Underfloor heating - best timing schedule

[sheebs2018]

Hello everyone
Looking for some advice on the best but also most efficient way to time underfloor heating.

Currently have it set to come on at 4am to 7am in the morning as we are up for work at 6, and from 4 to 8 again in the evening, both home at 6. However the floors don't seem to be 'warm' as I expected them to be and our thermostat downstairs in the kitchen only reads about 15/16 degrees. The house is chilly. We have an open fire in our living area which heats that area it is open plan so heat rises to out upstairs. Initially we left the heating on for 2 solid days when the cold spell started and then we did feel heat under the floor, I thought it would retain but back to square one. I'm just afraid that we are wasting money on oil however not getting the expected heat return. We are lucky if the temp rises by a degree.

I'm also conscious that the house is cold as bedroom window is getting very condensated in the mornings, terrified it will lead to damp!

Forgot to mention. Have radiators in both bedrooms upstairs which come on from 5.30 to 6.20 in the morning and 8.30 to 9.30 in the evening.

Sorry for long post, just wondering am I leaving too long a gap between the heating turning on again or should I leave on constant at a low temperature. Downstairs thermostats are set to 20 degrees, upstairs 19.

Thanks everyone :)

Also forgot to mention. It's a rental 2 bedroom 2 storey house. The underfloor heating is provided by a large concrete block laid under the flooring. The flooring is 2 rooms tiles, 2 wood floor and 1 carpet.

Turn it off and burn fivers in your open fire, it'll be cheaper.

I thought with underfloor heating you leave it on all the time in winter, as it takes a long time to come through.

No expert as still getting to grips with ours, but, ours only comes on one hour before we get up and manages to get to 21 in about an hour but we are in a new house so very well insulated and temp doesn't drop much below 18 overnight. I let mine stay on at around 18 during the day then back up to 21 for when everyone is home then off at 11.

Check your hot water isn't on at the same time as your heating as systems usually prioritise water over heating so your boiler will heat that first iyswim?

Haha @ifailed, you're probably right. Really not seeing the big fascination with the underfloor heating, I've heard people rave about it like it's the next best thing!

@fruitbrewhaha ive heard this alright but was just sceptical that it would end up cost an enormous amount, perhaps it is the way forward so I will give a try at perhaps a lower temperature.

@iknowimcomibg this house isn't that old, but definitely not brand brand new I'd imagine last 10-15 years, interesting about the water though, they do sometime go on at the same time so will be conscious of this.

Oh and of course thanks to all of you for replying

In theory you are supposed to leave it on all the time and I think this works if you have smart thermostats in each room so that you set a lower temp when you want to. I find you have to front load the timing as the sub floor takes time to heat up. We have our upstairs on 5am till 7.30am then 6.30pm to 10pm. Downstairs on all day 5.30am to 10pm. Once hot it hardly kicks in as the floor and the house retain the heat. I do think you need to leave it on longer as you are wasting money reheating the slab all the time. Working efficiently it should make your house feel warmer than radiators do.

@mateysmum thanks a million for that. Downstairs the thermostats we have are one in the living room and another plus control pad in the kitchen, none for bathroom utility or downstairs bedroom however these rooms don't bother me really. Will definitely try the low and constant method, did some more research and it also seems to be favourable. Thank you very much

I have water fed underfloor heating both upstairs and down and its way better than conventional heating, each room or zone should have a thermostat each one is set to 18 overnight and 21 most of the day, it never goes off because you are trying to create thermal mass in the concrete floor, when the floor gets to temperature the thermostats will just keep ticking over keeping the temperature, if you switch it off the concrete slab will go cold so you're basically having to start again, so you need to leave it on all the Tim just lower the thermostat levels overnight and anytime your not home, it is considerably cheaper than running a normal radiator system, the heat in the pipes only sits between 45 and 50 degrees wheras radiators require around 75 degrees the boiler can be set much lower, once the slab is warm it takes very little to keep it up to temperature, my 4bed detatched costs less than a 2 bed semi to heat even with it on all day

Just out of curiosity is everyone’s underfloor heating here water pipes? We have electric and it costs a fortune so we find we can’t put it on.

@user1471528245 Wow that's some savings when you compare the 2 house types But in truth it does make sense to keep the block warm constant. I suppose I was just thinking of factors such as when we're aren't there or when windows open would it be a total waste of heat escaping out the window, but I totally understand the whole less work to get to desired temperature from a warm block as opposed to cold! Going to try this out definitely and hope for the best, thank you all.

As I was saying the control panel is in the kitchen, I do know you can adjust temperature but it goes in like blocks of 4 hours. (E.g 5am 20 degrees 9 am 19 degrees and so on every 4 hours) Would this cover the rooms with no physical thermostat in them that I mentioned above. The one in the living room is a simple twist to temperature one not digital. Hope that doesn't sound confusing!

Not sure how your central control works with the other thermostats. It's quite normal not to have a separate control in the bathrooms. Ours work off the temperature set in an adjacent room, but there are more pipes n the bathroom so it gets warmer and more quickly. Lovely when you get out of the shower.
One of the things I like about UFCH is that you don't get cold spots in a room. The whole body of the room feels warm, not just the bit by the radiator. However, don't expect the floor to feel hot all the time - doesn't mean it's not working, it's just ticking along at the level needed to maintain temperature.
It's a bit like switching from a conventional cooker to an AGA, once you get the hang of it you will love it and never go back. I had to get used to both when I moved into this house. The first 6 months were a major learning curve.

Ah yes, I was almost expecting to feel a constant heat of some sort and then just assumed I was doing something wrong! Only in this house since late August and didn't really use heating until it got really cold. Hopefully with these tips will solve my problem, the more I read them the more sense it all makes really

Sheebs- another thing to check is your boiler timer is not conflicting with your room timer/controllers - we hadn't twigged that ours were not in sync and therefore everything was Haywire - so we leave the boiler timer for the ch on constantly and let the room stats do all the work if that makes sense

My house has gas fired wet underfloor heating. It’s a 2 bed barn conversion and I pay £72 a month for gas and electricity. I leave the thermostat in the living room at 17 and the kitchen at 20. Upstairs is set at 10 because enough heat drifts up. It is on 24/7. When I have been away and turned it off I reckon it takes at least 24 hrs for the slab to get warmed through.

Should add that I have a tiny wood burner on the living room which will take the temp from 17 to 22 in less then 2 hrs, despite open staircase in room, and open to kitchen

@iknowimcoming thanks for that I will check that also

@trethew that is sun a reasonable price monthly, our electricity a month is 80 alone, in saying that tv always on in the evenings and weekends and we are tea a holics constantly boiling the kettle we would be lost without our open fire it's all that saves us in this cold weather!

Thanks to everybody for your extremely helpful suggestions I appreciate it, it's my first post and didn't expect such great feedback, mumsnet traffic is the best :) I've changed my thermostat to 17 degrees during the day when not here and 18 in the morning (were ok in the evening as we might the fire) have it on constantly since 4 o clock today so going to leave it on and see how we get on, thermostat in kitchen reading 16.8 and that's quite a draughty room so hoping for miracles! Thanks again everybody :)

Give it a couple of days till it stabilises.

The level of insulation in your house will make a big difference of course. No heating will be efficient if you are losing heat put of walls, windows and doors. Worth checking and maybe raising with your landlord.

@sheebs2018 Been following this as I haven't quite got the hang of ours yet.

How's it going with yours now?

Hi @frettyfifities :)

We are actually gone to London for the weekend so I knocked off the heating as it's mild enough at home, but have it set to come on at constant from monday and will trial it next week so will let you know when it stabilises, it didn't kick in at all last night as we had fire going so room temp reached what the thermostat was set at. Will update soon :)

Just an update for anyone interested. Came home Sunday and put heating on constant with a temp of 17 degrees as house had dropped to 13 while we were away. (Left a couple of windows latched for ventilation) Left on constant and is now sitting at a very comfortable 17.3 degrees all around the house whilst living area is 22 as fire is lit. Have heard heating click off once it gets desired temperature and our upstairs radiators didn't turn on this evening as enough heat drifted upstairs whilst the heating was on. Thanks for all of your help, definitely think the low and slow constant is the way forward :)

Thanks for the update. Will
Now try low temp all the time rather than off 🤞