What I am referring to was the start up of our radiant floor system. The 27th of December we started to fill the system. It filled rather quickly with water and then we brought it up to the 15 pounds of required pressure. It took some time to get all of the air worked out of the system but after a while it started to quiet down and it wasn't too long and you could not even tell the pumps were running.
Then came the moment of truth. I flipped the four breakers that control the flash hot water heater that will be the main source of heat to heat the floor and the domestic water supply until the solar portion is hooked up and in place. Initially, I thought it was working, but I was getting a flashing code off of the LED light on the control board. After looking up the code I found that it was showing that there was air in the line. I tried a few troubleshooting tips that the website recommended and then called the manufacturer.
After spending about fifteen minutes on the phone with them it was determined that the computer board was defective. To make a long story short, it would be a week before I would be able to try to get the system up and running again. But this past Friday after a few little adjustments here and there our radiant floor system is up and running and what a job it is doing!!!
After running for 24 hours the house temperature was up to 72 degrees, which was much faster than we had anticipated. This morning the temperature had climbed to 75 degrees. The system shut off at 7:00 A.M. I had a fire going all day in the fireplace and as of late this afternoon the system still has not kicked back in and the temp had climbed to 79 degrees.
So once we learn the system a bit better and work with it a little more we should tune the temperature into a more comfortable range. Admittedly it was a little warm working in the house today but it sure felt good to be in a warm house on a chilly damp day!!!Actually the temperature in the mechanical room held around 80 - 82 degrees all day.
The A419 thermostat and relay controls the temperature on the solar tank. This was gradually cooling down all day because I had dropped the thermostat temperature down to 95 due to the fact that we do not need the hot water right now, and do not need to have the heater trying to keep this water at such a high temperature.
Even so, the temperature only dropped 2 degrees all day and had not reached the 95 degree setting yet.So after the disappointing showing with the flash hot water heater a week and a half ago, we turned our efforts to getting the stairway underway.
Shortly before we started the house I started subscribing to the Fine Homebuilding magazine. Between the magazine and the online subscription they offer it really has been very helpful. There were several articles on stairways and formulas on how to figure out the rise and run and the amount of steps that would be needed. Needless to say the articles were a great help to us.
One tip that we also used from the articles was for the stair stringers.
Instead of using regular dimensional lumber (2x12's) for them, we used LVL's. (Laminated lumber) which are more than strong enough and make for very stable stringers.
It was a slightly more expensive way to go but we liked the idea of not having to deal with warped, twisted and cracked dimensional lumber and they definitely made the job easier.Along with getting the radiant floor up and running this weekend, my wife continues to re-seal all of the timbers with Land Ark and I have gotten the wiring underway. There is a lot of wiring ahead of us but it is well underway, and should be nearly completed by months end. Along with the wiring, a minimal amount of framing remains and we should be ready for inspection and then Sheetrock!!
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