Underfloor heating

[janie]

I'm considering installing electric UFH in my conservatory. It currentl

has no heating & has been unusable this winter.

I have various people suggesting everything else from rads to ele panel heaters.

Does anyone have any experience of using electric UFH - does it kee you warm & is it expensive to run?

Thank

-- janie

[Weatherlawyer]

I have no idea about the facility but seem to remember it is only worthwhile for sections of a building that are in use 24/7. It's a bit like storage heating in that regard.

What was wrong with using direct heating such as Infra-Red? You switch it on when you need it and it works immediately, the glass is opaque to it, it's cheap to set up, mobile and it makes no mess.

[David Hansen]

On Sat, 17 Mar 2007 22:49:40 +0000 someone who may be janie wrote this:-

Underfloor heating is particularly attractive in spaces that are occupied for long periods and have few other heat gains. The long warm up period means that electric is rather expensive to run, wet would be far better.

For rooms used intermittently there is a lot to be said for a power radiator like

which will warm the room up rapidly when wanted. At other times it should be off, but could be left at a low level to help plants.

The conservatory should be a separate heating zone to the rest of the house.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Its certainly expensive to run.

watt for watt daytime electricity is about three times the price of a wet system powered by oil or gas, Night time rates CAN be pretty competitive, and a slab of concrete makes a great storage heater..if you don;t mind being in shirtsleeves at 7am and in a fur coat by midnight ;-)

Also, with UFH, the amount of heat that goes into the room, as opposed to into the ground, depends on the insulation underneath it compared to the insulation on top. Including furniture rugs and the like.

So in any case, unless you have a new build, you are faced with digging up the floor and putting in insulation (inches of it), at which point the opportunity cost of a wet system is low and the benefits in terms of reduced bills are high..

I'd only use electric UFH if

- I wasn't paying the bills

- it was all coming from nuclear power stations at one third the current prices

- or under a wooden floor where I could easily arrange insulation and use was very occasional.

- it wasn't a high heat area covered in glass.

Conservatories are a bugger anyway..unless you line them with THICK curtains at night (and by day) half the time they are freezing because even triple glazing is ten times as conductive as a well insulated wall..and half the time they are boiling because of solar gains.

[janie]

Thanks very much for your replies - there's plenty there that I didn't know. A re-think is in order I guess.

Thanks again!