ASHP in New Build

Fyne

We are buying a new build and having an ASHP installed with wet underfloor heating. We are still at the design stage and wondered if when installing the pipework in the kitchen whether it should be laid under the cupboards as we would like to have kickboards. Currently we have electric mat underfloor heating under our cupboards and no kickboards and are fed up crawling on hands and knees to retrieve things dropped !!

Reed_Richards

Heat from underfloor heating has to fight a bit to get out into the room, it has to penetrate the screed that the heating pipes are embedded in and then get through the floor covering.  Asking it to make its way out of an enclosed cavity under the cupboards seems a bit too much of an ask.  On the other hand if you want to subsequently remodel the kitchen and end up with floor where there was a cupboard then you would have a cold spot.  Maybe you can get discreetly perforated kickboards that allow for air circulation? 

matelodave

TBH there's no real advantage in heating under the cupboards unless you want to keep the contents warm and cozy, but the same goes for wardrobes or any other large and almost imovable objects (sideboard, settee, bed etc) any heat from the floor wont easily get into the room from underneath them.

However, that said, if the heating pipes are in the screed then it's probably easier to just lay piping all over rather than trying to avoid the units - just be aware of the depth of the piping (or the location) so that no-one is tempted to drill or screw into it. Most kitchen units just stand on the floor and don't need floor fixings.

In my opinion it's better to have the whole floor laid and tiled (or whatever) so that you can put the kitched units wherever you want - I've never really understood why floors only get tiled to the units leaving bare concrete underneath

Reed_Richards

matelodave said:

I've never really understood why floors only get tiled to the units leaving bare concrete underneath

I think wall-to-wall tiling is what most householders would want but builders/fitters generally take the view that if you can't see it then it doesn't matter.