Underfloor heating as primary heating
Underfloor heating as primary heating
It is possible to use electric underfloor heating for primary heating. But there are a number of problems, without taking them into account you will not achieve the desired result.
The main problem heating temperature
The main purpose of electric underfloor heating is comfort heating. The temperature of the floor heating cannot be raised to the temperature of heaters or convectors. Underfloor heating has a different purpose from the beginning.
Since we cannot heat the floor heating to the temperature of the heater, there is only one way out, to increase the heating area. But there is a point, electric floor heating is installed only on a clean area. Laying under furniture, carpets, bathrooms, makes no sense and carries the danger of localised overheating and failure of the heating cable. The problem is that the area required for laying the necessary amount of heating cable is not enough.
How to know how much heating cable is needed
You can find many articles that describe how to select a heating cable for basic space heating. These articles specify the cable capacity, the step of laying, but this is theory. In practice, for heating a well-insulated room with good windows, you need much less heat than for a poorly insulated room. To understand how much heat is needed for your room, you need to make a calculation of heat losses. Having made the calculation and knowing how much heat your room loses for a certain period of time, you can calculate how much heat is needed to compensate for these losses. You can find many programmes for this calculation on the internet. Of course, you can try to calculate heat losses yourself, but it is better to entrust it to specialists. Having made a mistake in calculations and having laid not enough heating cable, you may suddenly realise that you have to go to the shop to buy a heater.
What to do if there is still not enough space to install the required amount of floor heating cable
The first option is to make a mixed system. It is necessary to compensate for the missing heat by installing heaters. Heaters are installed in the places of the greatest heat loss, under the windows. To achieve automation of the whole heating system and reduce energy consumption, it is possible to install air temperature regulators. The regulators will switch on the heaters only when the room temperature drops. In this way, the electric underfloor heating will provide comfortable heating for small drops in temperature. The heaters will switch on automatically when the room temperature drops.
For those who do not want to install heaters as a matter of principle
The second option is to install the heating cable in the wall. Priority is again given to the places of greatest heat loss, i.e. under the windows. If there is not enough space under the windows, show imagination, there are many walls. It is better not to lay the cable in places where there will be household appliances as its excessive heating is undesirable, also the heating cable can give floods.
Underfloor heating as primary heating
It is possible to use electric underfloor heating for primary heating. But there are a number of problems, without taking them into account you will not achieve the desired result.
The main problem heating temperature
The main purpose of electric underfloor heating is comfort heating. The temperature of the floor heating cannot be raised to the temperature of heaters or convectors. Underfloor heating has a different purpose from the beginning.
Since we cannot heat the floor heating to the temperature of the heater, there is only one way out, to increase the heating area. But there is a point, electric floor heating is installed only on a clean area. Laying under furniture, carpets, bathrooms, makes no sense and carries the danger of localised overheating and failure of the heating cable. The problem is that the area required for laying the necessary amount of heating cable is not enough.
How to know how much heating cable is needed
You can find many articles that describe how to select a heating cable for basic space heating. These articles specify the cable capacity, the step of laying, but this is theory. In practice, for heating a well-insulated room with good windows, you need much less heat than for a poorly insulated room. To understand how much heat is needed for your room, you need to make a calculation of heat losses. Having made the calculation and knowing how much heat your room loses for a certain period of time, you can calculate how much heat is needed to compensate for these losses. You can find many programmes for this calculation on the internet. Of course, you can try to calculate heat losses yourself, but it is better to entrust it to specialists. Having made a mistake in calculations and having laid not enough heating cable, you may suddenly realise that you have to go to the shop to buy a heater.
What to do if there is still not enough space to install the required amount of floor heating cable
The first option is to make a mixed system. It is necessary to compensate for the missing heat by installing heaters. Heaters are installed in the places of the greatest heat loss, under the windows. To achieve automation of the whole heating system and reduce energy consumption, it is possible to install air temperature regulators. The regulators will switch on the heaters only when the room temperature drops. In this way, the electric underfloor heating will provide comfortable heating for small drops in temperature. The heaters will switch on automatically when the room temperature drops.
For those who do not want to install heaters as a matter of principle
The second option is to install the heating cable in the wall. Priority is again given to the places of greatest heat loss, i.e. under the windows. If there is not enough space under the windows, show imagination, there are many walls. It is better not to lay the cable in places where there will be household appliances as its excessive heating is undesirable, also the heating cable can give floods.
