Underfloor heating experience

slinkie

I'm planning to install in the kitchen / dining room, and I was wondering whether any one had any experience with the poly pipe overlay underfloor heating or similar for going over exising floors.

This is to go over an existing concrete floor and will have slate tiles on top

any advice greatly appreciated

tpt

its relatively new, and i've not heard any feedback on it yet (we chose not to sell it until its been used a bit more by fixers we know).

What i will say is that electric UFH isn't great, so your right to be looking around. What are your expectations? are you looking for it to be the primary heat source in the room? And what kind of house are you in? new build with a well insulated floor or old draughty house with no DPM?

When you come to lay your slate, you need to use flexible adhesive and grout, stick with the trade stuff like granfix\bal

slinkie

My expecation is for it to heat the room - this is a large kitchen diner - 8m x 3m, which is an existing single storey extension - not sure when it was built. Original house was build in 1950's

I used eletric in my last kitchen and was really impressed with it but that was a really small area.

Itismehonest

OK. I'm a bit thick on the actual system you mean but we fitted a piped water underfloor heating system in one of our rooms about 11 years ago & it's been absolutely great. It is on (& also below) cement/concrete with slats above.

Innys

You need to be careful about glazing. If the room you are having this done to has a lot of glass, the heat will just go into the atmosphere and the room will remain an icebox.

Otherwise, I can't deny it is very pleasant underfoot - especially on a chilly morning.

slinkie

this is the system that you lay over an existing concrete floor - rather have having in the screed if that makes sense

missile

Hi,

I have a large lounge with wet underfloor heating. The rest of the property has radiators. I found it very difficult to regulate the temperature. The room has a large expanse of glass floor to ceiling.

I have installed seperate programmer, thermostat and zone cotrol valve and now it works great. I do not find it expensive to run and would certainly recommend wet underfloor heating.

Itismehonest

Ours was set on about 9" of base. Has, maybe, 4"-6" of cement on top & then thickish slates to finish.
Although it runs from the main CH boiler the UFH has always had it's own controls & pump as the room was an extension added after CH was installed to the main house. The room has a vaulted ceiling & a lot of glass (sealed units) but the heating is equally as efficient, if not slightly more so, than rooms where we have 2m radiators. This is possibly just due to the spread of warmth across the whole floor area.

Myser

We have a similar setup to what you are proposing to do. Our heating circuit in the kitchen is split into two half sections of polypipe to even out the heat.

It is very efficient and we have had to turn the radiator off in the kitchen and lower the thermostat (for the underfloor heating) as it does provide adequate heat in the kitchen. In fact, I think it's the warmest room in the house even at night!

Do make sure that you have somebody who knows how to fit it properly. Ours wasn't fitted with the correct valve and it doesn't operate correctly. :mad:

slinkie

Thanks everyone for your replys - it sounds like you all have the pipes that run in the concrete, what I'm looking at is the system that you can lay over an existing concrete floor, so it's like dense MDF for want of a better description, with grooves cut in which you then run the pipe through and then can tile straight on top of that.

Innys

slinkie wrote: »

Thanks everyone for your replys - it sounds like you all have the pipes that run in the concrete, what I'm looking at is the system that you can lay over an existing concrete floor, so it's like dense MDF for want of a better description, with grooves cut in which you then run the pipe through and then can tile straight on top of that.

This is what I've got - in part of my kitchen anyway. Don't ask, it's a long story.

At any rate, the part of the u/f heating done in this way heats up much quicker than the rest of the room and is very toasty underfoot. I have porcelain tiles on the floor of the whole kitchen.