Should I get underfloor heating?

waqasahmed

In order to potentially reduce energy, instead of using radiators? 

ArbitraryRandom

Underfloor heating can save energy/money, but it really depends on the house it's being installed in, so I'm not sure if anyone can give you an idea if it's a sensible option for your house without at least some details from you. 

FreeBear

Electric UFH will cost you an absolute fortune to run.

Wet UFH works best if you have a very well insulated floor. Whether you will save money depends on a number of factors - How well insulated & draught proofed is the property. The type of boiler you have powering the CH system..

UFH running at a low temperature should mean that the boiler is running in condensing mode for longer. That will improve the efficiency, but you'll probably have to run it longer to get up to temperature. If you have (or are planning to install) a heat pump, UFH would be a good match.

Rosa_Damascena

Wet UFH has definitely saved me money - it's been too expensive to run so my heating has been switched off since January!

Bendy_House

Hi Waq.

UFH is definitely the 'nicest', most comfy form of heating, and also has the potential to have lower running costs for the reason stated above - the boiler can be in *full* condensing mode, so is more efficient.

A bigger reason for wanting a lower CH water temp is that future green heat sources are likely to only provide these lower water temps, so if you had to 'boost' these temps in order to make your existing radiators 'hot', then you'd be using more conventional (gas, leccy, oil, etc) energy for this = extra cost.

Which heat-outputting systems will work ok with cooler water temps? UFH and LARGE radiators. So I guess the main Q is, is it worth the extra cost for UFH? As said above, it'll require a much higher level of floor insulation, and installation costs will be MUCH higher than replacing rads. That extra few £k spent on UHF could instead help to pay your energy bills for a few years. 

So, imo, it would only be 'worth' fitting UFH if it's either something you wanted anyway, or if you were fully renovating your property and the floors were out in any case, so upgrading them not a major extra cost. 

Instead, I would spend that 'UFH' money on internal wall insulation (on the outside walls) and a simpler level of insulation for the floor - you could do a lot of that for the cost of UFH, and this insulation will make a HUGE, permanent difference to your comfort and energy savings.

Sooooo, in your situation, if you wanted the best energy bangbuck, I'd go for oversized rads - say 50% bigger? - and insulation in the floor and ext walls. 

These O-S rads can be chosen to not be necessarily 'huge'; you go for extra fins, or extra panels, or higher vertically. Fit them wherever there's space and look better, and not just under windows!

Bendy_House

Future energy sources are going to be, what?, A/GHP, solar, PV, all of which work well, but tend to only generate cooler water temps, 45-50oC. A large rad running with these cooler temps will still provide the same heat output as a smaller rad running 'hot', so is usually the simplest and cheapest way of getting heat out of cool water.

fenwick458

getting it to save money, I wouldn't bother, it's expensive to install.
if you like hard floors, they are often cold (compared to carpets) thats why I chose UFH.
the heat source is more important if you are wondering about saving money, if you put a wet UFH system onto a combi boiler that also does radiators, it's not going to be efficient as you need to run 2 sets of times.

FreeBear

Bendy_House said: Which heat-outputting systems will work ok with cooler water temps? UFH and LARGE radiators.

But you don't have to go for large radiators. There are several fan assisted units (plinth heaters being one) that are compact and kick out loads of heat. OK, they do generate a little bit of noise, so probably not the answer for a bedroom.

waqasahmed

ArbitraryRandom said:

Underfloor heating can save energy/money, but it really depends on the house it's being installed in, so I'm not sure if anyone can give you an idea if it's a sensible option for your house without at least some details from you. 

Thanks. I'm buying a 4 bedroom semi detached house, built in 1975, in the North West 

waqasahmed

Bendy_House said:

Hi Waq.

UFH is definitely the 'nicest', most comfy form of heating, and also has the potential to have lower running costs for the reason stated above - the boiler can be in *full* condensing mode, so is more efficient.

A bigger reason for wanting a lower CH water temp is that future green heat sources are likely to only provide these lower water temps, so if you had to 'boost' these temps in order to make your existing radiators 'hot', then you'd be using more conventional (gas, leccy, oil, etc) energy for this = extra cost.

Which heat-outputting systems will work ok with cooler water temps? UFH and LARGE radiators. So I guess the main Q is, is it worth the extra cost for UFH? As said above, it'll require a much higher level of floor insulation, and installation costs will be MUCH higher than replacing rads. That extra few £k spent on UHF could instead help to pay your energy bills for a few years. 

So, imo, it would only be 'worth' fitting UFH if it's either something you wanted anyway, or if you were fully renovating your property and the floors were out in any case, so upgrading them not a major extra cost. 

Instead, I would spend that 'UFH' money on internal wall insulation (on the outside walls) and a simpler level of insulation for the floor - you could do a lot of that for the cost of UFH, and this insulation will make a HUGE, permanent difference to your comfort and energy savings.

Sooooo, in your situation, if you wanted the best energy bangbuck, I'd go for oversized rads - say 50% bigger? - and insulation in the floor and ext walls. 

These O-S rads can be chosen to not be necessarily 'huge'; you go for extra fins, or extra panels, or higher vertically. Fit them wherever there's space and look better, and not just under windows!

Thanks. I'm already looking at further insulation but I'm not sure of any reputable companies within the greater Manchester area for that. The house is already pretty well insulted but it'd be nice to have more where there currently isn't.

I'm also looking into getting solar panels too, but I guess insulation is the biggy

I'm guessing that gas powered UFH doesn't exist 

waqasahmed

fenwick458 said:

getting it to save money, I wouldn't bother, it's expensive to install.
if you like hard floors, they are often cold (compared to carpets) thats why I chose UFH.
the heat source is more important if you are wondering about saving money, if you put a wet UFH system onto a combi boiler that also does radiators, it's not going to be efficient as you need to run 2 sets of times.

Sorry what's wet UFH?