underfloor Heating - Pipe Patterns

YourAverageJoe

Anyone have any thoughts on the best pattern to lay underfloor heating pipes in? Meander, Spiral etc.

Overheal

Every way I've seen it done in Schluter (http://www.schluter.com/) premade systems and all simlar systems is to do it in a meander:



Note the green spacers, etc.

If cost is a mjor issue you can also explore not running the heating close to the walls or anywhere you probably wont see foot traffic, or dont want heat. Such as under a fridge or a computer workstation

Spirals dont really make sense tbh. Both from a linear footage perspective and from practicality: you still have to lead the pipe back out of the room. Having it stuck in the middle presents a problem. And Irregularly shaped rooms would cause you nothing but grief. Stick to meander, and try and draw it out on a graph paper to exact scale especially if youre doing something other than a square room.

OT: Schluter is great stuff - but terribly expensive.

BoozyBabe

Hopefully the pic of my layout will explain it better than I'll be able to explain it!!!

My setup also meanders, but the hot water flowing into the room loops at 2ce the width it should, & then the colder water returning from the room back to the manifold meanders back inside the 1st loops.

This is so that there is a more even temp throughout the room.
If you simply run pipes up & down your floor one side of your room will be cooler as the water will have cooled somewhat by the time it reaches there.

If you set the flow temperature low (35c) and run for long periods of time, there should never be any cold spots. Regardless of pipe layout.

I've used a standard meander pattern and have found that the whole floor heats up evenly.