Any advice on under-floor heating (UFH)?

[canadrian]

I am planning to install under-floor heating in my kitchen/dining-room (approximately 22 feet x 12 feet) and want to heat the room with it. It would go under new tile and over concrete substrate. I would appreciate any comments on the wisdom of this decision, and input on water v. electric, and the various systems on the market.

Cheers, Adrian

"I am more the inspirational type of speller. I work on hunches rather than mere facts, and the result is sometimes open to criticism by purists." Robert Benchley

[The Natural Philosopher]

Unless you have room to install at least 50mm of insulation under 75mm of screed, forget the whole idea.

[MikeH]

I opted for a wet system connected to my central heating via its own pump and mixing valve, but I had the whole floor up back to bare earth in order to put down 100mm of insulation, new concrete slab and a thick screed to take the heating pipes.

Retrofitting UFH is not easy if you have uninsulated concrete floors. Don't bother unless you're prepared to take the floor up and put in adequate insulation, otherwise you'll just be heating up the ground underneath your house.

Mike

[Christian McArdle]

You need lots of insulation and a plastic water based system. Don't even think of electric. If you can't fit the insulation and pipework, use radiators instead of UFH.

Christian.

[nemo]

An aunt of mine had electric under-floor heating in her council flat and even at 1960s prices when a Unit was a few old pence, it was horrendously expensive to run. I think you'd need to be a millionaire to afford it at today's prices.

In the end, the Council disconnected it in all the flats and installed conventional central heating.

I saw the water variety being installed in a DIY TV programme once and it didn't look too difficult.

Whatever you do, don't get Makers UK Ltd to do it - or anything else. I'm still waiting for them to finish a four-week job that they started on January 10th. *2005*!!!