UFH below a carpeted floor?

[fullern]

Hi

I am planning on replacing the living room floor with a concrete slab and insulation etc (we are renovating the house). The wife wants to carpet the area (16m sq) when all is done and I just wanted to know if anyone had installed underfloor heating in a carpeted area and whether it was worth it? I have read that as long as the carpet is a max of 1.5 tog I think it is, then it should work well. I don't want to go to the effort of setting a nice new floor in place to find the UFH doesn't heat it very well.

Secondly is a wet UFH system better than an electric one? We have a combi boiler system at the moment and would be taking out one radiator if we installed UFH.

I know that tile or wood would be better, but I suspect this isn't a battle I am going to win!


Any advice or experience very much appreciated,

Cheers

N.

 

[Tipper]

As you already know carpet is not really a good idea over UFH. This link/guide from Wavin gives some useful figures on page 7, although based on their designs of course. Basically carpet + underlay halves the output!

Electric UFH is horrendously expensive to run. If you do it then run it off your CH boiler, it matters not that it is a combi.

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rc...SdgqgN&usg=AFQjCNHIpaXlVoQsW54a08Deb_pxTA7x_A

 

[Richardthe3rd]

I think it would be daft not to fit UFH if you're replacing the floor. It's simple really, the more you cover the floor with the higher you need to run it at. So nice tiles & no coverings - lowest floor temperature.

 

[fullern]

Thanks to both of you for your replies.

Not read the link posted by Tipper just yet (just about to), but if as you say you lose half of the output, it would seem rather uneconomical to install the UFH.

The problem is we live in a cold damp cottage with only the hall way carpeted, and the wife is fed up of being constantly being cold! Maybe if I take her to a tile shop it might convince her (what a lucky lady).

Cheers!

 

[stem]

if as you say you lose half of the output, it would seem rather uneconomical to install the UFH.

Not really, the carpet acts as insulation, and because of this, the water will loose less heat as is travels under the floor, it will be warmer at the end of its journey and therefore need less energy to heat it back up. The boiler will only replace the heat that has been lost.

It will however take longer to warm up the room from cold, and the reduced output may not be sufficient to keep you warm if your home isn't well insulated. Because of the the low surface temperature of the floor, many users of UFH leave it on 24/7 anyway, perhaps with a 2 to 3 degree setback at night otherwise it can take all day to reach a comfortable temperature.