Under floor heating

[lasors]

Hi all,

We have a retention being placed on our mortgage due to the concrete floors needing replaced due to sulphate attack. As such, we are considering putting under floor heating (wet) into the living room, and possibly the kitchen. Installation costs would be significantly reduced as a new floor is being poured anyway. So, is it worth it?

The living room is 22sqm, currently with gas fire and one radiator. New carpet will be fitted when we can afford it. Thin carpet/underlay is down just now. Double glazing is going in soon as well. There's an old Bermuda back boiler which is coming out. Its replacement is under research as I'm looking at installing solar water heating (but this won't be used for rad. heating, of course), which will dictate boiler type. Low hot water usage (2 people) suggests combi, but this isn't compatible with solar (not easily anyway).

So, some thoughts/questions for you:

- We're out all day, UFH takes time to heat the slab, while we don't currently set the timer on the heating, we just flick it on when we get back if we want it, if we do this we won't get the immediate benefit from UFH, will we? Are we therefore better off having the gas fire on for a bit and/or settle for the one radiator to heat the room, in terms of direct cost and 'green living'? A warm floor might be nice but not if it's going to cost a fortune to run.

- If we go for single room, should we go for a simple on/off valve (ie. it's just a radiator, with flow coming from system pressure) or, a pump/mixer unit with hot and cold feed?

Thanks for any advice/input you can offer.

 

[electronicsuk]

- We're out all day, UFH takes time to heat the slab, while we don't currently set the timer on the heating, we just flick it on when we get back if we want it, if we do this we won't get the immediate benefit from UFH, will we?

No, you wont be able to get the near-instant heat that you're used to with radiators from an UFH system.

Are we therefore better off having the gas fire on for a bit and/or settle for the one radiator to heat the room, in terms of direct cost and 'green living'? A warm floor might be nice but not if it's going to cost a fortune to run.

In my personal opinion, stick with rads. As you rightly point out, the UFH has to heat the slab. If you want 24/7 heating then that's not a problem, but if you only want the heat at certain times of day, you're wasting time and energy in heating the screed.

- If we go for single room, should we go for a simple on/off valve (ie. it's just a radiator, with flow coming from system pressure) or, a pump/mixer unit with hot and cold feed?

That depends if you like your floors as hot as your rads, and whether or not you'll ever remove your shoes The pump and blender are necessary to lower the flow temp of the boiler.