Underfloor heating timer settings

dod309

Hi, i have underfloor heating off an oil boiler and would like to know is it cheaper to have the timer set to have the heating ticking over all day, or is it cheaper to have the heating on for a few hours, off for a few hours, on for a few hours etc? Thanks

lovesgshp

Much more efficient to have it ticking over all day. If you can adjust the return temp, then drop that by about 1.5C during the day for underfloor heating. It is more economical as you are not constantly cooling then reheating the floor

dod309

Thanks Geotherm, sorry i am completely clueless in the heating systems, what do you mean by adjusting the return temperature? Thanks

lovesgshp

Not sure on how your system works, but with the heat pump, you can set a timer that changes the temp returning from say 35c to 33.5c. This stops the floor from cooling down too much. Hopefully someone who knows oil systems will be able to give better info on the subject.
It may well be that you have to drop the room thermostat down by a degree or so.

dod309

ah yes i understand what you are saying. final question, by leaving the system ticking over all day, do you mean just that (24 hours) or do you mean basically from moring til night?

lovesgshp

My opinion is 24hrs, as the coldest outside temps are overnight/early morning.

Pincher

The control for UFH is too complicated.

If you have a super duper control set up, obviously you can tune it to come on and off, with different temperatures associated with each time period.

My plumber initially said the room thermostat only needs three core cables, and then when I put in five core flex 1.75mm because that's what I had on a reel, he said, that's good, you can have night time set back as well, which is what Geotherm is talking about. But of course, you have to have bought digital thermostats that has that function.:mad:

To save money, or they didn't want to rip out the decor during installation, you might not have a thermostat per room at all. The minimum control could be a manual valve at the manifold so you have fixed flow, and all you have is a flow temperature sensor at the manifold only , for demanding heat from the heat pump/boiler.

For quick warm up, I have a 2kW flame effect fireplace (a glorified fan heater).

My take is to run the UFH 24 hours a day at low setting, and change the temperature when I'm in a room using the thermostat in that room. It's effetively like turning the TRV up on a radiator.
If I can't wait, I use the fan heater to get started. This is if you have a basic thermostat with no fancy stuff.