independent testing of ufh electric systems (mat, cable etc.) I can't find any....

[swimmydeepo]

Is there any reputable body who's done a research/test on the reliability o f electric ufh systems? I'm amazed by the lack of info about reliability of electric underfloor hea ting mats, cables, carbon foils and similar. Let's face it....it these fail s you are really in trouble (I am anyhow) - the manufacturer wont cover the cost of re-tiling and they'll find all the excuses to charge you the cost of finding the fault and repair the cable (£300 plus). Are they taking ad vantages of some loopholes here? ProWarm is an example (the only one I know) - looking carefully at their ma nual you'll find plenty of inconsistencies (more details about these on one of my recent threads - check "swimmydeepo fluke" or similar... Companies like Which should take care of covering a proper investigation ab out the performance of electric UFH and claims and warranties offered by ce rtain companies - surely people would like to know a lot more of what's goi ng on. Why we can't find much info....then, if I missed something please send some links.

[Andrew Gabriel]

electric ufh systems?

heating mats, cables, carbon foils and similar. Let's face it....it these fails you are really in trouble (I am anyhow) - the manufacturer wont cover the cost of re-tiling and they'll find all the excuses to charge you the cost of finding the fault and repair the cable (£300 plus). Are they taking advantages of some loopholes here?

manual you'll find plenty of inconsistencies (more details about these on one of my recent threads - check "swimmydeepo fluke" or similar...

the performance of electric UFH and claims and warranties offered by certain companies - surely people would like to know a lot more of what's going on.

The two failure cases I've come across were both down to damage during installation. It may well be more important to find a good installer, rather than worrying about differences between makes, but I haven't had exposure to enough installations for this to be a statistically significant sample.

[swimmydeepo]

These mats aren't a novelty...I'm amazed there isn't any testing/review bei ng carried out - some cables are only 2mm thick, some others are 6mm and mo re...there must be some differences in performance/durability etc. - you'll find plenty of data on many other electrical appliances where a failure wo uld be much less critical than having to smash to pieces your floor to mend the problem... These cables should be bombproof as far as I'm concerned - even in the even t of a temporary glitch e.g. a sudden surge between the thermostat and the mat - (cos' the RCD is on the other side) - shouldn't bring any trouble - i n fact most appliances have some degrees of tolerances - instead my mat onl y lasted 6 months!! it stopped working for no apparent reason - I find it s hocking and I'm still puzzled - honestly I can't see other reasons than a s hoddy cable. Unscrupulous sellers might sell them regardless since defective mats means lots of extra money for them!!

[Brian Gaff]

My comment in one of those threads that they do fail makes me tend to think that the ability to make them really reliable is missing. It could also be of course that its half the problem the way commercial installers throw them together in theout of site out of mind way they do. Brian

[swimmydeepo]

can you point a link to that thread? (thanks) "the ability to make them really reliable is missing"... So these are not "fit for their purpose". That's what I'm starting to think myself...testing these systems would highlight the ugly truth - I can imag ine some clever lobbying going on where all the efforts are made to keep th is grey area undetected - full of unreliable promises which cost us consume rs lots of cash.