Help: In-floor heating stopped working?

[RX_EVOLV]

Just want to pick you guys' brain on this before spending hundreds of dollars for an assessment.

We just moved into a house that's recently renovated (2016) and one of the bathrooms has in-floor heating. The whole system stopped working a few days ago. It would say heating but nothing happens. Doesn't even maintain the temp and the floors has since dropped from the normal 24C to 16C. I've tried the following so far.

1) The controller (Comfort One) does not show any error or GFCI tripping. It just says heating but the floors just won't heat up

2) If I click the GFCI Test button on the side, the "GFCI TRIP" comes up right away, so that part is working

3) I've tried turning it off (for a few hours) and on again. I've also tried turning the circuit breaker in the panel off and on again to reset the system. The clock reset'd to 00:00 after I switched it back on but the floors still won't come up.

4) I've opened up the controller and all the wires seem properly (and professional) connected and labelled.

I can't imagine the system be that easy to break (it's relatively low tech?) so love to see if you guys know anything before I start calling around...

[BerserkerCatSplat]

If you have a multimeter, check to see if voltage is being applied to the heating terminals when the unit says it is "heating". I would assume there's a relay in the controller somewhere that relays control signal to heat application, the relay could be blown and not sending power to the subfloor element even though the controller brain is sending signal power to the relay.

[RX_EVOLV]

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If you have a multimeter, check to see if voltage is being applied to the heating terminals when the unit says it is "heating". I would assume there's a relay in the controller somewhere that relays control signal to heat application, the relay could be blown and not sending power to the subfloor element even though the controller brain is sending signal power to the relay.

Sounds good. If that's the case then it means my controller is broken and I just need to replace it?

[BerserkerCatSplat]

Well, if it's the relay hopefully you can just replace that component. Tough to say without seeing any pictures of the controller unit guts. I'm just speculating based on general electronics knowledge, I don't have any direct experience with electric in-floor heat.

[jacky4566]

If its electric then the heating element is nothing more than a resistor. With power off! check the resistance of the heating loop. It should be in the range of 50- 500 ohm depending on the length of cable. Anything less than 20 or over 1000 would indicate a short/ open circuit and shes proper fucked.

I second BerserkerCatSplat, probably a dead relay. You should see a largeish black box on the circuit board and it will click when the heater is cycled.

[RX_EVOLV]

Thanks guys. I'll check it out when I get home. The clicking sound still comes on when heating stage is activated; just nothing happens. Sounds like a relay problem.

When I unplugged the controller from the wall, it's just a 8-12 pin plug to the base station, and the base statement is attached to the exposed in wall electrical wire. I could try to crack open the controller to expose the circuit board, but sounds like if the relay is fried, and as I have no tools or general training, i'm going to need to replace the entire controller.

Or any of you guys want to make some easy cash and replace my relay on the circuit board (if that's the problem)

[jeffh]

I had a similar situation with the control board on my furnace doing wacky things when I had my central air conditioner running. I figured it was a relay built into the board. Since I don’t have that type of skill to solder tiny points, and figured getting a tech to do it would be pricey in itself, I decided to just replace the board myself. It was fairly simple for me to do, and cost me under $200. I assume your situation would be even simpler and the part would cost less.

[Rocket1k78]

Have you tried contacting comfort one technical support? We have the Nuheat system and ran into a problem and they were able to help us trouble shoot over the phone and fixed the problem

[RX_EVOLV]

So the night after you guys suggested the relay, I turned of the unit right before bed and turned it back on next morning before I left work, figured i would give it one last try. So after work I got all my tools ready to take this sucker apart, and for some strange reason it was working again!!

I must've restarted it at least 15 times before.. including cutting off the breaker, turning it on and off, turning it off overnight, unplugging and re-plugging the unit (while blowing at the connector Nintendo cartage style) and somehow it worked that one time.. and still so far so good....

[blownz]

I have had one of these systems for over 13 years and once around 5 years ago I had the same issue. I ended up assuming I had to buy a new controller and since it was summer I wasn't in a big rush so I turned it off and thought I would deal with it in the fall. Turned it on a few months later and it worked perfect and is still working perfect. It runs 24/7 all year round and no issues. Hopefully yours keeps working for a long time now.

[RX_EVOLV]

It stopped again on Sat.. but this time rebooting it once worked. Hope it stays that way.

One thing I noticed was the floors wouldn't get over 24C even though sometimes it's set to heat up to 28C. I know nothing about heated floors.. is 28C just too high of a temp ? or something strange is going on and it should be able to get that high on a normal unit?

[Rocket1k78]

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It stopped again on Sat.. but this time rebooting it once worked. Hope it stays that way.

One thing I noticed was the floors wouldn't get over 24C even though sometimes it's set to heat up to 28C. I know nothing about heated floors.. is 28C just too high of a temp ? or something strange is going on and it should be able to get that high on a normal unit?

Im not familiar with your brand but some do have a limit to how hot you can go. The first couple years of the schluter heat they had it limited to a lower temp

[blownz]

I have to check my setting, but I think I have it set to 24 or 25. We use it year round even in the summer with the AC on. One thing we do though is completely close the heat register in the bathroom so that the floor stays on most of the time. Maybe look at that.