Sure. But two issues... you may have less resistance to heatflow dowwnwards, and end up with an over ceiling heater :-) Use lots of insulation underneath the pipes..as much as possible.
Unless you run at very high temperatures, the insulation above may limit the actual heat output. This won;t cause loss of efficeincy in terms of burning more fuel - just taht the return temps will be higher.
Suggest this OK if you double up on pipe conecntration.
U/F heated tiled bathrooms are luxury beyind belief in cold climates.
Point is I must build the whole interior of the ensuite so putting underfloor heating in is a small part of the whole project. The only thing that concerns me is that it will be worth the 3 extra days work installing it. I am thinking of using Hep20 UFH pipe with a temp control on the exit side using the HEP20 regulator. Floor build up will be-- Insulation between the rafters under the pipe with industrial foil below the insulation topped off with 2 layers of 18 mil ply- screws on the upper layer at 4 inch centers.Using Italian tiles about £35 a square metre. Will the boiler feed water temp be to high or can I just feed it thro the system- it will travel 15 metres before it reaches the ensuite and pass 8 radiators en-route.
Ensure that the pipe temperature is nice and low to avoid excessive
Oh dear my hopes for warm feet have been dashed---
I am not installing a separate pump and mixing valve just for the ensuite--enough trouble with the present 1974 cental heating crap pipework as it is--drawing air into the pump-needs redesigned--->
electric UFH is much to expensive to install/run for me.
Also, you seem to think that the hot water passes through each radiator on
Nope quite clear on that. Just extended the main circuit for 3 extra rads--waiting to see if the boiler will cope--it should on paper---. Just discovered wonderfull HEP20 plastic pipe--by by copper---hopefully forever. My last drunken plumber managed to get 18 leaking soldered joints out of the
22 he made!!.
How big is the en-suite?
I'm planning to lay electric around 80W/m2 in mine. At approximately 1 square metre for the entire floor space in the room, it will cost less to run than an old style light bulb and I'll just run it on a 1 hour boost timer. It'll be great for winter Delhi belly without freezing the feet.
Yes, good stuff. Not too keen on pushfit joints (I prefer compression), but I like the pipework for concealed locations. So easy to thread between joists.
Bloody hell, I've never managed to bollocks up a copper joint. Could be not be bothered to clean or flux or something?
Christian.
how big is the en-suite?
10 square metres approx. But the kit will cost about £500 and Im not convinced that an electric element will last all that long underfoor. 250volts plus drains with a shower above-Im not convinced it will have much of a life--but--80 watts/metre squared will be.8 killowatt--its tempting---.That was about 10 years ago before I retired.He put together a complicated
15 mil cold hot water system below the kitchen sink-did all the work in situ-very restricted--I now know he should have fabricated the pipework on a bench then used a couple of compression fittings in situ.I took him home 10 miles-before-turning the water on-naturally he did not test the job!. My present brickie and sparkie are real pros and make the job look easy--just waiting on the plasterer--he gets bored on holiday!!----the one trade I will never master I even manage to get a wall socket patch wrong--plastering is a real art--in my opinion--a good plasterer can hide many sins-not that it applies to my extension its a real belt and braces job--the building inspector took one look at the retaining straps and was well impressed--you ve even tied them to the wall!!.
Lead free solder !
And I'm not sure the non-toxic, non-acid flux is much cop nowadays.
DG
You can get ready made kits that take care of the complexities of doing it with a CH fed system. For example:
You should get it cheaper than that. You should be looking around the 300 quid mark for 80W/m2 over 10m2.
Christian.
Matey.
If you are only doing an ensuite, then just arrange for e.g. a longish arrangement of a loop of copper pipe under the floor, and stick a motorised valve and a thermostat on it. In fact the plastic MAY be OK as well.
You can go a bit higher temp wise if you are not in screed, and the pipe is not too close to the woodwork.
Especially if you tap into the return side of the CH circuit where temps will be a little lower.
The thing about the temp reduction stuff is that its necessary for screeded floors to prevent cracking. I think my water goes underfloor at 45C or thereabouts.
If I were doing this on an unpstairs room. I'd do the following.
1/.remove floorboards2/. lay about 2" of celotex, or white EP foam if you are cheapskating, between the joists on the downstairs ceilings
3/. Lay a loop of pipe - probably copper to be able to do the tight bends down alomgside each joist and nack up alongside the adjacent one in the same gap. Keep spacings about 2" from the joists if possible, and use more white foam/celotex to insulate joists from the pipework.4/. Since I am the sort of person I am, rather than notch every joist to make the pipework connect, I'd bring it all up and run along a skirting, and box in later. Half the time there is boxing already to cover wste and water pipes running around the room anyway. I find that tiled boxing is very useful as it forms a good place to put the coffee mug when having a crap.
4/ fit a motorised valve, and hook up to the lighting/fan curcuit after the isolator. And use a thermostat to control that. OR you could use a TRV I suppose.Mounted off the boxing. On reflection TRV is good, because it acts as a flow limiter as it appraoches cutoff, which will mean that the temp variation underfloor will ne less violent5/. Tap into the CH circuit using a pair of ball valves so you can isolate and/or balance the thing in case it hogs the flow.
6/. screwdown 17mm chipboard (water resistant)7/. Run the system up for a week or two to check for warping and shrinkage in the chip.
8./. Then tile using about 10mm bed of Ardurit flexible as recommended elsewhere, and if the joists are not too bouncy, it wont' crack.Now the only thing exposed to potential high temperatures is the chip (you CAN use ply, but believe me an underfloor heated chip floor stays DRY. Mine is not heated and is tiled chip, and the only problems I got were using non flexible thin bed, and a leaking toilet that swelled it and cracked tte tiles off. New tiles, cement as described, fixed leak and its AOK)
Iit will be complicated of your joist are herring boned, or if the UF void is fill of pipes and wires ...but thats why you call yourself a D-I-Yer.
You may want to add a heated towel rail ino the overall loop too.
This sounds a very practical arrangement especially the suggestion of tapping into the return flow---although on my system of 12 radiators the return flow is quite cool-but-is this just because I am comparing it to the
60 degree output pipe.The floor is about 15 metres from the boiler and is 10 square metres roughly2.5x2.5 with wet shower bidet wash basin and wc.Standard suspended floor over concrete solum in my bungalow. Controls/valve and pipe connections/supply are not a problem they can be housed underfloor in the bedroom next door. Joists are the usuall 600 centres so plastic should loop round no problem.Could use small bore copper tho-or even 15mm it would easily bend in situ using a d-i-y home made chip board pipe bender. I like the TRV motorised valves burn out!!.
Is chip board better for this application since it is uniform as compared to plywood which could expand at different rates over 10 square metres.
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