It’s for summer house being used as office , only about 8 square metres. Just need low powered unit, will have another heat source. LVT will be final floor covering .
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Recommendation for electric UFH?
- Thread starter foxhole
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My sister insisted we fitted electric UFH to my mothers wet room, in real terms it was a failure.
1) We fitted loads of insulation below the UFH, so even when off the floor was never what one would say is cold, that insulation was clearly good, and had we used the UFH every day, we may have said it was good to have warm feet, but it was nothing really to do with the UFH is was just the extra insulation.
2) From switch on, to feeling a warm floor, not heating room, but just feeling some warmth in the floor, was around 1.5 hours, so in real terms needs to be on at least 3 hours before the room is used, and whole idea today is only to heat when rooms are used.
3) Without the towel rail the room would have never warmed up, the extractor fan removed more than the UFH could provide.
4) Turning on the shower cooled the floor, and it was an hour to reheat, unless we mopped the floor, it would stay wet for 2 hours.
5) The thermostat did not last long with the load, swapped around every two years, and the underfloor sensor got stuck in the pocket, never did change, but once it had failed floor could over heat to above the 27ºC allowed.
When I looked for the chemical type heating strip I could not find one with built in earth braid, so would need a earth mat above it in a shower room, the requirement would not be there for you, so you could use RayChem which is far better as self regulating so you can't get hot spots, and don't need the temperature probe and pocket. So would be better than I used in the wet room.
With an alternative heating source your not relying on the UFH for all the heat so again not quite so bad, the UFH is set to give a back ground heat, however deciding how far apart the run is to give back ground heat is hard. Whole idea is UFH is not thermostatically controlled, so you don't have the problem with thermostat failure.
But as to if worth it, don't know, we were not strapped for cash, so it could be left on, but we didn't, so 90% of the year it remained off, only when very cold did we use it.
Same I suppose as AC today, we have an AC in the living room to keep room cool in really hot weather, it likely gets turned on 3 weeks a year, and to move from normal living room to what we call dinning room for the three weeks would be just as easy, and no need for AC.
In the main I would say a blown hot air system would work better, it does heat the floor, and is fast.
1) We fitted loads of insulation below the UFH, so even when off the floor was never what one would say is cold, that insulation was clearly good, and had we used the UFH every day, we may have said it was good to have warm feet, but it was nothing really to do with the UFH is was just the extra insulation.
2) From switch on, to feeling a warm floor, not heating room, but just feeling some warmth in the floor, was around 1.5 hours, so in real terms needs to be on at least 3 hours before the room is used, and whole idea today is only to heat when rooms are used.
3) Without the towel rail the room would have never warmed up, the extractor fan removed more than the UFH could provide.
4) Turning on the shower cooled the floor, and it was an hour to reheat, unless we mopped the floor, it would stay wet for 2 hours.
5) The thermostat did not last long with the load, swapped around every two years, and the underfloor sensor got stuck in the pocket, never did change, but once it had failed floor could over heat to above the 27ºC allowed.
When I looked for the chemical type heating strip I could not find one with built in earth braid, so would need a earth mat above it in a shower room, the requirement would not be there for you, so you could use RayChem which is far better as self regulating so you can't get hot spots, and don't need the temperature probe and pocket. So would be better than I used in the wet room.
With an alternative heating source your not relying on the UFH for all the heat so again not quite so bad, the UFH is set to give a back ground heat, however deciding how far apart the run is to give back ground heat is hard. Whole idea is UFH is not thermostatically controlled, so you don't have the problem with thermostat failure.
But as to if worth it, don't know, we were not strapped for cash, so it could be left on, but we didn't, so 90% of the year it remained off, only when very cold did we use it.
Same I suppose as AC today, we have an AC in the living room to keep room cool in really hot weather, it likely gets turned on 3 weeks a year, and to move from normal living room to what we call dinning room for the three weeks would be just as easy, and no need for AC.
In the main I would say a blown hot air system would work better, it does heat the floor, and is fast.
Don’t think a wet room is comparable with a summerhouse, but thanks for feedback .
Really though, you must install a substantial amount of insulation in the sub floor or all that your weedy heating mat is going to do is to heat up the earth's crust, and thats energy, and your money, down the drain.
Even in an indoor room, electric UFH is fine to warm your feet, but not great to heat the room itself.
Even in an indoor room, electric UFH is fine to warm your feet, but not great to heat the room itself.
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