Is under floor heating more problematic than traditional radiator heating?

dharm999

We  are in the process of buying a house that has wet underfloor heating downstairs and in all the bathrooms upstairs.  There are marble tiles downstairs over the heating and normal tiles upstairs.  The home report says there was a boiler problem and the sellers have confirmed the boiler has been fixed.  But we are worried by the fact it has underfloor heating that may not be working properly.  I have no experience of it, so was looking for views on what peoples experience of it has been.  Is it more problematic and is it more expensive to fix than traditional radiator heating?  I have awful visions of having to dig up expensive marble to deal with a problem, which could be extremely expensive to deal with and fix.

Thanks

Keep_pedalling

The underfloor part consists of unjointed plastic pipes which, unless someone accidentally drills into them, should be maintenance free. The rest of the system is no more difficult to maintain than a radiator system and is not going to sludge up as there is very little metal in the system. 

daveyjp

My parents have had UFH for over ten years, a 5 zone system in atheir bungalow.  Lounge, 2 beds, bathroom, kitchen/diner.

 Anything which has failed is above ground.  Boiler is standard and has had a couple of repairs, all the room thermostats have been replaced over time and whilst it hasn't had any issues the zone valve manifold can be accessed and parts replaced if required.

Rodders53

Keep_pedalling said:

The rest of the system is no more difficult to maintain than a radiator system and is not going to sludge up as there is very little metal in the system. 

Except all the sludge generated by the upstairs bedroom radiators is gonna pool in those downstairs underfloor loops   Magnetic cleaners and decent design can make those loops easy to flush clean though!

Twice the number of pumps.  Extra kit in the form of actuators and thermostats for the UFH zones and a mixing valve that can all potentially go wrong may increase maintenance costs in the longer term.  Strategically placed isolating valves can make that a doodle or a pita involving a drain down of supply pipework.

It's a (potentially fairly steep) learning curve for how to operate UFH for comfort and not over nor under heating the rooms.

dharm999

Rodders53 said:

Keep_pedalling said:

The rest of the system is no more difficult to maintain than a radiator system and is not going to sludge up as there is very little metal in the system. 

Except all the sludge generated by the upstairs bedroom radiators is gonna pool in those downstairs underfloor loops   Magnetic cleaners and decent design can make those loops easy to flush clean though!

Twice the number of pumps.  Extra kit in the form of actuators and thermostats for the UFH zones and a mixing valve that can all potentially go wrong may increase maintenance costs in the longer term.  Strategically placed isolating valves can make that a doodle or a pita involving a drain down of supply pipework.

It's a (potentially fairly steep) learning curve for how to operate UFH for comfort and not over nor under heating the rooms.

Is it simply a case of trial and error to understand how best to operate it, or are there some simple steps to initially follow?  Hopefully, we move in next month, so have some time to get to grips with it before the cold weather sets in.

I plan to get the boiler serviced straight after moving in, is there a service schedule that should be followed for the UFH?  

ThisIsWeird

dharm999 said:

Rodders53 said:

Keep_pedalling said:

The rest of the system is no more difficult to maintain than a radiator system and is not going to sludge up as there is very little metal in the system. 

Except all the sludge generated by the upstairs bedroom radiators is gonna pool in those downstairs underfloor loops   Magnetic cleaners and decent design can make those loops easy to flush clean though!

Twice the number of pumps.  Extra kit in the form of actuators and thermostats for the UFH zones and a mixing valve that can all potentially go wrong may increase maintenance costs in the longer term.  Strategically placed isolating valves can make that a doodle or a pita involving a drain down of supply pipework.

It's a (potentially fairly steep) learning curve for how to operate UFH for comfort and not over nor under heating the rooms.

Is it simply a case of trial and error to understand how best to operate it, or are there some simple steps to initially follow?  Hopefully, we move in next month, so have some time to get to grips with it before the cold weather sets in.

I plan to get the boiler serviced straight after moving in, is there a service schedule that should be followed for the UFH?  

There are simple steps*. We can talk about that nearer the time :-)
All the comments above cover it. The worrying bit - the pipes under the floor - are extremely unlikely to fail, but of course there will always be exceptions. :-)
Yes, it would make sense to have a 'service' as soon as you move in (often buyer's solicitors insist on this before exchange anyway, but that's likely to be only a boiler service), and make sure it's someone who's fully familiar with UFH systems. 
Ask for the system water to be checked for cleanliness and adequate 'inhibitor', and I'd always have a magnetic filter installed too.
Yes, there's lots of thermostats and stuff, but these are very accessible, and usually pretty cheap. 

*In essence, set and forget! Any temp change you make will take at least an hour to materialise at the floor surface, and much longer to actually affect the room's temp. So if you do want to control the temps of rooms over 24 hours, you need to plan the moves well in advance.
You could even change the electric room stats with prog types, or even an App-controlled model, but, again, you'd need to plan changes in advance. Want a warm en-suite only first thing in the morn? Set it to come on a few hours in advance of time needed, and off before you need it - it'll be, and remain, warm for the duration of actual use! That sort of malarkey.
It'll take time to work out the response time, and then you just plan your programming to suit. 

martindow

It does sound unlikely that it would spring a leak or get blocked, but if it did I imagine you would end up abandoning it and fitting conventional radiators wouldn't you?  The cost and disruption of excavating a floor to access the pipework would be considerable.

dharm999

Thanks for all the comments, really helpful.

we’ve been back to the house and I have a bit more info.  There are two control panels next to the boiler, I assume one is for the radiator central heating and the other is for the UFH.  One is branded Drayton and the other British Gas, but both look similar.  I assume the BG one is just a standard controller branded as BG.

Each room with UFH has a controller on the wall, branded Ambiente.  I understand these could be programmable, depending on how they are set up.  There is a separate Megaflo hot water cylinder.  The boiler is around 10 years old, and had a problem resulting in the heat exchanger being replaced.  I don’t think there is a filter fitted, so will get that done when the boiler is serviced.  Both boiler and hot water cylinder are on the ground floor, about 10 feet apart.  I think, but could be wrong, that the boiler is a system boiler.  

Is anything I’ve now found out of concern?

Thanks

ThisIsWeird

Nope. Not at all.

dharm999

Just an update.  We got the keys a couple of days ago.  The UFH heating has taken a bit of getting used to, and the house is remarkably warm, with no heating on, it’s been 19-20 degrees inside at all times, it’s a shock being in a house that’s warm!!

Had to program all 10 UFH thermostats, as they were set to weird times and very high temperatures which was making the gas usage really high.  All thermostats now set to winter setting as we just don’t need it on. One of the thermostats doesn’t work properly, so will need replacing, but not a problem at the moment.

One thing which surprised me about the UFH is that the floors don’t get very warm, even when the room itself is very warm.  It’s something we will have to get used to.

Had the boiler serviced and filter checked, not much rubbish in it, which is a good sign.

Thanks to everyone that commented.

ThisIsWeird

Happy New House 😀 🏡 
Sounds a bit like mil's bungalow which has zoned UFH throughout - that, too, took some getting used to.
I suspect your house is warm just due to being well insulated and solar gain. But, yes, the floor doesn't usually 'feel' warm, tho' it can during winter when it's running fully.
You basically set the stats to the required base temps for each room, and see how it goes. Tweek them up and down in small steps until you are happy. Never forget the delay - each tweek will take hours to take full effect. 
You will find it costs no more to run than rads, and probably noticeably less as it makes you 'feel' warm as it heats you bottom-up! Also, your condensing boiler will be in full condition mod, so more efficient.
It's great 😃