Water Underfloor Heating

[RichP]

Looking at this:

Floorheater

As a "low profile" solution to heating part of our house where we're going to have trouble locating a radiator.

Anyone have any experience of similar systems, positive or negative?

It'll be a mix of underfloor in some rooms and radiators in others - probably won't convert the whole lot to underfloor.

Cheers

Rich

[Bananaman]

A friend ha it in his house in the kitchen/diner and it's really good, think it works really well with tiled and timber floors, not sure about carpet?

[RichP]

Sounds good - I'll fit timber floors so no worries on the carpet front

[carpetstu]

Make sure when it's turned on you don't thermal shock the flooring.

Gradual heat increase or you will be in a heap of trouble!

[Blatman]

Have a dig through the Boardroom from about this time last year. Norm was asking all about under floor heating and got a load of responses

[samcooke]

I love our underfloor heating.

Nice, even, 'clean' feeling heat, no unsightly rads that get in the way of putting stuff against the walls.

It's a wet system buried in the concrete so it takes a while to heat up, but it retains the heat nicely too - just needs a separate timer and thermostat to make sure it works well alongside existing rads.

[Norman Verona]

And I'm still asking. I can get info on a "normal" house but not on a 11 x 7 x 7.25(high) barn with no walls.

I have been told not to fit it under wood floors unless it's "engineered" wood as wood it too good an insulator.

At the moment I'm planning on installing it in the kitchen (offshot to the main barn) which is 4 x 7 and single story. But fit rads to the main barn. The main barn would be very suitable for underfloor heating as the floor will be all slate, terracotta tiles and ceramic tiles.

I have a friend who knows about these things but he cannot understand that the main barn is in effect one room with an open mezzanine floor 1/3 acroos. He keeps asking what size is the bedroom, what size is the bathroom.

I've come to the conclusion that, being a fairly new system, there isn't sufficient experinece.

I'm not too concerned about instal costs but very concerned about running costs.

have a look at the nu-heat site

[Man On The Clapham Omnibus]

Slight hijack. I was interested in buying a bungalow in an area with no gas supply and thought about ground source heat pump as a heating means. Trouble was (the bung has sold now ) that it had pristine wood floors that I wouldn't have wanted to disturb. As you may know GSHP needs larger area radiators or underfloor heating so I was stuck for an idea. It seemed to me that ducted warm air would be an easier retrofit in a single storey dwelling but I could not find any information on its use with GSHP heating. I only mention all this in case the idea has any value to either RichP or Norman.

[Norman Verona]

Clive, I'm guessing that solar and gshp are not cost effective if you're 65. Fine if you're 30 and you'll get many years of cheap heat.

Thanks for the info thoughy, every bit helps.

[zvezdochka]

Engineered timber floor is needed with underfloor systems to prevent distortion / shrinkage of the wood by the heat - it's not an insulation issue.

I have a water system for a new extension using 15mm plastic pipe (150m in total running as 2 75m loops with pipes about 200mm centres)  - bought as  a kit inc pump, mixing valve and control box.  Have got standard concrete floor, 100mm of foam insulation, then pipes are laid in 50mm of glass reinforced screed.  We then tiled on top as carpet causes the floor to run hotter.

System works by mixing some water circulated through the plastic pipes with water from the heating circuit - normal radiator temp would crack floor.

[Man On The Clapham Omnibus]

Norman, it depends, I suppose, on what it does to the property value and if you can do the civil engineering work (trenching) yourself. Solar is cheap if you build the panels from central heating radiators in glass fronted boxes. Efficiency isn't important as the heat's free, but capital cost and longevity are, of course. I knew a chap who was older than we are by a good margin and he had a grey water reservoir in his back garden with a heat pump collector immersed in it and he reckoned there was enough heat from his waste water and the conducted-in ground heat to warm his 18th century cottage very cheaply. He sold systems along these lines to a few people using sub-contractors to do the actual fitting. Can't say how successful he was, sadly, as I lost touch with him. It was a long time ago and I suspect he's shuffled off by now... If anyone in the Bromsgrove area knows a chap of 'mature' years called Fred Kinchin then I reckon that's him!

[carpetstu]

QUOTE

I have been told not to fit it under wood floors unless it's "engineered" wood as wood it too good an insulator.

The reason for using engineered rather than solid has nothing to do with the insulation factor!

The reason engineered is better is its more stable with changes in climate and heat variations, due the way the grain is made up in the planks.

However you need to use a European wood not a Chinese one as the Chinese is fast grown and not as stable.

But as previously mentioned DO NOT just whack the heating from 3 deg to 22 deg as this will cause thermal shock to the flooring and warp and crack it etc

Carpet can be installed on top of underfloor heating as well but you need to use a special underlay with a low TOG rating.

The other benefit of engineered wood is its now available as a click system rather than a glued down / together tong and groove. Therefore should you need to get the flooring up for problems below (i.e leaking pipe of blown circuit, dependent on the type of underfloor heating) this is then a lot easier and the floor can be relayed!

Right need a cuppa......