Stevenfyeager
Senior Member
- Location
- United States, Indiana
- Occupation
- electrical contractor
My customer wants a 700 sq ft room with heated tile floor. The tile supplier put me on hold all day. How many circuits needed ? Thanks
10.5kW for a 700 square foot room is a lot of heat. I'd think keeping it down to 2 to 3 kW would be plenty unless maybe it is the only heat for the space, but even then maybe up to 5k would likely be fine. Don't want to have to wear oven mitts on your feet to walk on that floorA quick Google check indicates 15 watts per square foot is a common upper limit for design.
When I built my house and had floor heat in the bathroom, there really wasn't any choice in watts per square foot, the mats were all the same per foot, just different sizes. If it is the type w/ a heating wire laid out on a grid, they might be able to adjust it, but there are standard ways to do these, and it isn't really in the electrician's ability to choose it. It is up to the tile layer and the owner.
I imagine a bath space this large could/would be separated into zones anyway.You can add slave units off of the thermostat to add larger systems.
I can't imagine it's a 700 sq ft bathroom.I imagine a bath space this large could/would be separated into zones anyway.
I believe the testator also proves the gfci protection. If the stat is just pulling in a relay that powers the heat how do you get the gfci protection? I guess the branch breakers. Any down side to that? You will not a a trip indicator at the tstat.Typically for these larger systems you would get a relay module(s) that you mount in a box(s) by the floor and the tstat controls those. I needed 4 on a recent job because each loop was slightly over half a circuit.
27.5 x 27 great room. Thanks for your advice. I’m still uncertain how.
It's easy. It will have a line-in and line-out just the same. And there will be small contacts to connect the control wire, the same way you would connect the sensor wire.A Schluter rep told me for that size room (20x20) I need a thermostat coupled with a power module. ( 2) 240v circuits, one to the tstat and one to the power module with a low voltage line between the two. The module doesn't have to be on the wall, can be in closet or crawlspace. I've never installed a heated floor with such a module.
And the branch breakers would have to provide the ground fault protection?It's merely a remote-controlled relay that duplicates whatever the T-stat does.