Radiant heat and pex tubing insulation question

[user007]

Hi

I have a 'large' house with about 4000+ sq ft of radiant heat on my first floor that uses stadler heat panels with pex tubing run in them. I also have a huge basement (4000 sq ft, all unfinished space) that has pex tubing, manifolds and copper pipe running all over it to get to all the different zones in the house (carpet, wood, tile). My basement ceiling is insullated with thick (probably at least R-19 - whatever code is) insulation. Some of the pex is between the insulation and the floor, some of it is exposed (not insulated) to the basement. In addition, all the manifolds (probably 10 of them) are exposed to the basement. The copper pipe to the manifolds is all insulated with the standard 1" foam stuff. As a result of having pex and manifolds (and the whole hot water distribution system see below) exposed in the basement , my basement temperature is actually warmer than the house most of the time (65 degrees) and I believe I am wasting a lot of energy heating the basement.

I am looking for suggestions on the best way to insulate the manifolds and the hundreds of feet of exposed pex.

further, I have a corner of the basement with a wall of pumps, the furnace, temperature control loops, and distribution pipes that also generates a lot of heat. I asked the heating contractor (now out of business) if I can close in this area or cover up all the pumps and controllers with insullation to keep the heat in that area from heating the whole basement and he said not to do it as it may overheat the controllers (tekmar 360 and viessmann furnace controller). The furnace gets fresh air for combustion from the co-axial exhaust pipe so make up air is not required. Any thoughts on being able to enclose this whole heating section of the basement (10' x 12') to keep heat in there?

I am guessing that I am wasting a lot of energy heating this basement for no reason.

any help or suggestions are greatly appreciated. as i said, the contractor is now out of business so he is no help. I am on my own. I can send/post pictures if my question is not clear.

thanks

 

[stanlsimon]

There are various ways of insulating pipes. One way is to use premolded fiberglass pipe insulation. It comes with a kraft paper outer layer or if you want to get fancy you can get a smooth white surface. It comes slitted so that you can slip it over the pipe.

Another option is to use foam rubber or closed cell polyurethane foam insulation. Application is similar to above. You can get sheets of this material to cover irregular surfaces such as manifolds or pump bodies.

The contractor is probably right about building an enclosure around the pumps and controls, they are probably listed for a maximum ambient temperature around +/- 80F, ??

You probably wouldn't like the idea of cutting some wholes in the floor above and putting in floor grilles, this will let the excess heat from the basement escape to above. Or just cut louvers in the door to above?

 

[walkes]

The space temperature controls should compensate for the added heat being given off by bare piping and the boiler etc. The basement manifolds may not actually be doing any heating.