job just to get the info I'm missing...

Thanks !

I'll try to post pics of the garage/workshop everything is done except for the heating... and the inside is a huge mess , I don't even know where to start for the cleaning !

Hi Ben,
Here's what my brother-in-law says:

He should really get a pro involved. This is a radiant system and isn’t as easy as many of the web sites makes it sound. Codes in Canada are different than here so Im not sure the injector is a must- but not a bad idea. Ive installed stand alone systems without injectors and just use larger expansion tanks to sustain pressure.


Hope this helps!

sure it helps !
I called a few pros to see how much it would run to have a basic system fully installed. I tought a bigger expansion tank would be a solution for not having the feeder thing too... but I'm no pro and don't know the code ...

Thanks a lot for your help !
Cleaning is in progress, but night came too early tonight to take pics... I'll try tomorrow !

OK, I had a pro to come at my shop.
According to him for a garage/workshop like mine there's no need for a feeder, you just have the boiler, a pump, an expansion tank and a few valves and fittings. You pressurize the system when you fill it and it shouldn't lose much pressure if done correctly.
He told me I might have to "refill" with a garden hose once a year if the perssure drops (filing with water from the house will create the desired pressure).
According to him pumps are quite tough too and even if there is not much pressure anymore, as long as there is still water (or water&glycol in my case) it's gonna be fine until I see I need to fil it again !

Everything's gonna be installed on nov 16th, can't wait to have my shop heated so I can build skis again !