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Flooring Bathrooms

Heated Floor in Bathroom

5 years ago

Does anyone out there have any experience with electric heated floors? We have had ours for maybe 8-9 years and it has worked well. When I turned the heat on this fall, I noticed that a portion of the floor as you walk into the bath area is not working. The rest seems fine. Hoping it's an easy fix as it is installed beneath 18X18 porcelain tile! Thanks for any advice anyone can give me!

Featured Answer

PRO

Mint tile Minneapolis

5 years ago

Just to clarify, an ohm reading checks the heat wire. NOT the thermostat. Multiple zones can also be controlled with single thermostats and may be the reason for one faulty area .. May matter not to OP but for confusions sake .

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Comments (10)

Susie .
5 years ago
Sounds like a problem. Have you called the manufacturer? Most have good warranties, and they’d be able to help you troubleshoot.
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User
5 years ago
A broken wire is not fixable without removing all of it to redo. Sounds like a good spot for a rug.
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Very basic reply based on a very generic rule of thumb. For generic construction, you can figure a WAG of 30-35BTU/Hr/ft needed in your bath. Again, that's a generic WAG. If your house is older and the bathroom has exterior walls, windows, a poorly insulated crawlspace below and a cold attic above, you may need more. If your house it tight and well insulated, then you may need less. Thus, the 30-35BTU WAG. You say the bb is 1520BTU, for your 100sqft bathroom that equates to 15BTU. Most floor mats give off roughly 12-15BTU on average. Check the specs and you might find one with a higher rating. So if you add 100sqt of 15BTU mat to your bathroom, then you'll be at about 15.2 + 15 = 30.2BTU/Hr/sqft. That might be sufficient, but that's also using the output of the RFH mat as an actual heat source versus simply a source of under-foot comfort. And it's also using both sources, the BB and the RFH mat, at 100% of their rated outputs. If the RFH gets overstressed, CL&P may send you a thank you card along with your monthly bill. Again...a WAG.
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I wish I had known that before now. Unfortunately you often don’t come across these things until there are issues. The GC is suggesting replacing the problem tiles, but doing so may ruin the in floor heating which he’s saying will be our expense. We did the credit card test and there’s about 15-20 that don’t pass.
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We installed both radiant heat in the floors and a large heated towel rack when doing our master bath renovation last year. Would do both again in a heartbeat. The floor definitely heats the bathroom and is so comforting to walk on. It is under large format porcelain tile. My husband made sure with the installer that the heating grid did not leave cold spots near the threshold at the entrance to the bathroom. Worth paying attention to that detail. The heated towel bar is excellent at making sure towels are completely dry. Has made a big difference in our towels feeling fresher between changes.
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I suspect how warm you keep your house and climate explains the variability. Ohio is fairly diverse climate wise but still would be nice to have. My 240V story. The electricians didn't wire for 240 so I had to live with 120 - made for a slow warmup so that we had to leave it on all the time. Made for a warmer bathroom that we wanted. I lived there for 8 years and never got around to running another line (or stealing the tubs that we never used) to get 240. In a large master, I was quoted $3k 10 years ago so we all need to clarify what "inexpensive" is. In central NC, it was completely unique. You don't see it except occasionally on $2M builds.
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PRO
Creative Ceramic & Marble/ Bill Vincent
5 years ago
Yep-- what live_wire_oak said.
moogers
Original Author
5 years ago
Any chance it could be the thermostat?
0
PRO
Mint tile Minneapolis
5 years ago
a simple OHM reading at thermostat will answer your question. 10 min ordeal
PRO
Creative Ceramic & Marble/ Bill Vincent
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
I'll tell you right now it's not the thermostat. If it was, NONE of the floor would heat up.
PRO
Mint tile Minneapolis
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
its common knowledge an ohm reading will indicate the issue,, sometimes theres multiple zones to verify.

Many times a failed radiant floor can be due to heavy rugs. Just as you dont run wires under vanitys and toilets, you dont want the system working overtime to heat up a big heavy rug
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PRO
Creative Ceramic & Marble/ Bill Vincent
5 years ago
Agreed. However, I've yet to see a bathroom with multiple zones. One thermostat, one zone. If part of the floor is working, then the thermostat works. Agreed that taking an ohm reading will verify it. Just in this case, bringing in an electrician and paying him to check it out is wasted money. That said, if the homeowner has a multimeter, and knows how to use it....
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moogers
Original Author
5 years ago
Thank you to everyone who took the time to answer. Considering it’s not exactly a third world problem, I’ll live with it.

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