Water underflow heating (UFH)

[asaris]

Recently I moved into 2 storey home and plan to install water UFH on both floors with up to 8 zones by myself, 8 stats connected to wiring centres, but all electrical work will be done by electrician. I read a lot about water UFH, but still have a few unanswered questions.

1) Has anybody tried to install single manifold on 1st floor and connect pipe circuits from ground and 1st floor to this manifold? At the moment, it looks a good idea to me as it would remove costs of extra manifold, wiring centre, pump etc. Or is it better to have manifold per floor? If yes, then why?

2) Initially I wanted to install suspended UFH on the 1st floor, but discovered that walls on the 1st floor are constructed over 24mm MDF boards. Hence I'm thinking of laying pipes below MDF boards and insulating them very well. I opened up ceilings and it seems feasible except in some places it can be tricky due to water pipes.

3) I understand wiring centre is wired to boiler to switch on/off heating, but what if there are two wiring centres? How do they both control heat from boiler?

Thanks,
asaris / UK

 

[Dan Robinson]

You might haver read a lot.... but not about maximum loop length.

 

[asaris]

I've read about loop length. It would add about 4m per loop if pipes go down to 1st floor. Not a deal breaker. The only thing that comes to mind is that probably it is harder for pump to circulate water from the ground floor.

 

[simond]

Are you a stormtrooper?

The question with wiring centres rather depends on whose system you are using. But generally, you wire the boiler on off in parallel so not an issue.

As Dan says, the circuit length will be limited but there's no reason why you cant drop into the floor below if manifold placement is a problem.

 

[Agile]

Its rarely done, but I don't see any problem with having two smaller manifolds, one on each floor and a single pump/blending valve somewhere else!

Tony

 

[asaris]

Thanks, simond. I chose heatmiser. You are right - wires are connected in parallel. Page titled "Wiring Diagram - Connecting Multiple UH1’s" http://www.heatmiser.com/download/wiring_centre_diagrams/uh1_diagrams/uh1.pdf

Thanks, Tony. I'm still trying to get my head around water UFH, but slowly getting there.