Big Chris
New member
I often do this. Start a thread, sort things out via myself or with the help from others and then never reply. Trying to get better at this. I've come far. I managed through my first winter with what I consider and A+ score.
(thanks to you guys, and the attention to detail I cant help to dedicate to a project like this)
Seriously, to all those who chimed in with useful info.........thanks!
I reset the lower limit of the floor heat to ~130°F and I added a digital thermostat to the system. I bought an infrared temp gun and measured all kinds of stuff. I invested in Shelly Automation Relays & I can turn the system on & off, essentially being able to reset it remotely. I added another Shelly relay in parallel to the thermostat to override it to act as a de-icer. I added an expansion module to the Shelly relay and have 4 temp sensors in the building. I can access and control all this through my iPhone.
I can monitor and data log ambient temp, floor slab temp, boiler glycol temp exiting the boiler, and motor room temp. I have been data logging since Dec 20th. (see below)
Long story short, my Nat Gas bill this winter was about 40% of the previous owners gas bill for 2023. Albeit this was a warm winter, but here in NE Pa we did have many nights below freezing and a handful in the low single digits. And we're not done yet tonight is forecasted to be 23°F. But I feel I made good progress for year 1.
I keep my slab at 38°F-ish and have the thermostat turn on at 37°F and off at 39°F. This works well, however when the ambient temp drops below 10°F even though the boiler runs non-stop she starts losing the fight.
When the bypass valve is 20% open the boiler can't get to 140°F. When the bypass valve is more than 1/2 open it can. I have about 120°F water going into the slab, and the return back was about 65°F. (as measured right at the floor manifolds)
I stayed open all winter 'round the clock, and never closed. The only thing I had freeze up was my foamy brushes the nights it went into the single digits. They thawed and came back when the temps went back above 15°F. (Beige tip, Kleen Rite antifreeze foamy brush soap.)
The graph below is the data I collect all winter. Blue is ambient, orange is slab temp and green is motor room temp.
The motor room heats from the radiant the floor heat boiler gives off ( I also have other heaters in there, but when the floor heat is running I dont need them). The red horizontal line on the graph is 32°. This is Dec 20th to today March 20th 2024. I added the digital thermostat in Jan, right before the one real cold snap. Data is collected ever hour on the hour.
(thanks to you guys, and the attention to detail I cant help to dedicate to a project like this)
Seriously, to all those who chimed in with useful info.........thanks!
I reset the lower limit of the floor heat to ~130°F and I added a digital thermostat to the system. I bought an infrared temp gun and measured all kinds of stuff. I invested in Shelly Automation Relays & I can turn the system on & off, essentially being able to reset it remotely. I added another Shelly relay in parallel to the thermostat to override it to act as a de-icer. I added an expansion module to the Shelly relay and have 4 temp sensors in the building. I can access and control all this through my iPhone.
I can monitor and data log ambient temp, floor slab temp, boiler glycol temp exiting the boiler, and motor room temp. I have been data logging since Dec 20th. (see below)
Long story short, my Nat Gas bill this winter was about 40% of the previous owners gas bill for 2023. Albeit this was a warm winter, but here in NE Pa we did have many nights below freezing and a handful in the low single digits. And we're not done yet tonight is forecasted to be 23°F. But I feel I made good progress for year 1.
I keep my slab at 38°F-ish and have the thermostat turn on at 37°F and off at 39°F. This works well, however when the ambient temp drops below 10°F even though the boiler runs non-stop she starts losing the fight.
When the bypass valve is 20% open the boiler can't get to 140°F. When the bypass valve is more than 1/2 open it can. I have about 120°F water going into the slab, and the return back was about 65°F. (as measured right at the floor manifolds)
I stayed open all winter 'round the clock, and never closed. The only thing I had freeze up was my foamy brushes the nights it went into the single digits. They thawed and came back when the temps went back above 15°F. (Beige tip, Kleen Rite antifreeze foamy brush soap.)
The graph below is the data I collect all winter. Blue is ambient, orange is slab temp and green is motor room temp.
The motor room heats from the radiant the floor heat boiler gives off ( I also have other heaters in there, but when the floor heat is running I dont need them). The red horizontal line on the graph is 32°. This is Dec 20th to today March 20th 2024. I added the digital thermostat in Jan, right before the one real cold snap. Data is collected ever hour on the hour.
