[AT] More radiant heat.

[Andy Glines]

Thanks for all of your input on radiant heat.  Someone asked me about the 
stove.  The only ID I found on the stove is a brass plate on the front that 
says Omega.  I looked around on the net and couldnt find a picture for you.  
The stove is about 1/4" plate construction about 36"W 18"D & 36"H?  The 
stack comes out the top and the top plates are slanted instead of having a 
flat surface.  The stove has a heavy steel door with round air vents the 
thread open and closed (I often see these on inserts)  Underneath is a 
damper & ash pan.  This stove has a built in blower as well.  The 
consrtuction of the blower is pretty neat.  The blower blows air from front 
to back through a duct that actually goes through the firebox.  This system 
must be pretty darn good at taking heat from the fire and putting it in the 
room.  Overall the unit is heavy duty and pretty nice.  It was probably made 
for inside of a house.  Someone else mentioned bubble wrap as insulation.  I 
actually saw this product advertised for this purpose while I was searching 
for info on the web.  I was really surprised that one of our members from a 
Scandanavian coutry said that they use up to 250mm of foam under the slab.  
250mm = 9.84"  (1" = 25.4mm)!  Those guys definitely aren't losing heat to 
the ground.  One site that I visited suggested that you insulate around the 
perimiter but leave an area in the center uninsulated.  They said that the 
soil would act as a heat sink in this area storing heat in case of a power 
outage.  A member of SIAM is a retired concrete finisher and I asked for his 
input.  He said that everyone who has it loves it and there aren't many 
problems.  One thing he suggested was a thicker slab as he thought that the 
imbedded tubing may weaken the floor a bit.  I tend to agree whith his 
thinking.  Has anyone heard that the floor should be thicker?  How much?