under floor heating?

lorny80

we are having our conservatory underfloor heated.
we have been told we can get electric or gas, ( hot water), is there any thoughts on the preferance of either one?
cost? how effective it is?

the_heating_engineer

I wouldn't have either. I actually am a heating engineer and was given a pretty sophisticated water system for my large conservatory, so I accepted; of course! The problem is that whichever you go for it's being fitted into a glazed area that will lose and gain heat far more quickly than the masonry structure it's attached to. As u/floor heating takes hours to heat up the space it just can't react fast enough. Do you either have to have it on all the time or off all the time to save money!!??
Obviously increasing your c/h is not a good option for the reason outlined above, so, I'd go for an electric panel rad thats well fluted as the flutes will increase the heated air flow so your RTV (room temp. variation) from ceiling to floor will be close.

Innys

the_heating_engineer wrote: »

I wouldn't have either. I actually am a heating engineer and was given a pretty sophisticated water system for my large conservatory, so I accepted; of course! The problem is that whichever you go for it's being fitted into a glazed area that will lose and gain heat far more quickly than the masonry structure it's attached to. As u/floor heating takes hours to heat up the space it just can't react fast enough. Do you either have to have it on all the time or off all the time to save money!!??
Obviously increasing your c/h is not a good option for the reason outlined above, so, I'd go for an electric panel rad thats well fluted as the flutes will increase the heated air flow so your RTV (room temp. variation) from ceiling to floor will be close.

I would tend to agree with this. I have wet ufh in my kitchen extension which has roof lanterns to let more light in. It also has a window and door - all double glazed.

In the current weather, it's fine so long as you program the ufh to come on an hour before you need to be in the room and you don't let the temperature of the room drop too much.

In the winter, when it's frosty, it's a real hassle as the room never gets warm enough, even if the ufh is on for ages. It never rises much above 12 deg C. I don't feel the heat much but that's too cold even for me to stay in there for long and do the dinner!

Plus, even with wet ufh, it's not cheap - especially in the winter.

SUESMITH_2

i have underfloor heating in my kitchen and i love it. mine is electric and under a natural stone floor. it takes a while to warm up but due to the insulation underneath it really retains the heat. it obviously isn't instant as it has to warm the stone first.

we bought a high enough output system to act as a primary heat source, some systems are only designed to only act as background heating and are meant to be supplemented by radiators so they will never make your room nice and toasty.

lorny80

so, just plug in type rads? or run it off the existing house central heating?

the_heating_engineer

I definitely wouldn't run a house central heating system into a conservatory. As previously posted, an electric rad (similar to the German ceramic ones) appear to have the ability to effectively distribute warmth very evenly both vertically and horizontally. Conservatories may often have a 3 metre (or even higher) ridge and a basic panel rad will mean a lot of the warmth will be trapped above your head. Yesterday I received some very interesting information on BSRIA testing of a German ceramic rad with double fluting, where the temperature difference between ceiling and floor in a 3 metre high test room was only half a degree c. which is pretty remarkable.

warmhands.coldheart

I've UFCH throughout my entire ground floor and I think it's great... Don't have a conservatory though so can't comment from any experience but in theory would agree with the comments above and would say a good finned radiator would be best as more rapid heat up if required.

SuzieSue

It will cost you a lot to heat your conservatory however you heat it, so I only use mine when it is warm enough to use without heating.

I would never put underfloor heating in a conservatory as it will never get warm enough and it will cost a fortune to install and use.