24v carbon film underfloor heating

[Timmo]

Hi has anyone come across 24v carbon film Underfloor heating? It looks great stuff but the price I was quoted far out weighed the advantages. I have seen 230V, 10A stuff but am unconvinced at the running costs.

I would be interested (and grateful) to hear anyones experience good or bad and who can supply it,.

thanks in anticipation

 

[sparky40]

Hello;
What type of finish will the floor be, tiled ?
Is it in a bathroom ? ( special location )
I just popped onto the screwf*x website and they have 20% off of a heating 'mat' that I have installed. They even give you running cost's !
On the installation side of thing's the kit comes with all you need although I fitted a timer to the mat I installed.
I hope that this is of some help.

 

[plugwash]

heating a property properly takes a lot of power.

if you really wan't underfloor heating i'd advise a wet system fed by a gas boiler or electric heat pump and making sure that you use very good quality pipework since repair will be difficult.

would probablly be a good idea to use an easilly liftable floor surface on top too if possible.

 

[Timmo]

Thanks for the reply

The floor finish is likely to be tiled. The carbon film I mentioned is 1mm thick and therefore will not add to the height of the floor unduly. The running costs are much better than electric heating ( at least that is what I have been told) but I have found it difficult to source.

the floor under which the heating system will be going under is part of the old house and extended into a new extension. If I put underfloor heating in it will raise the level of the floor. this doesn't appeal to me. the alternative is a kick board heater but I need around 3KW, wall space is limited. I Would prefer to connect into the existing heating system as this is a new system ( I installed last year and sized up in anticipation of this additional load.

 

[Steve]

I Would prefer to connect into the existing heating system as this is a new system ( I installed last year and sized up in anticipation of this additional load.

surely then, you designed the system so that you could have a radiator conveniently placed within this room? Tiled floors are perfect for UFH, but i would recommend either fitting a radiator or wet UFH - not electric.

 

[plugwash]

The running costs are much better than electric heating ( at least that is what I have been told)

what they probablly mean is its a system only powerfull enough to provide a warm floor in an already heated room not to actually heat the room.

 

[Timmo]

I accept the points you make re running costs and I too am sceptical. I also accept your advice re wet underfloor heating or utilising the existing wet system to connect onto.

The difficulty is that the the plan makes it difficult to squeeze a rad in, (and my wife keep changing her mind on teh plan) hence another alternative is a kick board heater but this is still not as appealing as a rad.

If I go the hole hog and install wet UFH how high will this raise the floor.

I need around 3.2KW in a room that is 6m X 3m + 3m X 1.5 (utility)

thanks again

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I would have thought that UFH was mainly to take the chill off a tiled floor for people too lazy to put a pair of slippers?

Would it not make the floor uncomfortably warm if it has to perform space heating as well?

 

[Steve]

I would have thought that UFH was mainly to take the chill off a tiled floor for people too lazy to put a pair of slippers?

Would it not make the floor uncomfortably warm if it has to perform space heating as well?

no. dont you watch discovery real time? they use it a lot in custom new builds. the UFH operates at a lower temp to traditional radiators, and since the whole floor becomes a low-temp heater, the room heats up quite nicely!

 

[ban-all-sheds]

no. dont you watch discovery real time?

Is that one of those channels that thinks I'm so stupid that I need a permanent reminder of which channel I'm watching displayed on the screen?

they use it a lot in custom new builds. the UFH operates at a lower temp to traditional radiators, and since the whole floor becomes a low-temp heater, the room heats up quite nicely!

OK.

 

[BattyB]

I wondered if someone could please help? We are redecorating our sitting room and we are replacing our carpet with laminate flooring and i thought to make the room seem less cold then the carbon film underfloor heating would be a good option. Not sure whether to spend more though and get a real wood floor, that would seem warmer that laminate.
The floor area is 20 sq m and at the moment we only have one radiator in the room that is quite large and oil heating. Our property was built in 1982 so not able to afford 'wet' underfloor heating.

i would really appreciate any help or pointers.

 

[hairyben]

Can a carbon film go under tiles? I though that was for wood, tiles need a wire. I might be wrong there are all sorts of different products on the market.

Problem with using UFH in bathrooms is you can only heat about half the effective area once you've worked the wire round all the obstacles which like others say may not be enough as a primary heat source

 

[Taylortwocities]

Note, you cannot use carbon film UFH in a bathroom unless an earthed grid is installed over the element (see 701.753)

 

[ericmark]

There are two basic types of heating element used with electric under floor heating. The first type has near constant resistance and is common for wet rooms and the like where there is little or no chance of anything being placed on the floor to cause local over heating. The second uses a chemical compound which I think includes carbon which as it is heated the resistance rises so even if part of the floor is covered the maximum temperature is limited. The latter can normally be cut to length where the former is normally a set length of series of lengths.
With RayChem which is same thing but used to stop pipes from freezing there is a very special way to terminate the cable and I would think the same applies to the under floor heating version. As a result it is often not available as DIY kit.
Because of it’s self regulation it is cheaper to run than the fixed output type since any hot spots end up heating the ground with fixed output types.
Both types are available with or without an earth shield and with earthed shield you can lay in wet rooms etc.
I installed the cheap constant output in my Mothers wet room mainly to dry the floor after use and walking on the floor with nothing on ones feet I could only just stand the heat. Quite obviously, it could not be designed to be any hotter yet without the towel rail on as well the room was cold so I cannot see it being much good as room heating but it worked well at drying floor.
Control is also a problem the one I fitted was set to sense the floor temperature rather than room temperature, basically to stop over heating.
I think if I had installed this system in a house I would be really disappointed. I have often wondered how the old Roman system worked and if they had to ware sandals to stop burning their feet on the floor?

 

[Steve]

Our property was built in 1982 so not able to afford 'wet' underfloor heating.

That doesn't make any sense on any level.

What does the age of the property have to do with the fact you cant afford to install wet central heating?

And you can install wet central heating anywhere with enough money thrown at it.