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Underfloor Heating - Give me your opinion - Cost and type

10 replies

MumtoCharlieandLola · 02/08/2009 18:22

Hi,

We are planning some building work and I am looking for ways to heat my new room.

I quite fancy getting underfloor heating but I cant decided between hot water type and electric type

Can you tell me what you have and whether you think it is worthy it and is it costly to run?

Thanking you.

OP posts:
MagNacarta · 02/08/2009 18:26

Electric is costly, hot water is better.

specialmagiclady · 02/08/2009 18:30

We had electric in our old house. I don't think we could have afforded hot water - electric is easy to install under floor. Really really regret not having it in this kitchen - although food does stick to floor a bit with it.

I would say worth extra expense not to have ugly radiators taking up wall space, so you can be totally flexible re furniture placement etc. Plus quite economical as heat rises so other heating systems spend a lot of time heating the room above your head...

MumtoCharlieandLola · 02/08/2009 18:31

Thanks, not so worried about the installation as we are building an extension so it is going in from scratch.

OP posts:
MumtoCharlieandLola · 02/08/2009 21:47

Bumpety bump

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Flibbertyjibbet · 02/08/2009 21:58

This is the 2nd house that dp has put underfloor heating in the kitchen, last house was kitchen and bathroom, here its kitchen and living room as both have solid floors.

We have the hot water type, it is more upheaval to install and more expensive for the installation (ok dp did it for us!) but far and away more effective both heatwise and running cost wise than hot water.

With the hotwater system, the water is connected to the central heating boiler. So, the floor works like a radiator, once its got up to heat, the water just stays warm and goes back to the boiler and doesn't need reheating much. So you can have it on all day for little more than the cost of the inital heat up. Electric however is just pumping out the full current for as long as its switched on.

I love it love it love it. We do however have a radiator in each room thats underfloor heated as its more of a background heat, we have them turned off most of the year but you need something more for a living room in cold winter spells. Only small radiators though so still space saving.

Think about it, the whole floor warm with the heat rising up evenly to fill the whole room. Not like radiators with the heat just rising from a radiator and leaving the floor cool.

Be aware though that it dries out everything, like wooden or leather furniture, that is standing on it. Also, if you have littluns you need to clean up spills and food really quick or things bake on!

Flibbertyjibbet · 02/08/2009 21:59

Sorry my 2nd paragraph should end 'more effective heating wise and running cost wise than electric

doh!

beaniebaby25 · 02/08/2009 22:03

we have hot water underfloor heating, underneath an engineered solidwood floor. it's lovely. re cost, it's definitely cheaper to run (by about half) than the old radiators and boiler which we replaced. And we live in a block of flats so we've found we hardly need to use the heating (maybe for 3-4 months of the year) due to heat coming from below; may be not applicable to you.

I also love the fact there are no draughts, everywhere is the same. You can also plumb it in so you can programme different rooms for different temperatures, depending on how many circuits you do.

However, if you're quite a cold person (like me, circulation issues) sometimes it doesn't feel like there's anywhere you can go to warm up, IFSWIM. I used to hover over the rads when i was cold. That's why i insisted on a heated towel rail

love it though, definitely recommend.

beaniebaby25 · 02/08/2009 22:05

would also add that we have it throughout the flat (2 bed flat) - which has wooden floors in every room except the bathroom which has large ceramic tiles.

And there is nothing better in winter than walking round with bare feet or socks and feeling the warmth come through the lovely wooden floor. I adore it.

TrinityRhinoIsInDetention · 02/08/2009 22:08

dh (heating engineer) says that elextric is very very costly and also if a bit breaks the whole floor has to come out to take the whole lot out and replace

(paraphrasing here)

water type
cheaper
and just run off your existing boiler (gas, oil)
much easier to fix if it does break but more unlikely to break
so eventhough more costly to install a much better idea all around

IHHO
(In his honest opinion)

we are going to put water type underfloor heating in our renovated barn

MumtoCharlieandLola · 03/08/2009 12:59

Thank you everyone something to consider further.

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