Brendan Hughes

I don't imagine this much in the UK, where houses are usually built with floorboards on joists, but I'll ask anyway. Does anyone have experience of underfloor heating, preferably water-powered rather than by electric mat?

My floors are concrete, I already have a gas boiler heating system with rads, and if I have to rip up half the current floor anyway for other works, I'm wondering about going the whole hog and installing this.

It's not posted in DIY as I wouldn't do it myself () and I'm more interested in people's experiences of running costs, etc. I assume electric is more expensive, but can a gas boiler designed for 12 rads also power this? And there would be parquet or marble tiles over the top, so it had better not need any maintenance.

If you've looked into this for your home, and found various pros and cons, please do share, thanks

SWRTWannabe

One of the biggest things to consider is that underfloor heating is not as instant as radiators - it can take a day or two for a house to warm up. So, the idea is that the heating would need to be on in advance of a cold spell.

The floors themselves should never feel warm to the touch - if that is the case then the heating is not set correctly.

Can't help with regards to running costs - this is just research that I did when my inlaws were looking at buying a house with underfloor heating.

Brendan Hughes

That's a huge statement, thanks. Normally our heating is set for 7am-9am and 4pm-10pm. You're saying I'd have to run it 24h?

Power Junkie

iTrader: (1)

It is a good system, I you go for the main Manifold with the stepper motor valves, you have a Room stat in each zone (size of manifold etc) I have been in quite a few places with it, You keep it on as you would a normal system each day, The slab warms up and works as a storage heater, the heat from it is just whrer you need it and not up the top of your room, I will be putting it in my new place (using a ground pump)

MattW

Brendan it is cheaper to run it 24*7. We've certainly found our bills lower now we have adopted that approach. I just set it to 21 degrees and leave it.

Edited to say - normal CH

Coffin Dodger

This is assuming your house is very well insulated.

MattW

Very true. It's 10 years old so modern design.

Brendan Hughes

Ours is 50 yrs old and I wouldn't vouch much for its insulation - this wasn't a big thing in Portuguese properties. I've brand new double glazing though.

Maybe I should do more digging about zoning. As PJ says, I read that UFCH comes in zones per room, but I'd need the room on 24h and the boiler on 4h, whereas logically I could only achieve the opposite!

shadower

Hi

where about are you ??
if you would like some information and some idea of price i can post you some stuff on it

Brendan Hughes

Thanks, but I'm in Portugal, so unless you are too, your info may not apply

ricardo

A lot depends on the floor it is on.

In our kitchen we have the electric sort between the slab and the ceramic tiles. It takes it several hours to take the chill off the tiles, mainly because it is also warming the slab, so it really doesn't work the way we'd prefer.

In a new build the slab would be better insulated, and more importantly it would be possible to insulate the heating system from the slab. In that case it would warm up and cool down much quicker, so could be used on a timer like rads.

Power Junkie

iTrader: (1)

You dont need it on 24hrs, as long as its on a few times a day to re heat the slab it will be fine,

P1Fanatic

Ive got electric in the kitchen under ceramic tiles and have it on 24*7 over the winter. Only have it on setting 5 out of 10 and its toastie. 10 I could prob fry eggs on it albeit slowly

It drops down during the weekdays via timer. Cant say Ive noticed any real increase in my eleccy bills either.

Make sure you plan coverage well esp kitchen sink as your toes normally go right up to the unit, same for cooker.

Simon

Mog

Absolute rubbish.....underfloor heating when designed and installed correctly is faster to react than radiators.

The floor temp depending upon surface material should never rise above 27 deg C and so a tiled floor can feel warm.

mog

Suresh

We have (supplementary) water-warmed floors in our bathrooms and toilets . Coiled plastic pipes were embedded in the concrete floors and then tiled over. Floor heating runs off the main CH boiler and is controlled by a normal room thermostat. Rooms have radiators too, so the underfloor is just there to take the edge off. Don't think it would be enough to warm the room by itself.

David Lock

If you have a cat you'll be very popular

Flatcapdriver

Brendan, I've tried this in a similar albeit older property than yours and all I can say is, don't go for an electric system because although its cheaper I don't believe it will work efficiently enough. Having said that, a wet system would be the way to go but you've got to be prepared to spend some money on it and don't go for the cheapest quote.

A full wet system will the way I go next, so any experience you have will be useful.

AudiLover

Correct, we are in 2007 now.

Brendan Hughes

FCD - I have to see if I can persuade Mog to have a busman's holiday in the sun...

Mog

Sounds interesting......

RON

Well, i fitted underfloor heating in our house, upstairs and down, ours is fitted in timber floors, which don't hold the herat as well as concrete ones, i have since fitted a couple of systems in concrete, there 'heat' slightly better, but they stay warm for longer, which can be good, but i fear it makes the system slightly less controlable, ie, when the stat switches the zone off, there's still a lot of heat left in the screed.....

Any questions, ask, we got our system from Warmafloor UK - Underfloor Heating Systems