Is under floor heating super expensive?

[graciefielder]

We currently have no heating in our kitchen and are planning to get the whole room refurbed, so obviously plan to sort the heating at the same time.

We've not got a lot of wall space for radiators so are looking at underfloor. Our builder has recommended electric.

I asked the obvious question - isn't it crazy expensive to run - but he said not these days.

Is this true??

At the moment we're using a little fan heater so not the most efficient.

If you’re getting the room renovated anyway I would consider wet underfloor heating over electric. Ours just comes on when the central heating is on and we didn’t see any increase in our gas bills after it was fitted 3 years ago. The electric one we have upstairs on the other hand I never use because it seems so inefficient in comparison.

We have wet in the kitchen so it’s part of the central heating system, but it’s on its own thermostat as our kitchen runs warmer than the rest of the house. Electric is less efficient, we have it in the bathrooms for warm feet on cold mornings but I wouldn’t want it in a living space.

Electric is crazy expensive I'm afraid, learnt from experience!

Hmm thanks. I think the reason He suggested electric is because it's much cheaper to install. I'm not sure if the increased cost of installing a pipe system would be saved in the long run?

To compare properly, I think I'd need to know exactly HOW expensive electric is to run but hard to find this info.

I live in new build with under floor heating
underfloor heating Creates radiant heat a bit like the way the Sun warms a room..so it warms our rooms up and the Room stays warmer it’s also really nice on your feet, it’s better than radiators as you get the extra wall space and it’s not unsightly
I don’t find it costs any more than when I was living in a house with radiators. Most flooring these days is compatible with underfloor heating

@Banana2079 thanks. Is yours electric though or pipes attached to the central heating system? I think it's electric specifically that incurs the extra running costs.

The trouble with underfloor heating in the kitchen is the lack of radiators to dry your teatowels on.

TBH yes. We have paid through the nose with it IMO. It's absolutely lovely to have a warm floor downstairs but it put us in debt last year with our bill. We are being much, much more careful this year (DH is properly tracking our usage on a speed sheet!) but I probably wouldn't have got it in hindsight

I agree on the pricy side as it is electricity. I turn mine on for a good hour and a half to two hours when I need it but it keeps the room warm for ages.

In the longer term though they are planning to get rid of gas boilers arent they so I can see where he’s going with the electric underfloor heating. If you had that installed along with Solar Panels to helped contribute towards the cost it wouldn’t be quite so terrifying

Wet is definitely better and less expensive (but the builders prefer saying electric because it's easier to install, in our experience!)

Maybe to add to your thoughts, I, and perhaps others, would see electric underfloor heating as a negative when buying a house.

Yes good point @PhilInt especially with energy prices etc.

Maybe we'll try to find a little patch of wall for a radiator....

We're in the process of buying a house with wet underfloor heating throughout the ground floor - I don't think we would be buying it if it was an electric system.

Depends on what your current floor is in the kitchen, if it’s suspended then it’s quite a straight forward job. If it’s a concrete floor then it’s a lot of work to break/ dig it all out to the required depth for the aggregate, insulation pipe work ,screed. I’ve only done it once and it was a lot of backbreaking work , once the concrete floor was out the clay underneath was as dry and as hard as rock.
its nice to have but it takes longer to heat up than radiators, but will release heat long after radiators have cooled down.

A hypocaust is probably the cheapest type to run at the moment. As long as you can get a good quality servus you will be toasty.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypocaust

I have it in my en suite and don’t use it (but it isn’t the only source of heating).

I wouldn’t buy a house that only had electric underfloor heating unless it also had a very large solar array and battery set up. Even then I’d think twice since you have heating on in the winter when solar panels aren’t generating much

We have wet underfloor heating throughout our whole ground floor. I love it and would struggle to live in a house without it now. However, I wouldn’t install electric underfloor heating as it’s too expensive to run. My DB installed electic underfloor heating in a very large conservatory and regretted it!

We've just had our electric underfloor heating taken out as it was extortionate.

@TheNoonBell could you recommend a market with a fresh delivery, I am looking to expand my household having trouble getting quotes from freemen.

We had an electric mat in a shower room, cheap & quick to fit, suspended floor, slate finish. Worked well in short bursts until it didn't. Obviously expensive to run.

We have wet in the kitchen, big job, dug down, insulation, pipework, scree, really thick slate finish.
Is 15years old, still good. Slow to react and you need to keep it low rather than hot otherwise you end up with 'cooked' feet. It is amazing, love washing the floor, drys quick, love the background toastyness, we have one extra radiator because it's a massive room.

I think we used a calculator - volume plus heating service plus wall insulation value calculator to work out the correct balance.

what happens if it goes wrong,do they have to take the floor up?
i as you may guess dont know anything about this

Don’t bother with electric underfloor. Nice and easy for the builder: ineffective and expensive for you.

Reconsider making room for a radiator, and also take a look at plinth heaters as a secondary option. They’re not very popular in the uk, but a great way to add heating flexibility. It’s basically like having a little fan heater under kitchen units. You don’t want it as your main heating, if you’re also using the kitchen for dining or a living space, but a great addition for when you need a quick boost.

You can lay underfloor heating over an existing floor slab, so don't have to dig concrete out. Advantages are it heats up quicker than in screed UFH but it is less efficient than in screed UFH. Saying that it is still more efficient than radiators as you run it at a lower heat and gives rooms a lovely all over warmth rather than it being cold the further from the radiator you are. We laid our own UFH which we got from wunda. Loads of other brands are available. We have also had electric UFH is one of our rooms, took forever to heat up, even then wasn't very warm and we have since taken it up and replaced with wet UFH

Electric underfloor is very expensive to run, and means you have to run the normal central heating for the rest of your house anyway. We have learnt from bitter experience, would not do again!