What is Underfloor Heating	Electric Underfloor Heating	The difference between underfloor heating and radiators in your home.

History of Underfloor Heating	Underfloor Heating in an extension, conservatory, cellar or basement

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is Underfloor Heating?

Modern warm water underfloor heating gives a near perfect room temperature profile between floor and ceiling due to a balanced combination of radiant and convected heat. Underfloor heating uses radiant heat which ensures you feel comfortable even at a lower air temperature than that produced by a conventional radiator heating system.

Conventional radiator central heating producers the majority of its heat by confected air.  Confected air produced by radiators rises making the ceiling the warmest part of the room. Underfloor heating produces 50% of its warmth using radiant heat, this means all the floor is evenly heated, this is then absorbed by objects (sofas etc) in the room. Radiant heat gives you the ideal comfort conditions warm feet and a cool head.

Click to see how underfloor heating works differently to radiators

When you walk into a room controlled by underfloor heating, you will be able to feel the difference almost immediately. Underfloor heating can be used with almost any floor covering these include carpet (below 1.5 Tog), lino, hardwood, laminate and stone. Stone based floor covering give the best results because they allow the heat to transfer easily. Unlike carpet an underlay which has  insulation properties and does not transfer heat as easily as stone or tile. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Underfloor Heating in an extension, conservatory, cellar or basement.

 

If you are thinking of extending or refurbishing your home, an underfloor heating system is an ideal solution. New extensions and conservatories usually use screed or concrete as the floor structure warm water underfloor heating forms part of this floor structure and is built to last. With underfloor heating you will be able to get the most out of your new extension or conservatory the most comfortable heating system which gives you all-year round use.Underfloor heating single zone kits are designed to work independently from the rest of the heating system. This sort of heating system is works perfectly in conservatories and cellar conversions as these rooms need to be heated at different times from the radiators in the rest of the house, conservatories need to be heated independently to comply with Part L of the building regulations.Cellar conversions have usually have no solar gain this means while the rest of your house may be warm due to sunlight your cellar may still want heating as this is underground and usually cooler. This means you require a heating system that can control these areas independently, cellar floors are normally a concrete which means underfloor heating is a perfect solution for a cellar conversion.

 

 

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See how underfloor heating works differently to radiators

 

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The difference between underfloor and radiators in your home.

Underfloor heating in a full house allows you to have individual room temperature control in every room (multi zone systems) and time control with night setback, This allows you to control the air temperature in every room by a room stat and a time control which will override the times set if the temperature drops below the set back temp. The water temperature is controlled by a thermostatic mixing valve located on your manifold this is set anywhere between 35 & 65 deg dependant on heat loss. Unlike a traditional radiator system which is controlled by one stat for the whole house and thermostatic radiator valves (TRV’s) to control water temp. TRV’s only control the temperature going into the radiator which means your radiator could have shut off as the TRV is up to temp but the air temperature in the room still requires more heat this leaves you with a room that’s not warm enough because the water going into the radiator is too hot.

 

 

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History of UFH

Underfloor Heating was first introduced by the Romans over 2,000 years ago. Underfloor heating was used in most public buildings especially in the colder parts of the roman empire.

The underfloor heating system was made up from ducts underneath the floor. The flues for these fires ran through the walls so that when the fires were burning the floors and walls heated the building.

The furnace was laid round columns that supported the concrete slabs for the floor. The furnace was placed here so the draught would spread the heat under the floor then up through the walls heating rooms on the floor above to the chimneys.

The roman underfloor heating was a lot of hard work to maintain with keeping the fire burning and cleaning the ashes this is why it was only for the wealthy

This type of heating system has recently been voted the most important heating invention ever by the British HVAC industry

 

 

 

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Electric UFH

Electric Underfloor Heating in the 1960s is how people see underfloor heating today, but modern underfloor heating has progressed a long way since then.

Back then, electric resistance cables were laid into thick concrete and were heated in the night using cheap electricity. This idea didn't work well because the heating was poorly controlled and so the floor would be too hot in the morning and would have cooled down at night. This form of heating didn't work well and was very expensive to run, unlike today's underfloor heating.

See Electric Underfloor Heating