Underfloor heating upstairs, anyone?

A

ang1170

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Does anyone here have any direct experience of having underfloor heating upstairs (i.e. in bedrooms), as opposed to radiators. If so, how has it worked out? is it a good idea?
 
UFh throughout is a much better system than UFh on ground floor and rads on first floor..... because when using rads the heating source has to be mixed with cold water to actually cool the heating water before entering teh UFh system.... highly inefficient...
 
sydthebeat said:
UFh throughout is a much better system than UFh on ground floor and rads on first floor..... because when using rads the heating source has to be mixed with cold water to actually cool the heating water before entering teh UFh system.... highly inefficient...
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Thanks - that's what I'd heard too. On the other hand, I've also heard UFH isn't that suitable for rooms that really only need heating for a couple of hours in the evening, and again in the morning.

I was hoping to get some feedback from someone who actually has it upstairs, to hear how it is in practice. Do you have it installed?
 
will have UFH upstairs, what you do is have a temp controlled flow valve installed that will controll the flow to upstairs rooms based on what temp you desire in the bedrooms, should work a treat...would work on the same basis as the thermostatic controls on rads
 
You can buy "fan coil" radiators, which are specifically designed to operate at the lower water temperature levels of UFH/heat pump systems. This is what I use upstairs . They are called fan coil radiators, the downside is the they contain an electric blower to boost the convection. They certainly do the job, but I'd have to check as to how much power they use.

[broken link removed] one provider (haven't seen this particular brand in action so can't testify to real world performance).
 
I have often installed underfloor heat mats in upstairs bathrooms,i have had no bad reports back.
 
extopia said:
Well, presumably the OP is talking about UFH under upstairs wooden floors.
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I was, and the query was more about what it's like to live with (comfort, convenience and gas bills!) more than whether it works or not.
 
can you have ufh with wooden floors? would anyone have the idea of cost for a 3500 sq ft house upstairs and down. would it be possible to do it yourself or would that be chancy
 
approx 12K, basing it on two manifolds, might need a third, depending on room sizes/layout.

Yes you can have wooden floors up to 22mm in dept, laminate is recommended best for upstairs..
 
for heat transfer, also it survives more use with moving furniture, esp if you have kids, and can be replaced easily..carpets act as an insulator
 
I have UFH upstairs working with a Geo-thermal heat pump. You really need concrete sub floors for it to work well. I have Laminate in all the bedrooms and tiles in the bathrooms. You can control the heat going to each room with the termostats. The tiles in the bathrooms work best but the laminate is ok. You don't want the bedrooms too warm or you won't be able to sleep. I have carpet on the landing which is OK too. It's not recommended but works OK in the landing. I wouldn't put carpet in a bedroom with UFH. It would take too much to heat the room.
 
That's really useful: thanks!

We're planning hardwood floors throughout upstairs.

Do you have separate a timer for upstairs? I would have thought you'd only need it on for a couple of hours. If so, is this wastful (to keep cycling it on and off)?
 
I have ufh upstairs and with a wooden structure it doesnt work for me as the wood twisted and moved , and is squeaky as a result. and as previous posters point out concrete is the way for ufh to function best ,Works a treat downstairs though cant fault it.
 
ang1170 said:
That's really useful: thanks!

We're planning hardwood floors throughout upstairs.

Do you have separate a timer for upstairs? I would have thought you'd only need it on for a couple of hours. If so, is this wastful (to keep cycling it on and off)?
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From what I gather you are using gas as your heating source. I am using a Geo-thermal heat pump as my heat source. It is set to come on at night time (night rate ESB) and heats up all the water in the system to the required temp that it is set to. Not too sure if gas can be controled like this but UHF is based on the fact that concrete will hold the heat and release it through out the day. If during the day the temp in the house cools down too much the heat pump will kick-in to boast the temp in the system. The termostats open and close the valves on the manifold to let in or stop the flow of water in the system depending on the temp of the individual room.
I take it from your last post that you won't have a concrete based floor upstairs. If this is the case then UHF is not the way to go for upstairs. I don't know if you have already built your house but if not I would seriously think about putting in hollowcore if you really want UFH. Otherwise go with the thermostat controlled rads throughout the house (my limited knowledged opinion only :))
 
I have a concrete subfloor and then a hardwood floor over that in the bedrooms a tile floor in the bathroom .It works grand but the bedrooms are never hot it just takes the chill out if the air the bathroom gets much warmer. This suites me but if you wanted the bedrooms warmer you would have to leave heating on longer. Best suited for geo thermal or wood pelat heat sources.
 
Aidomoss said:
From what I gather you are using gas as your heating source. I am using a Geo-thermal heat pump as my heat source. It is set to come on at night time (night rate ESB) and heats up all the water in the system to the required temp that it is set to. Not too sure if gas can be controled like this but UHF is based on the fact that concrete will hold the heat and release it through out the day. If during the day the temp in the house cools down too much the heat pump will kick-in to boast the temp in the system. The termostats open and close the valves on the manifold to let in or stop the flow of water in the system depending on the temp of the individual room.
I take it from your last post that you won't have a concrete based floor upstairs. If this is the case then UHF is not the way to go for upstairs. I don't know if you have already built your house but if not I would seriously think about putting in hollowcore if you really want UFH. Otherwise go with the thermostat controlled rads throughout the house (my limited knowledged opinion only :))
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Thanks - that's really useful. You're right: we're planning on using a gas boiler as the heat source (looked at geothermal, but we're in the city, so it would be v.expensive for a bore hole, plus we've nowhere really to site the heat pump).

I have heard that mixing rads and underfloor wasn't great, as they run off different temperatures, and whilst this can be done, condensing boilers are far more efficient if they just supply at a relatively low termperature used by the UFH. Hence the idea for UFH throughout.

Not quite sure what to do now! (Construction has just started, so we'll have to decide soon....)
 
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