While an extra cost item, the building committee decided to install radiant heat in the sanctuary of our new Church.  This system will provide a constant, QUIET source of warmth in the sanctuary.

Radiant heat is most effective in buildings with tall ceilings because heavier cool air drops to the floor and remains there until displaced by warmer air.  This takes longer in a larger space.  Radiant heat is efficient because it warms your body not the air around your body.  You may have felt the warmth given off by a pot-bellied stove or fireplaced with glass doors or the newer oil-filled heaters that look like old-time radiators.  You were experiencing the effect of radiant heat.

The contractor we have selected is SRC Solar, a Santa Cruz-based family-owned company serving the Bay Area.  Their company has extensive experience in residential and commercial thermal systems and a proven track record for radiant heat installations.

John Schantz and his team were at our site earlier today to begin the installation of the radiant heat tubing in the sanctuary.  They completed zones 1, 2, and 3.

Once all plastic was placed and attached to the rebar below, the slab for the eastern side of the building was poured.

Here are a few pictures from the installation for the radiant heat on January 29th.  Additional tubing was installed the next day for the runs under the band and handbell choir areas to the “stage left” and “stage right”, respectively.  The radiant heat under the pulpit will not be installed until much later in the building process when the pulpit itself will be poured.

The pictures below show the overal tubing layout, details of attaching the tubing to the rebar, and the inspection during this installation. The picture with the large black set of tubing (courtesy of Marc Morgan our SBC Project Manager)  clearly shows the location of the boiler room in the back, manifolds for zones 1,2 and 3 to the left, and the feed tubes for the additional manifold in the front of the sacntuary.

The last picture is a view from behind the pulpit that shows the finished eastern slab and the pressure testing that takes place for the two zones in the front of the sanctuary and (way in the background) for the three zones under the main sanctuary floor.

The selecction of the size and location of a zone is based on areas to be separately controlled and the maximum length of tubing that can be used before the internal fluid “cools off”.  In our case the entire sanctuary will be one temperature controlled zone; the length of plastic piping is based on thermal transfer guidelines.