Laying scheme for a warm water floor with a snail

There are two main types of floor heating - electric and hot water. In the latter, hot water flowing through the pipeline serves as a heat carrier. Of the various schemes for laying pipes for heating a room, a warm floor, a snail is considered the most effective.

Main advantages and disadvantages

Any technical solution has its strengths and weaknesses - underfloor heating is no exception.

Advantages of water heating:

• the best level of comfort among heating systems;
• long service life;
• the possibility of temperature control;
• saving space due to the absence of heating radiators along the walls.

The disadvantages of such a heating system include:

• Prolonged stay in a room with a warm water floor can provoke a relapse of diseases of the musculoskeletal system, in particular, varicose veins.
• It is necessary to use materials with a low heat transfer coefficient for the finishing coating (indicated in the material marking).
• During installation, about 10 cm of the height of the room is lost.
• The system has high inertia - the room heats up from 3 to 5 hours.
• Furniture made of any materials except wood, with constant heating, emits harmful substances (the amount is not critical).
• Equipping an apartment with a water floor requires special permission from housing and communal services.

It is impossible to supply the warm floor from the central heating - an autonomous boiler is required.

Snail or snake - which is better

When installing water heating pipes, one of the two most common schemes is used - a snail or a snake.

Laying a warm floor with a snail is considered easier. The installation of this scheme can be carried out independently, without the involvement of specialists. When laying tubes of underfloor heating, energy losses are smoothed out, there is no temperature "zebra".

The snake is less effective - the coolant is supplied from one side, as the distance from the mixing unit decreases the temperature noticeably decreases - the opposite half of the room is heated significantly worse. You can lay the pipes with a double snake, which will partially smooth out the heat loss. The disadvantage of the snake is the complexity of installation due to the bending of pipes by 180 ° plus high labor intensity.

The snake is not placed in sanitary facilities, where it is necessary to bypass various devices and plumbing.

Snail laying scheme

With a spiral installation system of water heating pipes, heat carriers with hot water and a cooling return flow are located parallel to each other over the entire area of ​​the room. The spacing between structural elements can be changed - for example, it can be reduced near an external wall, but this requires additional accurate calculation. In cold areas, it is advisable to have a separate snail.

Code of practice

Installation of water heating pipes is most often carried out using a concrete screed, which makes it problematic to eliminate design errors. Therefore, all calculations, selection of pipes, pumping and mixing unit and installation schemes require a serious approach.

When calculating floor heating, certain rules should be taken into account:

• places of permanent location of furniture (walls, sofa, etc.) and plumbing fixtures (toilet, bidet, etc.) are bypassed, pipes are not installed there;
• the average area of ​​1 kennel should not exceed 15 m² (to maintain the pressure in the system);
• several snails are placed to heat large areas;
• the approximate flow rate of pipes at a step of 10 cm is 10 m / m²;
• min bending radius of the water heating pipe is considered as five of its diameters;
• with good thermal insulation in mild climates, the pipeline spacing can be increased to 15 cm.

The snail works most effectively at an initial temperature of the coolant of 55 ° C and a difference in the range of 5-10 ° C.

The sequence of work on the installation of the snail

The most popular is the laying technique, in which the mounted water heating system is poured with concrete.

Work order:

1. The rough base is cleaned and leveled.
2. Thermal insulation plates are placed, the joints are hidden with polyurethane foam, a damper summer is laid in the calculated places, which prevents cracking of the heavy as a result of heating.
3. Above the surface (raised by 2-3 cm), a reinforcing mesh is mounted.
4. Mats for laying or a base for fastening pipes are placed on the grid.
5. According to the scheme, the snails place the floor heating pipes and fix them. To do this, use clamps, clips, harpoons or latches (fastening for panels).
6. The system is filled with a coolant and pressurized - in this case, the pipes take on the working size.
7. The system is poured with concrete.
8. The surface is covered with the selected topcoat - linoleum, tiles.

Problems during the operation of the heating system with a volute are the result of violations during installation.

Manifold connection

The beam connection scheme allows precise adjustment of the coolant, but it is complicated and requires an additional number of pipes and fittings.

With a large area, heating is carried out not by one large snail, but is divided into several.

All heating units are not connected to a heating boiler, but to a collector, which is also called a heating comb. The device allows you to uniformly adjust the flow of the coolant along the spirals of different lengths.

Choosing a comb, they are guided by the number of circuits that require connection. It is better to take the collector one more circuit and drown out the excess.

For underfloor heating systems, you can use one of two types of comb:

• with manual adjustment;
• with automatic regulation.

If underfloor heating is the only type of heating, a manual comb is sufficient. If the room is heated by batteries, and the floor heating is an auxiliary source of heat, it will be extremely difficult to manually adjust the collector, it is better to choose the automatic option.

Heating combs are placed in the collector cabinet, the feed is usually attached from the top, and the return one - from the bottom.

For the operation of underfloor heating, forced circulation of the heat carrier using a pump is required.

Heating with a volute-mounted water floor distributes heat evenly over the entire area, safe to use and economical even in rooms with high ceilings. The absence of visible heating elements makes such a heating system aesthetic and comfortable for any interior.