Underfloor Heating Setting

Imperial1847

We have one room in our house (a dining room extension to the kitchen) that is in regular use, it's the only room in the house with underfloor heating, with winter approaching we will soon be staring to use it again, what's an economical setting for it being mindful of the upcoming energy costs.

daveyjp

What type of UFH?  If electric the most economical setting is to remove the fuse and lock it away.

Imperial1847

daveyjp said:

What type of UFH?  If electric the most economical setting is to remove the fuse and lock it away.

Haha sorry no, its a wet system.

Mstty

Is it temperature controlled from the boiler or seperately

Imperial1847

Mstty said:

Is it temperature controlled from the boiler or seperately

Its linked to the boiler but has it's own manifold and control.

Mstty

Well most people are turning down the temp on their boilers for winter. So would.advise the same and find out where your comfort levels are.

Imperial1847

Mstty said:

Well most people are turning down the temp on their boilers for winter. So would.advise the same and find out where your comfort levels are.

The temp is set from it's own control so it's what that would be best set at to be most efficient that I was really looking for.

Alnat1

Off and have TV dinners would be cheapest option. Turn it down as low as you are comfortable with is cheaper option.

j2009

The main difference between underfloor and radiators is response time. Radiators will quickly warm the air whereas underfloor can take a while. 

Often when we feel cold we over heat the room to try and warm it up (radiators are good for doing this) but it's more efficient to keep that cycle of hot/cold relatively flat from the perspective of how it feels. The simple rule of thumb is to have the underfloor on all the time with a 1-2 degree reduction when the room isn't going to be used for an extended period (eg night). Have it step up the temp 1 hour before you normally start using the room and switch off 1 hour before.

You can make it more efficient if you increase the temp reduction so it's colder in the room when you're not in it, the trick is to start heating it again at a the point where it will be up to temperature when you come to use it.... but that requires a bit of experimenting and isn't very flexible if you use the room early.

As for reducing boiler temp (one of the other responses). You need enough temperature differential for a condensing boiler to operate efficiently and the outgoing water needs to be about 65degrees and about 50 on the return, this is more efficient that running a boiler at 55 on the flow because it will never condense.

QrizB

j2009 said:

As for reducing boiler temp (one of the other responses). You need enough temperature differential for a condensing boiler to operate efficiently and the outgoing water needs to be about 65degrees and about 50 on the return, this is more efficient that running a boiler at 55 on the flow because it will never condense.

I don't think that's correct. What makes you think it is?

Reed_Richards

j2009 said:

As for reducing boiler temp (one of the other responses). You need enough temperature differential for a condensing boiler to operate efficiently and the outgoing water needs to be about 65degrees and about 50 on the return, this is more efficient that running a boiler at 55 on the flow because it will never condense.

I don't think this makes any sense.  My understanding is that the lower you can make the boiler flow temperature, the more efficiently it will run.