Hello. My dad had Parkinson’s and we managed to care for him at home. The bathroom was tiny and bath was removed to allow for an easy access wet room. The radiator was removed as occupational health felt that if he fell he would possibly burn himself on the pipe work plus it gave us more room to allow a wheel chair in. Anyway underfloor heating was installed and non slip vinyl flooring. This was 14 years ago. Dad is no longer with us but about a year ago Mum noticed a small brown patch on the vinyl which is a scorch mark we assume. The heat mat has a 15 year warranty. It’s from Heat Mat. The thermostat is from Thermolay and is a Timeguard TPT44. Heat Mat says this is not on their list of approved controllers and that it must have been allowed to run at more than 30C. I have it set at 22C morning and evening with a background heat during the day of 18C. It has a cut off at 30C so shouldn’t go above it. Needless to say it is all switched off at the moment as I don’t know how safe it is with this brown mark spreading and is obviously from the cable. I assume it is a hot spot in the cabling or has burnt out a wire? Heat Mat say we have to install one of their controllers but not sure if I agree and I don’t think it would be safe. An electrician has been in to test the system and he says the mat is caput. Heat Mat won’t accept that lifting and replacing the vinyl flooring is up to them. Do I have a case in your opinion to push for a full replacement from them? Thank you.
Underfloor heating
- Thread starter liz82
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Hello. Thank you for reply. Afraid the guy has retired and his business is gone. The heating system in the house is oil and I’d like to replace the radiator that was removed. The marks on the floor look much worse in the photograph. Can you tell me if they are scorch marks from an overheating cable or has the vinyl discoloured because it’s not suitable for UFH ? Mum insists the bath mat was always lifted after her shower but I’m not convinced that was always so. Has she perhaps caused it to overheat. At present it’s down to hide the marks
The controller should not allow the floor to go above a set temperature.
The fact the marks clearly show the outline of the cable suggest it's been installed very close to the surface, perhaps immediately under the floor covering, and doing that would make the floor sensor inoperable.
The heating cable is supposed to be covered with screed, tiles or some other material to spread the heat evenly into the floor and the temperature probe detects that general temperature. Shoving the cable directly under plastic flooring will not work as the heat will be concentrated into a small area.
Placing a bath mat there is unrelated - otherwise everyone with UFH and a rug, carpets or furniture would have identical problems.
No chance - it was not installed according to the manufacturers instructions.
You have had 14+ years use out of it. Any investigation work will involve destruction of the floor.
Disconnect and forget about the UFH. Put the radiator back.
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Two types of electric under floor heating, chemical is self regulating, and resistive needs a under floor sensor to stop over heating, and the thermostat has both air and floor sensing if the thermostat had not got that facility it should not have been used.
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