Underfloor heating (electric)

[levad]

We are looking at moving house. The property we are going to is all eletric and has electric wall heaters. I am thinking that it may be better to replace these and put electric underfloor heating in instead. The largest room 17m sq. and will contain the kitchen. The other rooms are 5,7,10 and 11m sq.

I do not think we can face the upheaval of having gas connected and a wet heating system installed.

Thoughts and opinions please.

Thanks

 

[phil_hg_uk]

Are they heaters or storage heaters ?

 

[dellzeqq]

No. It is not worth it. I've had to incorporate underfloor heating in to the design of buildings and I am telling you that the whole thing is a pain in the butt. If it goes wrong five years hence, what do you do?

I'd consider how much heating this place is going to cost you. Has the present owner got any bills?

 

[levad]

Are they heaters or storage heaters ?

Not sure yet, will find out tomorrow when we go for another look.

 

[levad]

No. It is not worth it. I've had to incorporate underfloor heating in to the design of buildings and I am telling you that the whole thing is a pain in the butt. If it goes wrong five years hence, what do you do?

I'd consider how much heating this place is going to cost you. Has the present owner got any bills?

Another item for the list of questions for tomorrow

 

[subaqua]

avoid like the plague.

only time any good is as a secondary heat source to take chill of cold bathroom floors in winter. and even then you should just MTFU

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Put an extra pair of socks on and have another beer - much cheaper.

 

[Archie_tect]

Would never advise someone to install electric heating but if existing storage heaters are on Economy 7 or equivalent night-time tariff it may not be so bad + easy to replace/upgrade to fan assisted storage heaters which are more efficient. Electric bills will tell you a lot, especially the contrast between winter and summer charges to compare when heating is on. Night storage heaters ideally should be on internal walls so that they build up heat into wall structure rather than out through an external wall

Alternative is always to first insulate [or better insulate] walls/ ceiling to roofspace/ floor, and stop heat loss due to draughts round loft hatch [+ insulate the hatch cover with up to 150mm of polysyrene or similar], draught-strip doors and windows. Using electricity to heat hot water tank is very inefficient.... could you fit solar hot water panels [small system should be around £1800] to roof if SW/ S or SE facing [ideally at or around 30 degree roof pitch] - this will provide up to 60% of hot water needs [+ all of it in summer providing you manage when and how you use it ie, have showers in evening when tank has heated up all day] and will significantly reduce electric bills but you'd probably need a new better insulated hot water storage tank anyway with a second coil inside it for the solar heating flow and return circuit. Don't fit electric underfloor heating as it's throwing money away! But you could look at fitting an air source heat pump which produces 3 to 4 units of heat for every unit of electricity used... you'd need advice from a reliable installer though and you might qualify for grants from The Energy Saving Trust. [http://www.hvnplus.c...8606062.article]

It may not be so bad and is certainly easy to update and amend electric storage heating.

 

[levad]

OK. Found out that the current (pun!) electric heating is Dimplex storage heaters.

There is gas to the house but the boiler was condemmed when the current owner moved in and she had the gas removed and terminated back at the domestic side of the meter. I think we will reinstate gas hot water and central heating, hopefully with solar if the authorities allow a panel on the south facing roof (it is the road side of the house and in a conservation area).

So now I start to research the cost of central heating system installation!

 

[subaqua]

OK. Found out that the current (pun!) electric heating is Dimplex storage heaters.

There is gas to the house but the boiler was condemmed when the current owner moved in and she had the gas removed and terminated back at the domestic side of the meter. I think we will reinstate gas hot water and central heating, hopefully with solar if the authorities allow a panel on the south facing roof (it is the road side of the house and in a conservation area).

So now I start to research the cost of central heating system installation!

about £2.5k as a ball park figure.

do not get rid of the economy 7 meter tariff though. its great in winter for doing cooking washing etc on a timer overnight and keeping the higher cost daytime units low.

depending on where you live some planning depts will give any renewable a straight tick in the box regardless of conservation area as they need to have a certain %age of green.
one house we looked at to see the quality of the install before we got our PV managed to get colour matched panels and panel edging so it doesn't stand out like sore thumb - not sure if solar heating can do that but it must be possible.

 

[Yellow Fang]

No. It is not worth it. I've had to incorporate underfloor heating in to the design of buildings and I am telling you that the whole thing is a pain in the butt. If it goes wrong five years hence, what do you do?

I'd consider how much heating this place is going to cost you. Has the present owner got any bills?

I've often wondered about this. Underfloor heating tends to be recommended for use with ground source heat pumps because you need a greater surface area to compensate for the lower water temperatures. I gather they're not anticipated to leak for decades, but what happens if they do? It looks like it would be quite a difficult job to put right. Underfloor heating is not very reactive either because they have to heat up the floor tiles. This means you either need to leave it on all the time or use an auxiliary means of heating for when it's still too cold. Compact radiators seem a better way to go if you ask me, even if they clutter the room's appearance.

 

[Night Train]

Avoid electric underfloor heating, it cost too much to run and lacks control. Ditto storage heaters. I used to install electric heating and it is rubbish. Controls have to be determined at lest a day in advance and can't be changed if you find you got it wrong.

Go for the gas wet system but also invest in insulation first off, loft, windows, walls and underfloor.

If you can't have gas then try electric oil radiators. Use them on a low setting and leave them on and let the thermostat do the work. Electric fan heaters are the worst option.

 

[phil_hg_uk]

I have electric storage heaters and a wood/coal buring stove in the living room my house is always lovely and warm even in winter, i have lived in my house for 16 years with these heaters and never had a moments problem and dont have to pay silly prices to get them serviced as all I need to do is turn them off in summer and on in winter and I dont have gas at all.

 

[markg0vbr]

insulation first then think about changing things, my gas heating bill was £26 for the winter , electric was £60.
i have cavity wall, loft and thick reflective underlay on my concrete floors, the odd rely cold day i fire up the wood burner.
we had the old masive storage heaters when i was a kid and loved them the one in the hall was so big i could lay on it reading in the evening befor it started heating up again, the moden ones are very efitiant and sort of trickle charge all the time, if you go for the pv solar they are heating up in the day for free and the government is paying you to do it! this winter my system will be up and running 4kw of panels should put some heat in to the house even with the short and overcast days.

the air heater boxes work well on sunny winters days, but the wet heater panels work even better.
as others have said the only time to fit under floor is with ground heat exchanger or bore hole heat extraction.

19% rise in gas and electric announced, time to flees the poor again, of course the fact that the government will get a massive wind fall in there coffers from tax on fuel is nothing to do with it, it is the price of crude oil that is doing it! honest.

 

[ttcycle]

I see your question has been answered - however, I knew friends who had underfloor heating and the amount of times when they'd had come home with the shopping, not unpack it straight away to find that the cheese had melted...you think that they'd start to pack it away sooner or at least not put it on the floor but ho hum...!