Underfloor heating systems

[Chouette]

Has anyone had this type of system installed who could give me some idea how much it costs compared to installing a gas central heating system?  What are the benefits and potential drawbacks, if any.

[Simon]

Hi you may find this site useful

http://www.ippec.co.uk/

regards

Simon

[Foxtrot]

Hi,

We had underfloor heating installed about 4 years ago and are very pleased with the system. It's water in the pipes that are heated to a "basse température" of 27° max. Connected to a mains gas boiler that also does our hot water. You do need to consider what kind of floor surface you will be having - we've got stone and the heat passes through fine, not sure about parquet "flottant". Also, your estimate will include digging down a good few cms to get all the layers fitted in. An outside thermostat is a good idea (as well as an inside one) because it helps during cold spells); floor heating takes about 24 hours or sometimes more to get the house up to temperature when you switch it on for the first time.

What would we do differently if we did it again:
1) have under floor heating both downstairs and up (we thought it was going to be hard to regulate bedroom heat so opted for radiators upstairs) and put electric towel heaters in the bathrooms so that your towels are dry all year round.
2) perhaps not have gas (prices keep going up) but rather "géothermie" where you bury pipes in your garden that catch the residual heat from the ground. More economic to run, more expensive to install.

Katie

[Bramble]

Not sure if this will be of any use, but for what it is worth, we have installed electric underfloor heating in our converted barn in UK and it is so good we are considering using it if we buy a French house that needs renovating.

It comes as a continuous net with wires threaded through it.  This is laid on a suitable base; one can buy insulating sheets, we didn't bother and it has made little difference.  The whole is set in a flexible compound which 'goes off' sufficiently for tiles or wood to be laid on top, using the same compound as adhesive/grout.  Effectively one then has a solid state heating system.  Control is by an on/off switch and a thermostat.  The digital thermostats are clever little blighters who learn when to switch on in order to achieve your set temperature by your selected start time.  I.e. you want heat at 65 degrees by 8 a.m. - it senses when to switch on in order to achieve that.  We use both and prefer the bog standard thermostats.  Running costs are very good, most rooms are less than 1K p.h.

The sheer luxury of getting out of bed in the winter to a warm floor on bare feet - aaah.  Our only regret is that we didn't do it sooner.

 

Best wishes

 

Bramble