Best way of running electric under tile floor heating?

MPwannasavemoney

We're having a new bathroom fitted and as tiles are going down on the floor knowing how cold they can be we are having the electric underfloor heating installed. The system comes with a timer and heat control and I was intending to run it off the timer in the mornings and evenings allowing for the fact that these things can take quite a long time to heat up. However the bathroom fitter says it is better to leave it on all the time on a low setting as this will use less energy overall.

Does anyone have experience of which is the cheapest way of running these things?

Thanks

crossleydd42

The fitter has a valid point. Why not fit it with the timer and try it for a set period using both methods? You can read the meter yourselves at the end of each period. I always have my conventional gas central heating on all the time as it heats the fabric of the house which acts as a 'leveller' against different outside temperatures. I've 'measured' the cost using all-the-time and peak-time settings and the difference is minimal.

Cardew

I have to disagree with your bathroom fitter if you are considering economy alone.

There have been a number of threads on the subject of ‘leaving it on 24/7’ or on a timer – mainly about immersion heaters.

It is always cheaper to switch off any electrical heating device for a period than keep it on permanently. I would have thought that a bathroom in particular is not a room you use all day, so why use heating when you are not there to take advantage of the heat? In fact one might question why the system comes with a timer if you should leave it on 24/7.

However as crossleydd42 suggests above you could carry out a trial and see what the difference in cost will be. Alternatively, if you know what the consumption is for the various settings you could easily work out the costs of a low setting 24/7 and a higher setting for X hours a day.