Any opinions generally on underfloor heating?
In our case we are making our kitchen open plan by removing an interior wall. While mess is being created we thought about underfloor heating running off the CH.
Wondering how well it would work when only heating part of a larger space, but I feel like it's always going to be better than a rad.
Are you occupying the house all the time? UFH is not a good idea if everyone is out all day and just need heat in the evenings
In message , R D S writes
Lots of suppliers will design a layout and provide the kit. You probably need to start a bit further back.
What is the existing floor construction/insulation? Is the area generally closed off from the rest of the house? Are you changing the boiler?
We have a polypipe system in screed over 100mm PIR foam. Part ceramic tile and the rest engineered wood. 3 room ground floor annexe. Combi boiler with internal pump and the heating output set at 50 deg.C Works very well.
Elsewhere I am installing under floor heating to both floors of a chalet bungalow. Ask again next October!
Not true IME Depending on whether it's installed within a screed (high thermal mass) or simply on insulation with spreader plates etc in contact with floor (low thermal mass) depends on speed of response. If the former you simply advance start-up and shut-down times, if the latter it can be treated much like a regular radiator.
Radiators in the bedrooms give quick heat-up times for the short duration you're in them but not asleep however for "living rooms" which are primarily occupied for many hours at a time then UFH is perfect.
Also when going "open plan" one tends to take away essential walls required for hanging radiators and in a kitchen typically all wallspace is used for cupboards and appliances so UFH is superior to the noisy and somewhat un-hygeinic and noisy option of kickspace heaters blowing dirt, dust, hair and other microscopic contaminants into the kitchen "cloud" :(
It is better than radiator except for bedrooms where radiators are king because floor space is typically covered with beds, thick carpets, clothes etc and you only want bedroom warm for an hour in the morning and evening which UFH often doesn't tend to lend it's self too.
Also... if radiators are old and system was designed to run "efficiently" (with regards to controlling room temp.) at 80 degrees or whatever i.e. small un-finned radiators from 40 years ago then you're relying on the UFH manifold thermostat to keep UFH flow at a "safe" temperature for floor covering whereas if you're over-spec'd radiators to operate at a much lower UFH flow rate you can wind everything back to
55 degrees from the boiler and everything's happy and safe and condensing boiler might save you a few shillings a year operating in the magical zone of efficiency.
It will work fine, providing that it's feasible to install it. When we did ours, we were converting an integral garage to a kitchen - and so needed to raise the floor level to match the rest of the house. We were thus able to accommodate about 80mm of rigid foam insulation, with the UFH heating pipes buried in screed on top of the insulation - and with quarry tiles on top of the screed.
If you have a solid floor which is already at the right level, things will be much more difficult.
It makes for a very pleasant floor to walk on, and it maintains a steady temperature very well.
Its large thermal mass makes it slower to heat up when you need that though, but mostly I find we don't.
Below our under-floor heating are slabs of insulation 25cm thick. As well as your interior wall, are you planning to remove a large quantity of whatever is beneath your floor?
Daniele
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