Any benefit in running underfloor heating on nite rate?

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Mavarick

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#212793 12-Apr-2017 18:00

Hi, Am looking to buy a house that has wire under tile heating in the kitchen and 2 bathrooms

Would there any benefit/savings if it was run on the nite rate, would the tiles/ heated pad still retain enough warmth for the next evening

thanks

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timmmay

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#1762366 12-Apr-2017 18:02

Nope, under tile cools too quickly.

Mavarick

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#1763348 12-Apr-2017 19:02

Thanks, any recommendations about temperatures,

I had one about 12 years ago set up from new but cant recall what they set at, think it was like 19°C when in on and 15 when in the off peak

eg on at say 6.30am till 8.30am at 19°C then 15°C on again at 4.30pm till 7pm sort of thing then 15°C again

raytaylor

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#1763350 12-Apr-2017 19:05

Agreed - unless you are using the shower at 3am its not likely to be worth it.

Most new underfloor installations use pumped water pipes which are heated by a centralised heat pump. This effectively gives you a 75% electricity cost saving.

Ray Taylor

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timmmay

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#1763357 12-Apr-2017 19:10

19/15 is cold. Some people have it 30 degrees all the time. Mine's something like 19 or 20 when it's on low (overnight), and 23 - 26 during peak times. In winter we use it to heat the bathroom up, the door is closed to keep moisture in so the heat pump doesn't heat it.

Sideface

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#1763359 12-Apr-2017 19:13

We have underfloor heating in two bathrooms.

The default temperature settings are 17 deg C (cool) most of the day, and 26 deg C (warm) during "shower times".

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tdgeek

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#1763363 12-Apr-2017 19:18

Our two bathrooms have it too. Only been here a year. I start at 7 and work from home now, this year I'll satisfy the poor and turn them on at 6, as it seems to heat up quite quickly-ish, then turn it off. Both rooms have fan, light and heat, but the heated floor makes it heaven. 11/10. The heat from the light thing is 5/10

pchs

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#1763371 12-Apr-2017 19:37

Hi Mavarick

I have underfloor heating throughout the whole house (note this electric element in-slab rather than mesh installed directly under the tiles) I find that its very efficient on night rate, for example where I am night rate is 9pm-7am and all weekends and I heat different rooms from 18 degrees to 30 degrees - the heat slowly dissipates all day, but note if its not in slab heating it may not work this way.

In the living areas for example its heated to 28 degrees at 7am (at which point it turns off) and will fall to around 23 by 9pm at night. using flick my average night rate price is close to 5c per kWh so its very cost effective.

Thanks

timmmay

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#1763378 12-Apr-2017 19:43

Oh, I have mine turn off during the day. I used a separate timer on the switchboard for that, electrician put it in. Most times are quite inflexible. I had one really good flexible timer but it was rubbish at controlling the temperature.

Mavarick

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#1763383 12-Apr-2017 19:52

Thanks for the feed back , a bit more thinking to go on I feel

neb

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#1764487 14-Apr-2017 18:46

raytaylor:
Most new underfloor installations use pumped water pipes which are heated by a centralised heat pump. This effectively gives you a 75% electricity cost saving.

How does it compare to straight heat pump heating of a room? I'd always imagined that underfloor heating was horribly inefficient, but hadn't heard of the hypocaust-style heating via hot water.

timmmay

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#1764492 14-Apr-2017 19:11

IMHO if you have tiles you need them heated somehow.

mattwnz

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#1764496 14-Apr-2017 19:19

neb:
raytaylor:

Most new underfloor installations use pumped water pipes which are heated by a centralised heat pump. This effectively gives you a 75% electricity cost saving.

How does it compare to straight heat pump heating of a room? I'd always imagined that underfloor heating was horribly inefficient, but hadn't heard of the hypocaust-style heating via hot water.

It you are doing a piped water underfllor heating system you have to install installation under the slab, and probably edge insulation too, otherwise you will lose a lot of the heat to the ground. Also they have terribly slow response times. These thin electric wire systems can have a faster response time, and they can have an insulated base. I did a heap of research on these systems for a new build, and decided against it, just putting electric underfloor in the titled bathroom.

Mavarick

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#1764698 15-Apr-2017 13:14

This is an existing set up, If i was going to do from scratch. i would do in floor pipes with a heat pump set up

mattwnz

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#1764701 15-Apr-2017 13:19

Mavarick:
This is an existing set up, If i was going to do from scratch. i would do in floor pipes with a heat pump set up

It's very pricey. Electric coils are fine if you just want to take the chill of tiles, and then use a heat pump for space heating

timmmay

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#1764702 15-Apr-2017 13:22

The under tile heating can get the tiles in our bathroom up to 30 degrees or more. We keep our lower to keep costs down.

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