Electric underfloor heating

[patrick]

Hello

I’m a soon to be period property owner, I’ll be completing on an 1866 mid-terrace house in Faversham on Tuesday. I’ve got a question about amorphous ribbon underfloor heating.

The house has got partial central heating and I’m thinking of putting electric underfloor heating into the living room (which has an open fire as its only heat source). It’s got a suspended timber floor over the cellar, with bare floorboards above and exposed beams and boards in the cellar.

So far Allbrite’s amorphous ribbon heating looks like a good idea:
http://www.allbriteuk.co.uk/ribbon-underfloor-heating.html

It’s laid over the subfloor on top of a layer of insulation and directly under the floor covering (in my case this will be a floating laminate floor). The heating elements run at about 28°C. I figure that as long as I make sure that there’s good ventilation to the floor from the cellar then the system would heat the room, draft proof the floor and protect the floorboards.

I’ve also seen carbon film UFH systems, they’re similar but they can’t be used under carpets or in wet areas, and although that’s not an issue in this case it would be nice to have the option to carpet the living room if we get sick of the laminate.

Has any here had any experience of Allbrite’s system? Also, can anyone spot any flaws in my reasoning or offer any suggestions?

Thanks in advance

Patrick

 

[CHRIS]

The main reson to not use it is that it costs a fortune to run.

I put a single wire system under tiles in the bathroom on a suspended timber floor using warmup boards as layer over the plywood subfloor, it works very well and takes the chill off the tiles on a cold winter morning and combined with a good new extractor fan keeps the bathroom nice and dry and do not have any mold or damp spots.

I used it last winter for 4 months (longer if I had not forced the misses to turn it off) and my electric bill went sky high even though we went to town on the insulation. I ended up setting it to come on at 5am and off at 7am as it takes a while to cool down so it is still warm at 8am and come on again at 7pm and off at 9pm, this is after having it running on low for most of the day (half by mistake due to strange programable thermostat) and ending up with a £300 extra bill for just 2 months.

I dont know about laminate floor !!!!!!! (dangerous words on this site) but you could use and engineered floor with a real oak finish and put rugs down.

I only have a wood burner stove in my front room and it is nice as you have to work for your heat!!! I have a bit of a routine , go in - let dog out - go in cellar chop wood - carry up stairs - make fire - light with flint and steel - open vents - walk dog - get home to roaring fire done in 30 mins. This is after a full day at work on site so is a bit of a wind down - try it, its good for you.

But I have to admit the UFH is great in bathroom (spaced cables close together around toilet for luxury whilst reading paper!) and dont mind the expense after sorting the timer out.

 

[NT]

Hydronic ufh would avoid any extra run cost. Pipes under the floorboards and insulation under them.


NT

 

[patrick]

Thanks for the replies, it’s been a busy week. I think I’ll stick to my plan of installing an amorphous ribbon UHF system (though I’m still considering carbon film). The room’s also got a fireplace, I think an inset room heater would go nicely in there as an additional/alternative heat source. I’ll keep a careful eye on the running costs for the UHF.

The ribbon and the carbon film systems work a little differently to cable systems, where as in a cable systems the elements typically heat up something with a high thermal mass (such as tiles) which then transfers the heat into the room, these systems work best with very little between the elements an the room. So you don’t get the storage heater effect that makes cable systems quite ponderous to use (or so the people selling you the stuff say).

My wife’s in the house most day’s, I don’t think she’d be impressed if I told her that she’d have to chop wood to keep the heating going.

I decided against hydronic systems because of the cost of installing it, I also don’t like the idea of entombing and heating up the floorboards. I’d feel much happier with them exposed to the air in the cellar.

Oh, and as far as the floating laminate flooring goes, I agonised over that for a long time. I’d love to have good quality engineered boards, but I can’t really justify the extra cost. Laminate is good enough to protect the fabric of the house, easy to look after and I wouldn’t really care what happened to it.

Thanks again

Patrick

 

[NT]

I decided against hydronic systems because of the cost of installing it,

Will you only be there short term then? If not then hydronic will work out far cheaper.

Oh, and as far as the floating laminate flooring goes, I agonised over that for a long time. I’d love to have good quality engineered boards, but I can’t really justify the extra cost. Laminate is good enough to protect the fabric of the house, easy to look after and I wouldn’t really care what happened to it.

You cant just clean up the existing boards? Sure is an easy option, and even blackened boards can come up well with a few hours work.


NT

 

[patrick]

Will you only be there short term then? If not then hydronic will work out far cheaper.

Good point, I got my reasons the wrong way round. The main reason is that I was worried about ventilation to the floorboards if the had heating elements and insulation under them and a floor covering over them, as well as the effects of heating and cooling them.

You cant just clean up the existing boards? Sure is an easy option, and even blackened boards can come up well with a few hours work.

Now that we've agreed on a quote for rewiring the house, and worked out just how little we'll be left with :shock:, that's looks like a very attractive option.

The electricians will be putting in circuits suitable for powering the UFH as part of the rewiring but we won't be installing it for a while; and depending on how things go I may yet change my mind and go for a hydronic system instead.

Thanks for your help

Patrick

 

[NT]

I dont think you'd need to ventilate the floorboards or joists.

Cleaning old floors can work very well. People see them and think no chance, but not so.

I guess you have rubber wiring then.


NT