Underfloor heating, - does it add value?

abankerbutnotafatcat

Having lived in Scandinavia I'm quite used to UFH (and as the sole method of heating in a very cold climate). I was quite surprised when I viewed a new built flat in England to find it had UFH and I definitely considered that a plus.

I have asked the question re repairs and been told that once it's down very little can go wrong unless you drill into the floor-it may be a new concept to us Brits as anything other than a bathroom luxury but it's actually quite established technology.

When we get our lower ground floor kitchen and dining room completely re-done I am planning on UFH but we'll keep the rads in the rest of the house.

Oh, and cats are supposed to love it - think one giant car bonnet!!!

darkpool

Toby1990 wrote: »

DarkPool, you clearly don't understand, so please don't fault it. As someone said it's no different than putting pipes in walls, you could easily find the leak without running pipes and half the time it would be your own fault that there's a leak. No there is no corrosive material in the systems, so how would it block up? The water circulates at 40 degrees, normal radiators 70 degrees.

There is no fittings in the floor! So unless somehow plastic now breaks down in months I dont ever see you have to break up the floor. Unless the home owner lets someone drill in the floor for some reason without sayings there's ufh. And if it does leak for some weird reason so what, its sealed system and will leak out a few litres of pressure.

i think you'll find that it's a lot easier to replace pipes that are beneath floorboards rather than encased in concrete.

so there is no chance that the pipes will block up with limescale? there's also no chance that the plastic will become brittle over the years? what happens if your away one winter and the pipes freeze and burst? do you just get the ufh fairy to solve any problems?

Tobyemery

One how will it freeze, two, once the limescale is out of the water with in the system no more will come out, plus you put inhibitor with it. Three, of course it's easier getting it out of floor boards, you said it's near impossible getting it out of concrete. Even normal heating systems can be run under the floor in concrete and so do hot and colds.

Plastic guaranteed for 25 years, so will probably last longer. Just face it it isnt going to leak.

Gwhiz

Had wet UFH in my least house and it's installed in the one I'm buying now.

I'd never be without it now.

bev97

Hi

I have just viewed a house with UFH and to be honest it was one of the things that put me off as I suffer from vascular problems and I have read UFH exacerbates vascular conditions. I intend to look into this further though and see if research backs this up.

Mum_of_3_3

We installed a wet UFH system in our conservatory when we built it 5 years ago.

Yep, it's in concrete, yep it will be a pita to get to if we ever needed to. Like the other poster said, there is a de-limscaler in the system and seeing as we've never had a leak or anything with our radiator system I can't imagine that we will have a problem with leaks in the UFH either.

I love it and the feel of lovely warm tiles during the winter is fab. Also the fact the floor dries almost instantly after mopping the floor during the winter is a huge bonus!

I wouldn't be without the UFH & if we are ever lucky enough to be in the position to self-build then I would have it all over the house.

However, my Mum has an electric system in her bathroom & she said it's not very effective at all, apparently it takes ages to get warm & when it is it's only lukewarm, not radiator-hot like our wet system.

As for adding money, no I don't think it does, but when looking at house specs it does put me off to find out there's no UFH in a conservatory (& would be a definite no-no for me if there was no heating at all!).

HTH

M_o_3

shirlgirl2004

PJD wrote: »

Read this earlier:

"And whilst I am on the subject find me someone who says electric is too expensive I will show someone who has a poorly insulated home.

Insulation it is in my opinion the single most factor as to how successfull you will judge your install 3 years, 5 years and 10 years down the line, get this wrong and you will be disappointed."

Well that doesn't really follow though. Our house was generally very warm but when the weather turned really cold we found the electric underfloor heating expensive. The OP is interested in electric underfloor heating he isn't considering a wet system. Electric systems are slow to heat up and you have to have them on for hours to get warmth, that makes them expensive. It has very little to do with insulation.

darkpool

Tobyemery wrote: »

One how will it freeze, two, once the limescale is out of the water with in the system no more will come out, plus you put inhibitor with it. Three, of course it's easier getting it out of floor boards, you said it's near impossible getting it out of concrete. Even normal heating systems can be run under the floor in concrete and so do hot and colds.

Plastic guaranteed for 25 years, so will probably last longer. Just face it it isnt going to leak.[/QUOTE]

ehhhhmmmm have you never heard of pipes freezing and bursting during cold weather?

so why do plumbers flush central heating systems out? is it not because over time the water gets sludge in it? do you not think a long coiled thin diameter pipe is likely to become blocked?

ok you tell me how you would expose a relatively fragile pipe set in a concrete floor without damaging it......

so UFH systems never leak? why don't you google "underfloor heating leaks" and see if they have been known to leak......

Is your construction experience limited to watching "DIY SOS"?

Toby1990

hahahahaha. A ufh is sealed, you flush out a radiator system because it has radiators that corrode ( unless youve seen system with radiators under the floor) , if you put inhibitor in then you should in theory never have to flush it. If the heating is on a F and E tank then it's open allowing air into the system allowing radiators to corrode!!! How are you thinking the pipes could get blocked?

Yes if the pipes our outside or close to a wall in a derelict house with no windows then they would freeze, not in an inhabited house!

Just please use your brain you obviously think you know about it. The temp would have to fall to zero in the house then have time to sink through the concrete floor through the plastic then to the water, with in maybe 8 hours! then the sun would heat the house back up through radiation, plus if you ever away for ages then your system should have holiday mode anyway which brings the house to a certain temperature every few days.

I take it your either an office working or a site manager, hence not having a clue what your going on about. ( water magically getting sludge in it lol)

If it is fitted correctly and not damaged after it's installed then no, it should never leak under the floor.... how would it. And if it can't move then how would ice split it? it would find somewhere where the plastic could split and not encased around contrete, I've done it with copper encased in concrete, it's possible

SuzieSue

I considered electric underfloor heating but as others have said, what put me off was realising that it needs to warm up for long time before you feel any benefit. Knowing this, would put me off buying a property with it as I would much rather have radiators which warm up immediately you turn them on.