Underfloor heating systems have developed massively in the last 30 years. Initially designed to heat a specific floor and provide the homeowner with a warm and toasty underfoot feeling in the harshest of winters, enhancements in both design and material utilised, mean that todays underfloor heating systems are perfectly adequate and will provide primary heating to most rooms.
Is Underfloor Heating efficient and cheap to run?
The key focus for underfloor heating designers today, is to create innovative and efficient underfloor heating systems that heat entire buildings, whilst ensuring these systems promote sustainability & reduce the environmental impact. There is little point in designing a system that has to run continuously to heat a room because the input heat is escaping through walls or a poorly insulated roof at the same rate. This system would come with both high running costs and a hugely negative impact on the environment, therefore ensuring the room or build is insulated will have a huge impact on the efficiency and running costs – the better the level of insulation, the more efficient a heating system will become.
How do I increase the level of insulation and what effect will it have?
The materials used in the build are of fundamental importance in heat distribution & preservation and one of the key material components is the thermal insulation and its effectiveness within the build. Insulation limits the transfer of heat and therefore stabilises the heat distribution within a building. So in the winter months when the heating system is running, the insulation prevents heat escaping and retains it within the areas it was designed to encapsulate. In the summer months when we are looking to escape from the heat outside, the insulation has the ability to prevent the transfer of heat from outside to in, and thereby ensures we can keep the inside of the build cooler. The ability of insulation to limit and manage the transfer of heat means that less energy is required to heat a build and therefore is of fundamental importance in reducing energy consumption and running costs. As you can see, when correctly installed, thermal insulation is of primary importance when it comes to designing an efficient and cost effective underfloor heating solution – and the reduced running costs will reduce your carbon footprint, whilst increasing the lifespan of your heating system.
Newly designed buildings will benefit from compliance to a strict code of practice at planning stage to ensure they benefit from good insulation values. For homeowners wishing to upgrade their insulation values there are numerous products on the market that can be retrofitted and have a significant and immediate impact to the insulation values of the build. The obvious place to start is the ceiling – statistically one quarter of heat within a home is lost through the roof so this is always a good place to start.
If your loft is easily accessible then you may be able to undertake this insulation task yourself. Start by laying a mineral wool type insulation between the joists on the floor of the loft, then when these are filled lay another layer at right angles over the top of the insulated joists to the required depth.
