Warm floor hydraulic calculation. Calculation of a water heated floor: program and description
Scheme of a water heated floor
Due to the fact that the popularity of a water-heated floor is growing every day, there are more and more people who want to do it themselves. This process is not that complicated. It is important to correctly calculate, which takes into account the power of the system, the number necessary materials and piping layout. Today there are two main options - to make a manual calculation using a conventional electronic calculator, or to calculate a water-heated floor with an online calculator.
As for the second option, today in the arsenal of designers there are a large number of different programs with which you can quickly and very accurately calculate the "warm floor" heating system online. The basis of such programs is the so-called method of coefficients. What is its essence?
The program is based on a ready-made calculation of a basic warm floor with certain characteristics. Various corrections have been made there, that is, the same coefficients. For example, the pitch of the pipe, its diameter, the material from which it is made, the thickness of the screed, the thickness and material of the floor finish. That is, by entering these coefficients into the calculator program, it is possible to determine the characteristics of the calculated underfloor heating with maximum accuracy.
There are many such programs on the Internet. If we compare them with each other, then the deviations will be within 10-15%. The inaccuracy depends on which amendments have been set as priority. Of course, the calculation accuracy must be high, and with warm floors you should be careful. Although 10% is not such a big deviation.
What do you need to pay attention to?
It is not so important what you use - an online calculator or a manual one. It is important to choose the right heating components and correctly install them. And in this regard, the manual method is more accurate.
Where does the calculation start? With the selection of pipes. We will not get involved with metal, since this is the last century. Although steel pipes have the best heat dissipation, their installation is difficult, the price is high, and the service life is quite short. It would be nice to use copper pipes, but this is the most expensive option, not available to many consumers.
For polypropylene, space is needed for bending, which the design of the warm floor itself does not allow. Cross-linked polyethylene does not hold its shape well, and even more so under the action of hot water. The best option is metal. Such pipes have excellent characteristics, among which the strength and resistance to expansion under the action of high temperatures. Plus, this is the cheapest option of all described.
So, in order to accurately calculate the pipes of a water-heated floor, it is necessary to decide on the laying scheme. For this, we recommend drawing a diagram on paper, since it will be easier to navigate the room. Be sure to mark the places where heavy furniture will be placed - it is impossible to lay a pipeline under it. But on the free area and it will be necessary to place the selected scheme.
This simple drawing will help:
- First, accurately calculate the required number of pipes.
- Secondly, to facilitate the installation process.
Please note that the distance between the turns and the diameter of the pipes will depend on the power of the heating system. This can be calculated using an online calculator. And after that, the number of pipes, or rather, their length, is determined. But keep in mind that such an indicator as real heat loss is one of the most important when deciding on the issue of calculating power. Therefore, before carrying out the calculation, it is necessary to make the thermal insulation of the floor using modern heaters. By the way, on the market today you can buy high quality thermal insulation material at a low price.
Basic calculation rules
Calculation of heating power
Many make a mistake, not taking into account the features of the warm floor. Here is some of them:
- A pipe with a length of no more than 120 m should be spent on one circuit.
- If underfloor heating is installed in more than one room, then the average length of the circuit in each room should be approximately the same. For example, the option when in the living room - 120 m, in the bedroom - 100 m, and in the kitchen - 50 m, is fundamentally wrong. The deviation of the lengths from each other must not exceed 15 m. If you are using a system with different lengths, the efficiency of the circuits will be low.
- The distance between the branches is selected in accordance with the temperature regime of the heating system. Most often this will depend on the region where the house is built. The average indicator, which is taken as a basis, is 15 cm. In the northern regions it can be 10 cm, and in the southern regions - 25–30 cm. In the north, a warm floor is not used as the main source of heat. This requires a combined approach.
And the last thing about the calculation of the pipe used. Such an indicator as location and density per 1 m2 is one of the most important. It is believed that there should be 5 m of pipeline per 1 sq.m. Experts assure that this is the best styling option. The question of the distance between the contours has already been considered above. It is this that will become the basis for calculating the number of necessary elements. This refers not only to the pipe, but also to the mount.
And one more thing that is necessary when drawing up the calculation is the distance from the walls to the contour of the warm floor. The average value is 20 cm plus or minus 5 cm.
Cost calculation
Popular water heated floors
The cost of a warm floor depends on the cost of its elements, plus additional materials - thermal insulation, waterproofing, screed. If you carry out the installation with your own hands, then the cost of paying for the labor of the craftsmen disappear by itself.
The number of main elements of the system, pipes, depends on the frequency of laying the circuit. Recall:
- 120 m per circuit, while the density will be 5 m per 1 m 2. This ratio is used if a pipe with an internal diameter of 20 mm is used.
- 65 m per circuit at a density of 10 m per 1 m 2. Pipe diameter - 16 mm.
If a double laying scheme is used, which is considered optimal today, the number of pipes is doubled. A dual system is two pipes laid side by side - supply and return.
Conclusion on the topic
So, in order to accurately calculate a water-heated floor, you need to know how many pipes are needed for its construction. It is this indicator that will form the basis for calculating the power of the system, its cost, efficiency and other functionalities.
Heating of the floor space is used both to create an additional source of heat, and for a full-fledged heating device. The latter solution is especially relevant for a room without the possibility of central heating wiring.
Below is the form of the calculator for calculating pipes for underfloor heating. To carry out settlement operations, it is enough to fill in the main fields and select the expected laying step.
For most country houses, dachas and households in the private sector one of the most convenient and effective ways heating is underfloor heating. The technology turned out to be so convenient and practical that the number of supporters of this heating system is growing every day. The main reason for such popularity is the simplicity of design, high efficiency and not as complicated installation as it seems at first glance. A correctly made calculation will allow you to achieve not only the efficient operation of such a residential heating system, but also allow you to forget about the hassle associated with the operation of the structure itself for a long time.
Having superficial engineering knowledge and skills, you can use a calculator for calculations, which will do everything for you by itself, giving out the final technological parameters. We will try to find the answer to the question of how to independently calculate a warm water floor for your apartment, house or bathroom, without resorting to the services of professionals. What methods are used for this?
How to calculate the water floor if you do not have a private house, and a city apartment in a multi-storey residential building? How to make such a heating system if you are only interested in seasonal heating and in a limited space? These and many other questions have to be solved by the townsfolk when it comes to realizing the desire to make efficient and high-quality heating at home.
Let's begin with that floor heating fundamentally different from the traditional radiator method of heating. The heat in this case is evenly distributed throughout the entire interior of the room, rising with warm air currents from the floor to the ceiling. The air in the room warms up almost evenly. Such a heating scheme can be used as the main heating option or be used as an auxiliary, secondary source of heat in the house.
For example: heating according to the "warm floor" scheme is very important for bathrooms, rooms in which small children live and stay.
On a note: the difference in air temperature near the floor and under the ceiling is no more than 2-4 0 C. There are no cold corners in a room heated by warm floors.
Even at the design stage, an important place is occupied by the calculations of your heating system. Any mistake made in the calculations is fraught with domestic inconvenience and additional costs that will arise when technical defects are eliminated.
What is the peculiarity of the calculation method. Which is better, counting by hand or using a calculator
Process calculations at the design stage not only give you an idea of how the heating system will behave in operation, but also give you a realistic idea of what you will face. You can pre-calculate the amount of consumables, get a ready-made heating scheme. Calculations are done manually or on a calculator that you can use right now.
If you have decided in principle that a water-heated floor will become your main source of heat in the house, the accuracy of the calculations in this situation should be perfect. Why?
The thing is that such a choice puts before you a lot of nuances, including preparation normative documents, as well as the selection of materials necessary for installation. Here the stakes are very high. Your comfort in the house and well-being depend on the correctness of the calculations, therefore the project and all hydraulic and thermal calculations it is better to entrust a specialized company.
The second option, when a warm floor is an auxiliary option for you, looks much simpler and more attractive. You can calculate such a design yourself, using your own knowledge, professional advice or using an online calculator. When entering data for automatic calculation, a lot of nuances are taken into account. You should enter data on the number of storeys of the building, on the type and area of \u200b\u200bthe dwelling. Often other technical information and other technological parameters are required.
What is the manual calculation method based on?
The first and main aspect to focus on is the layout of your heating system. Usually a water floor is a pipeline laid in a special way on the floor and covered with a screed or stacked structure on top, so in most cases your scheme will look like this:
- thermal insulation layer;
- heating water circuit;
- collector;
- kit stop valves, including inlet and outlet valves, a tap for supplying tap water and a drain valve;
- fittings, fasteners used in the installation of the structure.
After you have an idea of what the scheme of a warm water floor should be in your house, technological parameters are taken into account. This should include:
- the area of the heated room;
- optimal temperature conditions in the room;
- the scale of heat losses in a residential area;
- type of flooring.
On a note: those who are going to equip their apartment with underfloor heating need to take into account secondary factors. This includes the degree of glazing of the apartment, the level of thermal insulation of the premises, the thickness of the screed and the height of the ceilings. Without taking into account these data, your heating system will not be fully calculated. In the future, already in the process of heating the room, you may encounter a number of issues that will require additional effort and costs from you related to the elimination of the problem.
Here it would be appropriate to note the following aspect. Particular attention needs to be paid wooden floors or parquet flooring. Wood has poor thermal conductivity, unlike concrete screed and tiles, so it is necessary to calculate the heating system with double the power.
How individual elements of the heating system are independently calculated
To begin with, we present to your attention a simple and understandable diagram - a drawing that shows the location of water circuits in residential premises.
Calculate power should begin with elementary, simple steps. The location plan of the water heating circuit will become the basis for subsequent calculations. The diagram usually indicates the location of window and door openings.
Such schemes are carried out on graph paper, on a scale of 10 mm it corresponds to 0.5 m.
Important! Your water circuit layout will be useful to you or other occupants when conducting overhaul. Lack of information on how the pipeline of the heating system is located can lead to an unintentional break in the water pipe.
Before drawing up the layout of the pipeline in all rooms, pay attention to the step with which the installation of the water circuit and the diameter of the pipe will be carried out. the data will be decisive for achieving the highest possible efficiency of your heating system.
Important to remember! The effective heating area when using a warm floor should not exceed 20 m 2. Large rooms require laying two or more water circuits, each of which will have its own separate entrance and exit. For greater efficiency of the heating system, the permissible length of the water circuit should not exceed 100 meters.
To determine the usable heated area, you should start from the step. The following ratios are usually applied:
- with a step of 15 cm - the usable area should not exceed 12 square meters. meters;
- with a step of 20 cm - no more than 16 m 2;
- at a step of 25 cm - no more than 20 m 2;
- a step of 30 cm allows you to efficiently heat a room with an area of 25 m 2.
According to experts, it is better to obviously reduce the indicated area by 1.5-2 square meters. meters, if the length of the pipe from the connection point exceeds 15 m. When dividing the water circuit into separate sections, try to make them approximately the same. In extreme cases, it is allowed to exceed the length of one contour over the other by 20-30%, no more.
How to calculate the pitch of a water pipe and its length
One of important elements when installing water floors is the pipe pitch. Water heating circuit fit only on the basis of design data and taking into account the calculations made. Clear rules and standards work here:
- edge zones - the step is 10 cm;
- the rest of the zones, the pipe pitch varies with a difference of 5 cm, i.e. in other words, 15, 20 and 25 cm. But not more than 30 cm.
The greatest heat losses occur at the locations of windows and doors. The pipe, which is laid on the floor, should be located at a distance of 20-25 cm from the wall. The step that is used for laying the pipe varies between 15-30 cm. Decide in advance which step will be better in each specific case, you can only have a pipe at hand. Its diameter and type of material is key in this case.
For reference: limitations are related to the peculiarity of the perception of the human foot of heat emanating from the floor. The larger the pipe pitch, the greater the perceived temperature difference in the floor areas.
The length of the heating water circuit is calculated by a simple formula: L \u003d S / N x 1.1
S is the area of the room in which the pipeline is supposed to be laid;
N is the step when installing the pipe;
1.1 is the stock of the pipe, taking into account the turns.
Having received the result, add to it 2 meters of pipe necessary for connecting the water circuit to the collector, for connecting the supply and return.
For example: we calculate the length of the pipe for a room of 12 m 2. The distance from the collector to the warm floor is 7 meters. Step. The pipes used in this case are 15 cm. As a result, we get: 12 / 0.15 x 1.1 + (7 x 2) = 102 m.
Eventually
In conclusion, we can say that every technical nuance, parameter is important for the accuracy of calculations. Before proceeding with the purchase of equipment and consumables, make some simple calculations. This can be done manually, on your own or with the help of an electronic calculator.
It is important for yourself to learn a simple truth, what kind of underfloor heating do you need, as the main heating system or as an auxiliary means of heating. Take into account the power of the heat source, the area of \u200b\u200bthe premises, the required temperature parameters. All of the above data and other technological parameters will help you get ready-made calculation data with high accuracy, which you can rely on when installing a warm floor at home.
A cozy private house is the dream of every person. But how to make it so? There can be many options: a standard heating system, air conditioners or a warm floor that is fashionable today. But any of them requires the development of a preliminary project.
If you decide to stop at the last option, then you will first have to calculate the water-heated floor and only then proceed with its installation. How to do this, and what data will be required, we will clarify together.
Correct calculation
If you decide to install such a system in your home, then keep in mind that it requires exact numbers in order to really live up to the name. This is necessary because each floor contour has a significant length, and, consequently, a decent hydraulic resistance.
For it to function successfully, you will have to put on each floor small pump or one, but very powerful for the whole system.
For his right choice need to take into account:
- Coolant quantity
- Required pressure
At the same time, when making calculations, it is necessary to take into account not only the footage, but also other important indicators that affect:
- Pipe diameter
- Number of branches and valves
- Mounting method
There are other ways to get an answer to the question of how to correctly calculate a water-heated floor. Calculations are performed using special programs. In this case, the hydraulic properties are adapted depending on the parameters to the characteristics of the pump. When using this method, you can maneuver various parameters of the system.
Floor power - step by step instructions
In order for the result to meet expectations, it is necessary to make the necessary calculations before installation. To do this, you will need a sheet of graph paper, a pencil and some tips.
So, the calculation of the power of a warm water floor should begin with the execution of a room plan on paper, with the location of windows and doors on a scale of 1 cm = 0.5 m.
The next step will be to calculate the pitch and diameter of the pipes. They are subject to the following conditions:
- The maximum heating area is no more than 20 m², a large room is divided in half and a separate circuit is calculated for each of the parts
- They are connected to a separate outlet.
- One lap cannot be more than 100m
When calculating a water heated floor, it must be taken into account that the main places of heat loss are areas near windows and doors. Therefore, the pipe should be located along the window. The distance from the walls to the pipe cannot be more than 25 cm.
One element from another in the contour can be located no more than 50 cm, this distance is influenced by the diameter.
To calculate the number of pipes, it is necessary to measure their length and multiply the resulting value by a coefficient (allows you to convert the dimensions of the drawing into real ones). To the obtained value is added 2 m required for the connection to the riser.
The next step is to calculate the amount of substrate. To do this, you need to find out the area of \u200b\u200bthe room by multiplying its width by its length.
For complex surfaces given formula will give inaccurate results. Since sand and cement are used for, their quantity must also be calculated. It will depend on the thickness of the screed.
Nuances in power calculations
Determining all the necessary values \u200b\u200bfor installing a warm water floor is not difficult. However, it is better for a non-specialist in this field not to take risks and do everything according to the instructions that come with each kit.
But if, based on the area of the floor in the room, you decide to change the laying pitch to achieve the best temperature regime, then this alone will not be enough. There are also such concepts as setting and adjustment, on which the microclimate in the room depends.
These indicators are even more important than the pipe laying pitch. Particular attention should be paid to them if children constantly live in the house in order to create a comfortable temperature regime for them.
The calculations also take into account the height and length of the entire structure. The first indicator includes the sum of the heights of all layers, while the most powerful will be:
- Water pipe system
- Screed
Length is the footage of all pipes included in the system.
When carrying out calculations, such aspects as the floor on which the room is located, the volume of its glazing, the properties of enclosing structures, the type floor coverings, presence and type of substrate.
For each of these cases, it may be necessary to increase the capacity of the system and carry out additional heat engineering calculations.
Primary or secondary heat source
Underfloor heating water, the calculation of which was discussed above, has a lot of advantageous differences from traditional heating systems. It heats all the air, unlike devices that cause it to move and give rise to convection currents.
The operation of the system is based on pumping hot water through the pipeline, while its maximum limit is 50º C and this is quite enough to maintain a comfortable microclimate in the room.
Such heating does not cause burns and does not dry out the air, and the heat transfer of the water floor is quite high.
It can be used as a primary or secondary heat source. What it should be depends on the characteristics of the room and, first of all, on its heat loss. If they are insignificant, then the system can be used as the main one; for large values, it will not justify the costs and can only be used as