Construction Resources and Support

[HandyGuy]

Is under-floor heating worth installing? If so, what type? Pipe heated or electric? And how does it compare to conventional central heating systems?

[diyer]

Advice:

First law of thermodynamics: energy cannot be created or destroyed. (Let's ignore the finer points of mass-energy conversion for now.) A kilowatt hour is a kilowatt hour. The only difference that can exist between different electric underfloor heating systems is the percentage of heat that goes DOWN instead of UP.



On a ground floor heat going DOWN is wasted, so you want as much of it to come UP as possible. The claims of this seem to be based on the fact that you can put theirs closer to the surface and it runs at a lower temperature. This would tend to reduce the amount of heat being lost downwards. One drawback of putting the heaters so close to the surface is the increased chance of mechanical damage -- and fire hazards. One certainly wouldn't want to have electric heating elements directly below a carpet or even wood.

Also remember: heat will slowly affect the radiator surface. That is, heat can't be good for material that was never meant to be heat radiator: hardwood floor, plastic tile or carpet. Over time, the heat will damage these materials.