underfloor heating

andrewf75

We are planning a 4x5 metre kitchen extension. Just wondering whether underfloor heating is a good idea or not? is it very expensive to install and run?

spud

I can't comment on the installation costs but we moved into a new house last year with UFH throughout the ground floor and we've found it very cheap to run. It does take a while to warm up but once to temp holds the heat a considerable time. As an idea we have over 2000 sq ft of house and our past 12 months gas bill is less than £400.

anotherbaldrick

Yes, underfloor is very slow to react , if you feel cold and turn it on it could be 1-2 hours before and heat comes through to the room. Fine for maintaining a background heat but we have on occasions turned the oven on to get a bit more urgent heat into the room.

keystone

I've just been working in a house where the UFH covers a 50m^2 area. Contrary to Balders experience (and I'm not saying he is wrong) it reacts very quickly indeed to heat up but is a tad slow to cooldown. But it is a wet system rather than electric.

This one is apparently a John Guest System and a kit of bits for a 20m^2 area is approx £ 600.

Cheers

HappyMJ

andrewf75 wrote: »

We are planning a 4x5 metre kitchen extension. Just wondering whether underfloor heating is a good idea or not? is it very expensive to install and run?

My opinion....expensive to install with a ground source heat pump...but very cheap to run as a low level background heat running 24/7. If you have the money to spend up front and don't mind a long payback period and have the space then go for it.

I think it's slow to react too...but then used as a background heat just leave it on all the time and it doesn't matter.

mymedi

If I could hijack a bit and ask a slightly more general question for anyone with personal experience of using and/or installing such ufh systems:
- Are there systems/manufacturers that you either like/would recommend or don't like in terms of function & performance - how quickly the system heats up, cost of running, ease of use, presense of cold spots, etc. Or would you say they are all similar?
Just seems there are a ton of suppliers with really nothing to differentiate them on. So, some professional perspective would be really helpful.

jblack_2

I installed a full wet UFH system (approx 100sqm) to the ground floor when we bought our place. We were doing remedial work anyway which involved replacing all the suspended wooden floors with solid concrete.

It would have been a massive inconvenience if we were living here at the time as obviously there was a lot of waiting for the concrete to go off then installing insulation before fitting all the pipework then the final screed over that before the slate floor finish was laid.

It's easy enough to do once you've worked out the layout of the pipework and the zones. With the luxury of the house being vacant we were able to mark out areas which didn't want/need pipework like where kitchen units/appliances are located and toilet pans/shower trays etc.

We haven't had it on since earlier in the year but will no doubt be firing it up again soon if the weather keeps cooling down. We think it's great as the heat is more evenly circulated than radiators and with a solid slate floor it's nice to not feel cold under foot. Another obvious bonus is not having to worry about furniture blocking rads.

When it's on and up to temperature the boiler only fires up now and again to maintain the set temperature. UFH also operates at a much lower temperature than rads do. Remember the floor finish is important, carpet is possibly the worst as it insulates the heat. My Inlaws have solid wood with wet UFH in their extension and it's not great either. With solid stone it's ideal as it retains the heat for longer.

There are companies out there who will work out your zones and pipe layout for you making it even easier. We used Polypipe and had no issues.

Cold spots shouldn't be an issue if the layout is correct. We've found that the rads upstairs are rarely on as the heat rises through the house too.