One of the unfortunate things about how current radiant heating systems are installed is that there will inevitably be heat gaps at the loops where the tubing is turned back to go the other direction. As you can see in this photo the tube bends around 180 degrees to return the other way.
That’s a lot of money
wasted! You are paying for the water to
be heated and dispersed evenly throughout your floors. If you already have radiant heated floors you
know what I’m talking about. The floors are
fine until you reach the edge of the room where the tube bends back
around. The floor will be cold in these
areas.
Fortunately, there is a solution on the market! They are called 180 degree bend plates or end
loop plates.
As you can see the plate is a complete 180 degree loop made with the same
aluminum material as the plates you will likely be installing with it.
It is shown installed here with the double omega plate that I have talked
about previously.
But it also works for
the single omega plates like so…
It appears that this product is currently available to be compatible with
½” pex. Product dimensions are: 12"
Width x 6" Long x 0.625" Height x 0.032" Thick.
The link to the product
as well as their product description are:
Aluminum return plates
are a total 12" wide and have an 8" diameter (on-center) groove.
These plates allow perfect 8" supported spacing of tubing lanes and
compliment all of our double and single omega shaped radiant heat transfer
plates for 1/2" pex. Using these return plates prevents tube kinks,
helps make installation easier, allows equal 8" spacing across the floor
and will increase the heat output of your radiant heating system.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/10-Aluminum-180-Degree-Return-Radiant-Floor-Heat-Transfer-Plates-for-1-2-PEX-/262874931189?hash=item3d34911ff5:g:posAAOSw~y9ZDK5T
It
appears that there is a website for this company as well. www.RadiantHeatStore.com. Happy installing!
