On Thu, 26 Sep 1996, Jack L. Poller wrote:
> Out here in the Sunny Bay Area of California, it gets 'mild' as opposed
> to your cold. One of the premier house builders in the '50s, Eichler,
> built houses with Radiant Heat plumbed into the floor.
Then why did Mark Twain say, "The coldest winter I ever spent was summer
in San Francisco"? :-)
> He used *cheap* cast iron (I believe) pipes buried into the concrete
> foundation floors of these houses. Most of these pipes have rusted or
> broken due to twisting during E-Quakes, and most of the owners have
> had to shut off the heat and install normal forced-air heaters.
Here in Minnesota (where we have longer summer days than California...)
the earthquakes are considerably less severe. We had one a year or two
back. At least they told us on the news that we did. Nobody I know
noticed it. I expect CT is similarly unconcerned about earth tremors.
I believe the practice these days is to use plastic tubing for hot-water
heat in concrete slabs. It won't rust, it is cheaper than copper (I
never would have considered using "black pipe" made of iron) and it has a
little stretch and give if the concrete should happen to crack.
One thing to think about: If you envision penetrating the concrete in
the future for bolts, anchors or a shaft for a hoist, be sure to leave
some open space for this and keep accurate records of its location. To
drill or saw through a heating tube could ruin your whole day. You
would then have to carefully break up the area, repair the hose and
concrete it all back up again. A time-consuming pain, to say the least.
Phil "wish I was building one" Ethier
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