Vitrex floorwarm underfloor tile heating - anyone know much about it?

[lardconcepts]

Long story cut short: Popped into Focus today expecting to get nothing, cam= e out with a load of tiles and 5m2 of Vitrex floorwarm underfloor electric = heating for nearly off. Hurrah, bathroom 4.9m2, perfect.

Get home, open pack and read blurb, realise that once shower, sink, toilet = taken into account, it's < 3m2 heatable floorspace. Can't cut heating wire = of course. But CAN take heating cable off mat to do awkward areas, "but cab= le must NEVER be spaced less than 5cm". Cable is currently spaced by the ma= t to be 8cm.

So if I (or rather, someone who has a clue) took the cable off the mat and = lay it all at 5cm spacing, would that help to get my bathroom floor warmer,= quicker during the 4am-8am off-peak period I plan to run it, when it would= be needed most? (It's FREEZING in that bathroom usually).

Why aren't I phoning Vitrex? Because Focus have 1 3m2 pack left, they're ho= lding until tomorrow AM, and where am I ever going to get the opportunity t= o get almost 60% off? If it was you, would you:

A: Take back the oversize mat, leaving you with a =A325 credit you had to s= pend there and then at a store with nothing else left you wanted?

B: Keep the oversize mat, buy the smaller mat, and chance the oversize mat = on ebay?

C: Keep the oversize mat and risk doing the "packing the element at 5cm" bo= dge and go for a quicker-warming floor.

D: Keep the oversize mat, lay it as normal in the bathroom tiled floor, the= n extend the rest of the heating cable through an adjoining wall and lay it= under a carpeted floor in the next room?

Any other thoughts?

(incidentally, if you're wondering why 60% when it should be 50%, the manag= er put an extra 15% off a door with a ding, but when we got home we realise= d it had applied an extra 15% to the post-discounted price of the entire re= ceipt, which I suppose make a total of 57.5% off the total for the flooring= ? Anyway, we'd lose that on exchange, I'm sure).

[The Natural Philosopher]

lardconcepts wrote: would you:

there and then at a store with nothing else left you wanted?

and go for a quicker-warming floor.

extend the rest of the heating cable through an adjoining wall and lay it under a carpeted floor in the next room?

E. Not go anywhere near electrical floor heating in the first place, or Focus.

[lardconcepts]

You know, I ALMOST put that in my original post. But I've explored all other options for heating it, and underfloor heating on off-peak works out by far the best. As for focus, well, in 8 days I won't have a choice anyway...

[ARWadsworth]

So it was not just my girlfriend upto those tricks then?

I would go for the smaller mat.

[Dean Heighington]

Wow, that was 'a long story short'? :-) If it was me... Phone Focus and ask them if they can give you £25 of vouchers for the credit. If yes (and Focus is not too far from you) swap the 5 for the 3m. If no, then lose some of the excess around the wc pan and basin and the rest under the carpet in the adjoining room. I usually lose it under the bath when there's one in the room. You may want to pack under the carpet though, so that the rise to the element is not noticeable... Depends what the carpet and underlay is like... A bag of levelling compound on the floor under the carpet, with the element bedding into it might be the way to go if you do this!

Deano

[Dean Heighington]

Ah! Your Focus is closing down then? Thought they were all almost gone ;) In that case, spend your £25 on an RCD fused spur to monitor the feed to the underfloor heating then :)

[lardconcepts]

Yeah, I can't half ramble when I get going...

On further reading of the blurb, it says "never put carpet above it or you'll get dangerous hotspots" (or words to that effect).

BUT... I was just setting off to get a refund when I had a chance phone call from my dad who, it turned out, needs about 5m2, so he got that off me. He's happy, I'm happy, everyone's a winner!

That's serendipity for ya! Thanks for the suggestions anyway.

[deano]

u'll get dangerous hotspots" (or words to that effect).

That's why I mentioned the leveling compound to embed it in, but no, it's not ideal and fudging it somewhat.

all from my dad who, it turned out, needs about 5m2, so he got that off me.

Happy days... good ole dad eh! Who's installing his one then? ;)

I have it under my downstairs shower room floor and its bliss in the winter when the tiles are freezing and I have to do a piss stop whilst letting the damn dog out at 3 in the morning.

No worries. But DO think about putting a RCD in the supply if your CU is not a split load with RCD protection, not sure if its regs but mine certainly suggested this in the installation guide and that was about

3 years ago.