What do I need to put in radiant floor heat?

[Wild Weasel]

My wife wants a heated floor in our bathroom. I've looked into it, and the installation doesn't seem too complicated.

Lay out the wiring or have a custom mat ordered, and then tile over it.

Easy as pie, right?

My biggest concern right now is how to wire it up. I have no idea how much load it would draw, but I'd expect it to be somewhat significant.

Could it be wired into the existing circuit for either the lights or the exhaust fan of the bathroom, or would it need a dedicated circuit run just for this?

[wwsmith]

Been a while since I looked, but last time I checked the was a bit more than a debate over a separate circuit. The system we looked at for our bathroom required around 100 Amps. Ya, you need a dedicated circuit regardless of the size.

[Wild Weasel]

I found this article suggesting I can just tap into an outlet. Is that hogwash then?

http://www.rd.com/content/openContent.do?contentId=17898

[wwsmith]

Well, I certainly do not claim to be any kind of expert on all of this. My example above was simply one kind that was presented to us during the build process. I am not aware of what all out there is available. I do know for sure, at least in my area, that the unit must be on its own circuit to meet local codes. Yours may be different. The one you have posted certainly seems viable and a nice alternative to what we looked at, assuming it is a good system for the long run. Again, I know little about them.

[Fightgar]

Look up Suntouch mats - you can wire them into an existing 120v circuit...they only heat to like 95 or 100 degrees, relatively cool, so they don't draw much. You can usually find them at Lowe's, or you can order from HD.

[Badabing]

Use NuHeat. It's what all electricians use around here. A regular floor mat draws about 3amps. Comes in standard sizes you can put on the floor during tiling, just snake the 2 cables up the wall to a box and install the t-stat. Can even tap off an existing circuit if you don't have a large bathroom. http://www.nuheat.com/products/mats.html

[tinmack]

Hey Weasel.....your title should have been...

I'm going to install tankless radiant floor heat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:cool:

[sparkync1]

we put them in all the time and they can be wired 120 or 220 volt and the most popular brand is warm tiles i have installed both types the mat and the wire kind and the mat is by far the easiest just pull a 12 wire circuit to your thermostat location and then the tile heat comes with wiring that goes from your mat to the thermostat its pretty simple

[dglschcr]

I ve been putting these floors in for about 7 yrs.now.you can install the mat yourself,but let a sparky do the hook for you the warranty is only valid if a certified electrician does the wiring.and it should be on separate circuit.but to be safe check your local codes.happy tiling.:)