underfloor heating

[tomos]

I am planning installing a underfloor (wet) heating sytem in the conservatory ive just built and wondered if i need an extra pump to give the added boost.
The existing boiler is a Wicks Ace high 102 btu which has been running fine for a number of years and runs 7 radiators (3 large and 4 small).
Im presuming if i do need a pump that it will have to connected to the boiler pump, to come on as the boiler pump activates.
Im planning having a seperate switch inside the conservatory to turn the heating on as needed so presumably ill need a zone valve to disconnect the underfloor heating from the existing heating when not in use.
Any advice appreciated.

 

[Garfeild]

i did one of these not so long ago,we ran it as an S plan system with one zone valve controlling the ufh,the other the rest of the heating system,you will need a separate flow and return to the boiler,from the mixing pump and manifold,which in this case i hid in a radiator cabinet near the entrance to the extension room,it has its owm stat which is wired to a standard 7 day programmer with the CH channel controlling the existing heating system,and the HW channel controlling the ufh,giving totally independant settings for both systems,DHW is on all the time as its a combi.

 

[shorky]

I hope for your sake you will be getting someone to install it as it seems you do not show a great deal of UFH knowledge

Speak to Nu-heat, they as well as other company's do 1 zone packs to cover single rooms etc, the manifold will have the extra pump needed, do somemore research.

 

[Balenza]

I am planning installing a underfloor (wet) heating sytem in the conservatory ive just built and wondered if i need an extra pump to give the added boost.
The existing boiler is a Wicks Ace high 102 btu which has been running fine for a number of years and runs 7 radiators (3 large and 4 small).
Im presuming if i do need a pump that it will have to connected to the boiler pump, to come on as the boiler pump activates.
Im planning having a seperate switch inside the conservatory to turn the heating on as needed so presumably ill need a zone valve to disconnect the underfloor heating from the existing heating when not in use.
Any advice appreciated.

How many Sq meters of area are you talking about for the proposed underfloor heated conservatory ?.
Are your boilers F&R primaries anywhere close to the conservatory ?.

 

[Softus]

I hope for your sake you will be getting someone to install it as it seems you do not show a great deal of UFH knowledge

There a first time for everyone shorky - remember the days before you knew how to?

 

[corgiman]

I hope for your sake you will be getting someone to install it as it seems you do not show a great deal of UFH knowledge

There a first time for everyone shorky - remember the days before you knew how to?

Shorky this is A DIY web site, people ask questions to do it themselves, I have seen some of your other posts and you recommend that they get someone in everytime.

not really the point of this here site

I advice people up to the point where i think they may kill themselves then I stop and recommend they get some one in.

 

[tomos]

Thanks for the input guys
The main F&R primarys are roughly 7 metres away.
The conservatory is 3mtr x 3 mtr and the coil of pipe i wanted to install would be 15mtr long.

Heres what i though i might have been able to do and no i dont have alot of underfloor heating knowledge but im sure answers from the pro's will determine whether i can undertake the job myself.

I thought i might have been able to run it from the last radiator in the line of 7 with an inline pump for added boost, fed to the underfloor heating.

Having to run it directly from the boiler on its own run would be alot of work i.e. ripping floorboards up etc so maybes an electric heating system might be more the way to go.Didnt really want to do this though as they take eons to heat up and barely worth the effort once there in full flow.

 

[shorky]

There a first time for everyone shorky - remember the days before you knew how to?

Point taken softus, everyone starts somewhere, but as we are in the trade we get the time to train and learn about most aspects of a task before undertaking it and underfloor is a tricky DIY task if you have little knowledge on it.

Shorky this is A DIY web site, people ask questions to do it themselves, I have seen some of your other posts and you recommend that they get someone in everytime.

not really the point of this here site

I advice people up to the point where i think they may kill themselves then I stop and recommend they get some one in.

Corgiman, you could not have read all of my posts as i have no issue on giving advice to DIY'ersi have done on some occasions, although i do not get heavily involved, but everyone should know there limits, it seems like the OP needs to research a hell of alot more before he attemps to install, it seems like he might not have a great deal of knowledge, maybe i'm wrong, but on a project like that a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing.

Buggered the quotes up again

 

[corgiman]

true

sorry I have only seen the post you made saying get someone in

welcome to the forum by the way

your like it here

 

[shorky]

true

sorry I have only seen the post you made saying get someone in

welcome to the forum by the way

your like it here

loving it mate

 

[Balenza]

tomos wrote

The conservatory is 3mtr x 3 mtr and the coil of pipe i wanted to install would be 15mtr long

Not enough.
You need to pack as much pipe in there as possible.
150mm spacings minimum. So thats about 7m of pipe per sq meter roughly.
So about 70 meters. I would fit a danfoss fhv-r temperature regulator.
Its about 35 or 40 quid.
So for a 40 degree flow temp you will be acheiving 105.8 watts per sq meter output for a DRT of 20C.. 900 watts or there abouts total output.
May still not be enough to heat a conservatory though.
The fhv-r operates similar to a radiator trv valve except it senses return temp instead of air temp to regulate room temp.

I thought i might have been able to run it from the last radiator in the line of 7 with an inline pump for added boost, fed to the underfloor heating.

No need to do this. You only have a few radiators on the system anyway so the boiler pump should be adequate.

so maybes an electric heating system might be more the way to go

You can have both if you wish. But you need to tile the conservatory.
Electric would add a boost to the system to make up for the slower response of screed embedded hydronic UF heating due to the possibility of your CH timer being set to run a radiator system.
Zoning ? Not impossible but I wouldnt consider it. Not for 9 sq meters. But you may have your own ideas.
Just turn the regulator down when you are not occupying the conservatory for any length of time.

 

[Gasguru]

Underfloor heating will take a while to heat up and conservatories are often only used for short time periods.

You may want to consider a high level electric quartz infra red heater.

 

[Softus]

There a first time for everyone shorky - remember the days before you knew how to?

Point taken softus, everyone starts somewhere, but as we are in the trade we get the time to train and learn about most aspects of a task before undertaking it and underfloor is a tricky DIY task if you have little knowledge on it.

OK. Well done for keeping your mind open, but I have to amicably disagree with you on both of these points.

Firstly, I often face new technology and products without any time to prepare. The first time I encountered u/f heating it was for a customer who said that he would do it himself (where I was doing the rest of the plumbing for a new extension), but he then ran short of time and I ended up (a) helping him lay the pipework, and (b) doing the rest of it, including most of the wiring. I had no time to prepare, I just read the installation instructions and got on with it. Of course I know about heating systems, but I found the u/f work really easy.

Secondly, u/f is actually one of the easiest DIY tasks if you have no plumbing knowledge, because of the kits that you can buy.

...OP needs to research a hell of alot more before he attemps to install, it seems like he might not have a great deal of knowledge, maybe i'm wrong, but on a project like that a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing.

I really think it isn't dangerous on this type of installation. There's very little to get wrong, and no danger arising from the kind of mistakes that can be made.