Underfloor Heating - Gas or Electric?
ianthy
7 years ago
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PROThermogroup Ltd
7 years agoRelated Discussions
Electric Underfloor Heating
Comments (1)We install a lot of electric under floor heating systems. It's not exactly hard but you do have to do know how to do it correctly. I'm assuming the substrate is adequate so I won't talk about that. First you will need to have the electrics prepared correctly by a qualified electrician as it will need to satisfy building regulations, such as safe location of power and controls, and having RCD protection either at the consumer unit or locally. Your electrician will be able to advise. Next, take a multimeter and check the continuity of the mats to check for any faults before installation. You might choose to put some insulation boards down first, especially on the ground floor; trowel out tile adhesive and put the insulation boards down, pressing out air bubbles to achieve good contact all around. Next, (once the adhesive from the last stage is cured) starting from where the electrics are located (the tails of the last mat will connect into the controller). lay out the heating mats ensuring that you don't overlap the heated elements, and keep to around 10cm of the perimeter of the room. Do leave room for the temperature probe before you install the mats as it mustn't touch any of the heated cables. We often use loose cable rather than the mats which is a bit more flexible than mats for running around shapes in the room. Once the heated mats and temperature probe are set-out, carry out another continuity test to check for damage and then cover them with floor-levelling compound. After that you're good to tile....See MoreClod Tiles vs Laminate - Underfloor heating with Air source heat pump
Comments (3)Regardless of what finish you choose, the thing with wet UFH is that it relies on heat building up in and being stored in the floor slab. You don’t really ever turn it off in the winter, you just set the room thermostats for different temperatures at different times of the day. In the summer you just set the thermostat to frost setting so it never kicks in. We have tiles and I like having a cool floor in the summer heat, as do my dogs. In autumn and spring other finishes may feel more cosy as sometimes the tiled floor doesn’t feel obviously warm when the air is up to temp, tho it’s not properly cold either....See MoreInsulating garage's concrete floor for electric underfloor heating
Comments (0)Hello! I have a 12m2 garage with a concrete floor that I would like to insulate and use electrical underfloor heating as it will become a home office. I'm doing it all myself but I’m not sure what is the best procedure and/or order of putting it all together. My first idea was first to repair cracks and holes with mortar, then self level it as the concrete surface is full of tiny waves/grooves, lay a damp proof membrane, lay the 50mm PIR boards on top, then electric underfloor heating mats stick to the PIR boards, self-level again and then a laminated or vinyl floor. The concerns and questions I have or were raised by talking to some people * I may not need to self level the concrete slab to take these waves/grooves imperfections, the PIR boards once layed on top of them and walked on top should absorb these. True? * 50mm PIR boards for a 12m2 garage could be overkill? * PIR board should not be in direct contact with electric underfloor heating, I guess it can be burnt/melted by the wires? It seems I would need to add a separation layer, some suggested some concrete faced insulation boards so the heat from electrical wires would spread more evenly on the surface and not damage the PIR boards underneath * Should I chipboard on top of the PIR boards (which has the wires and self level already in place) as they are weak and could get damaged easily with point pressure even with the self-level on top? * Is chipboard the best option to add a hard layer between the PIR boards and the laminated floor? * I was checking screed, but the requirement seems to be 50mm of screed on top of underfloor heating wires and that with already 50mm PIR board means a fair bit of headroom gone, plus the curing time for screed of several weeks. I was checking liquid screed with faster drying times, but I'm not sure it is worth the costs...See MoreGround floor, flooring (bamboo) and underfloor heating advice please
Comments (12)I am about to have electric UFH by ukwarmfloor.com - a norwegian system that has been around for ages over there. ( I do not work for them in any way!) Running costs are MASSIVELY cheaper than our versions. Over there, they instal the mats under roofs, drives and on the decks of icebreakers - they know a thing or two about snow and cold, and so I am giving it a whirl in my guest bedroom and large en suite. This is a response from the man answering all my many questions: "The system as shown would use a total of around 375Wper hour to keep all the areas heated to a constant 26C at floor level. By way of comparison the most efficient cable underfloor system would use 975W per hour to achieve this, whilst a boiler & radiator system would use 750W per hour. Comparisons in terms of BTUs can be a little confusing as most standard tables stating average BTU requirements for domestic situations are based on the heat output of traditional radiators etc. So our system only uses 375W (given as approx 1279BTUs in traditional thermal conversion tables)to do the job that a traditional boiler/radiator system would need 750W to do(given as approx 2559 BTUs). Our system is primarily designed specifically to produce the same air temperature in a room as other systems but to use less power to do so. The two basic reasons for this are: The heating element is self-regulating - only ever drawing the minimum required power at any individual point across the floor to maintain the set temperature. 2. The heating element heats the entire floor area and so effectively turns the whole floor of the the room into a radiant surface, heating the entire volume of air in the room from the bottom up. This is unlike radiators, which only heat a small surface, typically at the sides of a room, or a cable or piped underfloor system which can only heat thin strips of floor, leaving most of the floor surface unheated. Because our system heats the entire area it need only heat to 26C to produce effective air temperatures in the room. Other systems have to heat to much higher temperatures to do this and so require more energy to do so." I have spent an inordinate amount of time reading everything on their system, and I am going to use it. There is also a video of a customer installing it on youtube and the link is on their site somewhere....See More
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