What is the appeal of underfloor heating?

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Sorry, a question asked out of ignorance. Please explain to me what the benefit is though? In my brain it defies logic, like putting your radiator behind a wall. Why would you put a barrier there? Isn’t it better to have the heat source IN the room? Surely it uses a lot more energy because the heat has to travel through the floor? And if you’re a bit chilly or a bit too warm you can’t moderate how much heat you feel by getting closer / further from the radiator. You’re stuck with the air temperature at whatever it is, and what if you’re a person who feels the cold while your partner always feels too hot? Obviously there must be benefits but I genuinely can’t see where?

More wall space as no radiators

much better for heating with energy efficient energy such as an air source heat pump. This is because it heats a large area just a few degrees rather than a small area (a radiator) to very hot.

you don’t lose heat anywhere but into the room itself - the underneath will be insulted so the heat rises into the room.

Underfloor heating is usually left on 24/7. It’s much less obviously hot or cold you end up with an even temperature so you don’t notice it just feels comfortable. Unlike radiators it will take a while after switching on to get the house up to temperature.
It works well with an air source heat pump, hard floors rather than carpet and you need a well insulated house.

It is fairly standard where I live in the US. It keeps the house nice and warm. We don't have any carpets at all. Carpets get manky so so quickly especially with kids. Where I live the temperature drops to -30 centigrade at its worst and is regularly -15 through the winter and we have never felt particularly cold indoors.

in summary, it works well for some spaces and some people, but not everywhere nor for everyone.

—it is good if you want to heat a reasonably large space slowly to a consistent temperature. Makes the most sense in a well insulated space.

—it avoids losing wall space to radiators.

—for a ground floor room with tiles, it means the tiles are not cold underfoot if you like to walk barefoot.

—because it allows a larger radiating surface it can be used with water that is only 35C or so, so it works well with a heat pump, which is more efficient at relatively low flow temperatures.

conversely it’s not that great for a small space in a poorly insulated room that you only use a few hours a day, where you may want to blast the heat for a few hours when you are going to be there and then turn it down when you are not.

I’m just coming on to say don’t have carpets with underfloor, everything will smell dusty and off, unless you really keep your carpets spotless.

I don’t have carpets, I just experienced this in a house I Used to rent in.

I always wondered what happens if there’s a leak?

Superficial but radiators are considered "old fashioned", unless you have period furniture / vintage style.

No radiators to dry clothes on - no cold spots - feet toasty warm, if you lie on it it can ease back pain.

The downstairs bathroom on the north facing side of our house is often cool - there is a huge chrome radiator in there but I really regret not having underfloor heating put in. My sister had it in her place in France - an old farmhouse with limestone slabs inside on the floor - it's always nice to walk around in socks there. In effect, the floor acts as a storage radiator.

We’ve got dry electric underfloor heating in our bathrooms in addition to radiators, and it is utterly fabulous. Once you’ve experienced it, you’ll understand. It’s expensive though so I might not switch it back on this autumn. We bought the house with it, else I doubt I would have ever got to experience such utter luxury as a warm bathroom floor in winter.

I'm with OP

does it have to be on 24/7? That seems mad and surely will lead to huge bills?

We have both underfloor heating and radiators in different rooms. We have odd shaped walls so some rooms work better with underfloor - more wall space to put furniture against.

The rooms with the underfloor feel warmer and better (for want of a better word) than those with radiators. As and when we can afford it we will probably change the other rooms to underfloor.

I stayed with a friend in winter who had a converted barn with underfloor heating. I'm not kidding when I say I thought I was going to pass out with the heat- urgh. I refuse to stay with her again. I spent the entire night drenched in sweat and even opening the windows didn't help cool my room down. The lack of control over the temp in a room is not something I'd enjoy. I'm a big jumper and hot water bottle kinda person anyway.

I have it in my bathroom. Lovely warm tiles, lovely warm bathroom, any spills and spots dry quickly. I wouldn't do it in a bedroom.

So nice to go into kitchen barefoot and walk on warm tiles on cold winter morning. My cats like underfloor heating as they sleep in baskets in kitchen.

It is heaven. I want it throughout my home.

I have underfloor heating downstairs and LOVE it!

I've a mix of wooden floors and carpet - in winter it's so lovely to not have a cold floor underfoot. There's a couple of spots where there are no pipes under the floor, and the floor feels so cold in comparison!
All the room is equally warm, instead of hotspots beside a radiator.
I don't leave it on 24 hours a day - instead a couple of hours in the morning and a couple in the afternoon. It might be cheaper to let it run 24 hours, but at a lower temp.

The only disadvantage is that it takes a couple of hours to heat up/cool down, so if there is a sudden change in the weather, it can't react quickly.

If I ever move house, I'd definitely install underfloor heating again.

Thank you @JosephineGH

It is best to leave it on 24hrs but you set the thermostat so that it only actually kicks in if the temperature drops below the thermostat setting so it is not heating up all day. With smart thermostats in each room you can set it so it suits how you live, for instance set it so the lounge temperature is warmer in the evening when sat watching tv and have the kitchen warmer in the morning when getting breakfast and so on but cooler during the day. Pipes are laid without joins under the floor so only way to cause a leak is to drill/nail through them, any leaks wold be at the manifold which is visible but if properly installed very unlikely.

Because it's not just sticking a normal radiator under the floor. It's a system that's designed for that purpose.
We had it in our kitchen/family room which had flagstone floors and it was great. No hot spots, no cold floors (great with crawling babies), no wall space used.

If you have electric underfloor heating, your bills will be higher especially as green levies are on electric bills not gas and eventually the cost of gas will come down. Plus you are running the air source heat pump.

Wet underfloor heating on the other hand will be cost effective in the longer term once gas prices fall back to normal levels.

No radiators taking up space a small room and it is lovely and toasty