Anyone had electric underfloor heating installed?

nigpd

nigpd

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I'm looking at getting electric underfloor heating put in the kitchen-diner of a house I'm going to be moving to.

Has anyone had this type of underfloor heating installed? If so, who did you get to install it, and would you recommend them?

Thanks in advance for your help
 
the tiler should be able to install it. points to consider:

1. are you laying it onto a concrete slab? if so.. you need insulation boards as well, otherwise you'll just be heating the concrete slab :bonk: and not your floor

actually, before i go any further... do you need advice on the products or just installation? what sort of floor are you laying.. wood or tiles?
 
i have it in the kitchen underneath tiled a floor...i not overly impressed...something is wrong with an area of the floor as it doesnt get warm, but to take it up to discover the faut means removing titles and re-tiling...
 
leftcurl said:
1. are you laying it onto a concrete slab? if so.. you need insulation boards as well, otherwise you'll just be heating the concrete slab :bonk: and not your floor
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You're right, and retro-fitting insulation in to a ground floor slab is some work!

Also, even if fitting heating in to the upstairs floor of a bathroom. Insulation is highly recommended, i.e. lift floor boards, and put some rock wool insulation in between the joists. Otherwise, the heat can droop to the room below, leaving the room you're trying heat warm from the waist down only.
 
I looked at the cost of installing it as part of a refurb and discounted it for three reasons - installation costs, running costs and warm up times.

How big is the room you are planning to heat? Floor area and cubic capacity? These factors will seriously affect the performance and efficiency of the uf heating system.

Please bear in mind that underfloor heating has a slow response time, it takes a while to heat up the mass around it and works best when giving off a gentle constant heat over long periods.

Have a look at the other options first and compare the cost of installation, running costs and disruption on a £ per m2, you might find more cost effective and versatile alternatives out there.

Underfloor heating is popular but with so many variables to consider it's not always the best choice.

Subject to floor area, cubic capacity, areas of outside walls and amount of glazing - you might find a far more cost effective alternative.
 
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we've just put it in our bathrrom in a house were doing up to live in, pretty cheap 2m square for £56 (ish) all fitting items and thermostat included, floor heats up in about 10-15 mins from cold and so far costs arnt really too bad as we have it on for when we get up and slightly cooler for the rest of the day...

we installed it ourselves onto a wood floor insulated underneath, easy to lay, just need to make sure its all flat before tiling down, and to wait the 7 days for the bonding to dry before tiling onto it! or walking on it...
 
Hi Nigel,
I have it installed in 3 rooms. It works perfectly and I,ve not up to now had any problems.
Bought all of mine from the underfloor heating store which martinxr2 has already mentioned. If you google it you can get all the info/cost that you need. Their tech guys are really good also.

Mick
 
Thanks for all the excellent info and viewpoints guys. I am not sure whats under the existing wood laminate floor and carpet - I'll ask the estate agent to find out.

Plenty of food for thought but the main driver is to create wall space by removing the existing radiators as space in the kitchen is tight and we want to knock a partition wall down to create a kitchen diner with underfloor heating.

I'm not sure at the moment what the alternative could be :thinking:
 
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Hold on guys!! This should be installed and tested by a competant person ie a sparks! It is notifiable work under Part P if it is in a kitchen or bathroom and MUST be installed with an RCD in circuit, the underfloor element should also have an earth sleeving.

In my experience the correct installation, including testing and certification is beyond most DIYers.

Sparky

[No, I don't need or want the work!]
 
I laid it in my kitchen in my farmhouse , It's fine to stop your feet freezing but certainly of no use as a heat source for a room
next time I shall just buy some winter socks or some slippers mucho cheaper
 
nigpd said:
I'm not sure at the moment what the alternative could be :thinking:
Click to expand...

Hi Nigel - I'd strongly suggest you get some professional, independent advice before committing your funds to u/f heating.

There are many variables to consider as stated above including installation costs, running costs, response times and incredibly importantly who designs and installs the heating for you as Duncan F points out .

If wall space is tight have a look at Myson or Dimplex kick space heaters, they fit in the bottom of your kitchen floor units under the bottom shelf - yet circulate warm air in the winter and some models cold air in the summer.

At work, we install kick space heaters in a lot of our properties to avoid the cost and disruption of digging up floors and installing insulation etc

The response is instant and on demand so our occupants are very happy with the installations and running costs as they mainly want the heat at breakfast time and again at tea time - the houses being unoccupied during the day.

There are many variables for you to consider and too many to go into here but to get best value for your money I'd get some independent advice first.
 
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