underfloor heating for a kitched - withour removing the kitchen units?

[Uncle Peter]

It works here, even though the radiator is at the other end of the hall. Convection currents work well.

[Tim+]

And where is all the energy driving the fan going to go? It all ends up as heat eventually.

Of course that heat produced by the fan will be more expensive than heat produced by your CH but, given that you don't have walls I think it would be way cheaper and less disruptive than installing underfloor heating.

Tim

[John Rumm]

Where all the energy that goes into the electric motor ultimately ends up as?

[ARW]

Part of the electricity bill:-)

[Adrian]

Kinetic energy (transferred to the air) Sound

Oh, and a bit of heat.

[Al N]

stuart noble wrote in news:kVJqu.18195$k7.8978 @fx16.am4:

Ta for the input. Is that electric underfloor heating? I would only consider hot water version, due to running costs, but that's interesting about the thickness.

Al

[stuart noble]

Yep, that's elec. Solid floor, so pipes not an option

[Adrian]

Pipes are an option, but the floor would be going upwards severely.

I put an electric underfloor (WarmUp brand, IIRC) in the shower room at our old place - the element wasn't a mat, it was just a reel of wire. Paint over the cement with latex, tape the element & thermistor down, tile. Everything in the kit. Dead easy.

And not particularly effective. I wouldn't do it again, for _that_ room. I suspect it was just a case of inadequate insulation and not being left on for long enough to properly cope with the thermal mass, though.

[AL_n]

Adrian wrote in news:l8q9lf$s34$1 @speranza.aioe.org:

Yes - that expresses my understanding of it. Al

[AL_n]

"Uncle Peter" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

It looks like I'll have to try that then. Thanks,

Al

[AL_n]

Tim+ wrote in news: [e-mail]- september.org:

I agree. Also, I imagine that having a heater on the floor, is going to result in a lot of heat getting absorbed by the solid floor and not going back into the room, no?

but, given that you don't have walls I think it would

Well, that's certainly true. I'm a bit wary of the fan-assisted idea, because if the fan stops working, affecting a repair must be pretty awkward if it's under a kitchen unit, no? At my age, I hate writhing around on the deck!

Due to the size of my kitchen and its situation in an extension with poor wall insulation and large windows, I think I'd probably need more than one of those kickspace heaters to produce enough heat, and two or three fans running simultaneously, could amount to an irrittating noise level - specially if the sound waves are slighly out of phase, so that 'beats' are produced. I'm just guessing. I know some fans are amazingly silent when new, but some don't always remain that way after time.

Anyway, I appreciate the suggestion. It's certainly an option. I'll try the rad-in-the-hall idea first though...

Al

[Tim+]

The units are installed with flexible tails so that they can be pulled out. A bigger problem might be getting the CH plumbing there in the first place.

Tim

[AL_n]

"Uncle Peter" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Like you, I always leave the living room and kitchen doors wide open, so yes, it might work. However, it's a long narrow kicthen, and the door to the hall is at one end.

It has just occurred to me that there IS some vacant wall space in the kitchen: above the worktops! It would look rather unusual, to say the least, but I could site a radiator above worktop level. Would that be a total no-no?

Al

[Uncle Peter]

What about greenhouse heater bars? They wouldn't be visible. Of course that's electric, but presumably you could have some kind of similar sized water filled radiator pipe like thing?

[AL_n]

Tim+ wrote in news:1171782815409140959.594156timdownie2003-nospampleaseyahoo.co.uk@news .eternal-september.org:

Thanks for clarifying that. That makes them seem a bit more attractive to me.

AIn my case; routing pipes to a kickspace heater would be a lot easier than routing them to anywhere I could put a standard radiator.

Al

[AL_n]

"Uncle Peter" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Thanks; I always listen to unconventional/creative lateral-thinking type solutions. However, I definitely want to use gas rather than electric heating.

One oddball idea I had was to site a rad in the hall on the party wall that separates the hall and kitchen, and then cut a big hole in the 4" brick wall behind the rad, so that more of its heat ends up in the kitchen. There is a 6" gap between the wall and the first kitchen unit. So the hole wouldnlt be visible. I'm heistant to put a radiator in that 6" gap, because the pipe joits would be pretty much inaccessible, and the hat migh warp the kitchen units.

Another idea that might improve the flow of warm air between the hall and kitchen, would be to cut some big vents above the doorway, so that the warmest air, gathered near the hall ceiling could flow through unobstructed. I could even install a small extractor fan there, to suck the warm air from the upper hall, into the kitchen.

Al

[Uncle Peter]

You could just run narrow bore pipes from the central heating up and down along the cupboard tops, creating a sort of radiator. I used to work in a small office which had a long set of radiator pipes feeding the radiator. I'd turn the radiator off as my computers made plenty heat anyway, but the heat from the pipes was absurd, I had to lag them.

[John Rumm]

and all that kinetic energy and sound ends up as? ;-)

[Tim+]

Pixie dust. ;-)

Tim

[AL_n]

"Uncle Peter" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Yes - this exact idea had occurred to me! I may still do something like that. When you say 'narrow bore' do you mean something less than 15mm? If so, why is that better than 15mm? Is it a more efficient way of doing it somehow?

TIA

Al