Electric underfloor heating

[Mariayves]

Hi mums! We just bought a house and would love to have underfloor heating on the ground floor (around 55 sqm). The property is 20 years old and reasonably well insulated.
We requested a few quotes and electric underfloor heating is not only much cheaper to install (£3000 vs £9000 for wet) but also a lot easier (our boiler and water tank are on the top floor so they would need to run pipes all the way down which would be quite a big project in terms of redecorating - we already live in the house with small kids so wouldn't really want our house to become a construction site)
I'm aware that the running costs of a wet system are much cheaper. Does it actually make sense at all to even consider installing electric UFH on such a large surface or would the bills be so high that we would just never use it? Would love to hear from others who have electric/ wet system in their homes. Also we were told that even with the electric solution we would no longer need the radiators which sounds quite optimistic... Would love to hear your advice.

Don't. A relative has it. The bills are immense. It is completely unaffordable. The wet system would be good but definitely not electric.

Let's put it this way, DH and I both earn six figures. We have underfloor heating in our bathrooms upstairs and we don't use it because it costs a fortune to run.

If you've won the lottery then go for it.

I definitely wouldn't bother for that sized floor. We had it and, like everyone else, it was crazy expensive. It was lovely getting out of the shower in the winter (we had it in our bathroom) but one room would easily heat that whole floor and it's an uncomfortable heat.

We have a wet system in our extension which is brilliant. I wouldn't even consider running an electric system, the bills would be horrendous.

We made the mistake of having it installed in our previous house without doing any research.

It more than quadrupled our monthly electricity bills so we were unable to actually use it.

Total false economy. Go for a wet system!

It's very very expensive. Everyone I know who has it keeps it switched off.

We have 2 sections downstairs on electric with wooden floors. One section doesn't work and the only option is to take the whole floor up so we don't use that section. Have to say the other part is only on for a very short time and it stays warm for ages. The dog loves it.

We have timed ours to come on early morning just before we get up. But the only reason we've done that is because we've turned all the heating down as we are on oil heating and are running low. We move in January so are stretching what we have to last to not have to top up with the minimum 500L order and have to leave most of it behind.

I'd say in the last 2 weeks our electricity with one of us working from home permanently is around £2 a day, so I've not noticed a huge difference- the area it's heating is about 3.5m by 1.5m. We are on octopus with the electric vehicle charging tariff which is a very reduced rate between 11pm and 5.30am though and it is mainly on 4-6am

We have it in the bathrooms but it costs a bomb to run so it gets put on for max an hour a day, only when it’s very chilly. Whereas we have wet in the kitchen and it’s great.

We used ours for 2 months when we first moved in, then we got the bill. We haven't used it again in 6 years. And that was with electricity at old prices.

We have electric in our kitchen. I love it.

Electric or wet?

I have both.

Wet system downstairs which is a joy and eminently affordable.

Electric in both bathrooms, which I don’t dare switch on. The monthly cost runs into the hundreds.

We have the dry system in our tiny bathroom. It was there when we bought the house and was an ‘aspirational’ selling point. Couple of uses and the bill was so high, we turned it off at the isolator switch.

its also on the list of things we learned from this house for next time. Dry UFH for us is either a neutral point or negative if there’s no alternative heat source. A friend bought a house with dry UFH heating in the kitchen diner and is now going through the chore of installing radiators

We have electric in two bathrooms and wet in our kitchen / diner which is about 50sqm itself. We love it, but wouldn't have considered electric for such big spaces.

Interesting responses here - I have electric in my conservatory (no boiler/gas) and it's brilliant and doesn't cost much to run, and is brilliant for drying clothes in winter - loads cheaper than running a tumble dryer as well as keeping the room a comfy temperature.

We have both kitchen/diner wet and upstairs bathroom. En-suite electric.

No radiators downstairs, one in both upstairs. En-suite loses its heat as soon as it goes off. Wet retains most of the day.

Electric

we have it in hour kitchen. about 4m2.
costs a tenner a day to run all day.
we switch it on briefly in the morning for my cuppa

We have electric UFH in our (tiny) bathroom. It's on for an hour in the morning and uses about 0.5 kWh so about 15p per day.

We’ve got electric in our tiny bathroom and use it.

wet downstairs and it’s grand in a big space.

you can get retrofit wet underfloor heating that doesn’t require digging out the floors.

Can you give me a rough idea of how high the bills are? Is it a large surface?

how big is your kitchen and how much ia it to run the UFH?

Would that be hundreds to keep the electric on all day?

I have it in two bathrooms. Costs an absolute fortune to run and stopped using it years ago. Don’t do it!