Improve Your Home With Underfloor Heating
Underfloor heating systems offer several significant advantages when compared with traditional, radiator central heating systems. Radiators are not particularly pleasing, aesthetically and restrict the way in which can be arranged around them; underfloor heating systems, on the other hand, are effectively invisible, occupying no floor or wall space. Not only that, but, because the entire surface of the floor effectively becomes a thermal store, the same level of comfort can be achieved at a lower temperature than a conventional heating system. This, in turn, means that less fuel is consumed in heating your home, reducing your fuel bills and your overall affect on the environment; energy savings of anything between 20% and 40% may be possible, depending upon the size and configuration of your home.
Underfloor Heating Systems
Conventional radiators heat the air in the immediate vicinity, which rises to warm the space immediately below the ceiling of a room first, before cooling and falling back into the room. This creates a rather unnatural temperature gradient as far as the human body is concerned, warmer at the head and colder at the feet. Underfloor heating systems, on the other hand, heat the surface of the floor and anything in contact with the floor, such as walls, furniture, etc., by radiation, so that heat is emitted in the areas where it is most useful.
Underfloor heating is available in three different types; hydronic, or wet, underfloor heating, where warm water is circulated through a system of pipe work installed beneath the floor, air, or dry, underfloor heating, which uses warm air instead of warm water and electrical underfloor heating, where heating elements are laid under, or embedded in, the floor.
Electrical underfloor heating has been available for 60 years, or so, but has gained popularity in recent years because it is straightforward to install and suitable for new-build and restoration projects. Electrical underfloor heating works by passing electrical current, from mains supply, through a cable, which becomes hot in the same way as, say, the element in an immersion heater. The heating element is, of course, electrically insulated from the working surface and earthed, so there is no risk of electrical shock.The cable, itself, can be constructed from very thin wire, wound into a helical pattern, or embedded in a tough, fibreglass mesh to form a mat that can easily be rolled out onto the subfloor. In either case, electrical underfloor heating can be installed beneath an existing floor without raising the floor level by more than an absolute minimum.
Electrical underfloor heating often works best beneath natural stone or tiled floors in exposed areas, such as conservatories, but is by no means limited to these floor coverings or areas. In fact, heating mats and cables are available in a range of power outputs, measured in W/m2 or “Watts per square metre”, from 75W/m2, suitable for installation beneath real wood or laminate flooring, to 200W/m2, suitable for the high heat loss areas already described. That said, any form of timber floor beneath which underfloor heating is to be installed needs to have a moisture content of around 10% to prevent shrinkage, crowning or cupping. Wooden floorboards may need to be acclimatised, indoors, for period before the floor is laid to achieve the correct moisture content. Underfloor heating can even be installed beneath carpet, with certain reservations; the thickness of the carpet and its underlay should not exceed 22mm and their combined tog rating should not exceed 1.5. If they do, in either case, the insulating effect of the floor covering will reduce the efficiency of the underfloor heating.
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