Best way to run electric underfloor heating?
Discussion
My bathroom has under floor heating of the electric kind. Not sure what the W/m2 is but to my mind it takes a long time to warm up so can't be all that powerful (of if it is, it must have been installed wrong and it wastes energy heating up whats beneath). Its thermostat controlled but I assume only by a temp sensor on the floor itself as the control unit is in the hall way outside the bathroom.
At the moment I have it on for 2 hours every week day, comes on 5:30 am. But is really only usefully warm by the time it turns off! Bathroom is a pretty cold room, its all tiled, its above the garage and there are no radiators. On cold mornings we get a lot of condensation on all the walls.
Thinking, now that its getting colder, am I better running it at a lowish temp (rather than off) and have it ramp up to higher temp for the mornings? i.e. running part load for longer vs running maximum heating for 2 hours to get it up to temp?
At the moment I have it on for 2 hours every week day, comes on 5:30 am. But is really only usefully warm by the time it turns off! Bathroom is a pretty cold room, its all tiled, its above the garage and there are no radiators. On cold mornings we get a lot of condensation on all the walls.
Thinking, now that its getting colder, am I better running it at a lowish temp (rather than off) and have it ramp up to higher temp for the mornings? i.e. running part load for longer vs running maximum heating for 2 hours to get it up to temp?
It works almost like a storage heater. Warm it up long before you need the heat or you will have to keep it on constantly.
The cabling should be installed on top of insulation otherwise it is going to warm up your garage ceiling as much as your bathroom. If it was installed after the house was built the insulation must be pretty measly or the floor level in the bathroom would be higher than the adjacent hallway/landing/rooms.
Normally you would have much thicker insulation on the ground floor than upper floors, but since your bathroom is above an unheated garage, you should probably have had the thicker insulation. 100mm or so of celetex.
The best way to run it is to heat it overnight using an economy 7 or economy 10 meter, but it's not worth it unless all your heating is underfloor or storage heaters because you end up paying more for your daytime electric.
My bathroom is small and has no radiators at all. If it gets a bit nippy at bath time, I just switch on the wall mounted fan heater that makes the room toasty in one minute and you would be sweating in five minutes. Vinyl flooring always feels warm too.
The cabling should be installed on top of insulation otherwise it is going to warm up your garage ceiling as much as your bathroom. If it was installed after the house was built the insulation must be pretty measly or the floor level in the bathroom would be higher than the adjacent hallway/landing/rooms.
Normally you would have much thicker insulation on the ground floor than upper floors, but since your bathroom is above an unheated garage, you should probably have had the thicker insulation. 100mm or so of celetex.
The best way to run it is to heat it overnight using an economy 7 or economy 10 meter, but it's not worth it unless all your heating is underfloor or storage heaters because you end up paying more for your daytime electric.
My bathroom is small and has no radiators at all. If it gets a bit nippy at bath time, I just switch on the wall mounted fan heater that makes the room toasty in one minute and you would be sweating in five minutes. Vinyl flooring always feels warm too.
& electric underfloor heating cost a fortune to run......we had it installed a few years back....multiplied the electric use for us x6! Now we don't use it.....but put slippers on, and use regular heating!
I'm hoping wet heating is better - we have a sunroom going up which will have that.....
I'm hoping wet heating is better - we have a sunroom going up which will have that.....
Thanks fellas,
not sure on the specifics of the installation, there is some ceiling work in the garage that is like a step down from the original ceiling height by about 2 inches. It doesn't cover the whole ceiling, just the back half where the bathroom is. So, one hopes that this is some kind of insulation for the floor above.
I am going to experiment with it I think, the programmer only have 4 states though... wake up, leaving the house, returning to the house and bed time. Might just leave it how it is, but up the "off" temperature from 5 to 15 then keep an eye on the leccy bill.
not sure on the specifics of the installation, there is some ceiling work in the garage that is like a step down from the original ceiling height by about 2 inches. It doesn't cover the whole ceiling, just the back half where the bathroom is. So, one hopes that this is some kind of insulation for the floor above.
I am going to experiment with it I think, the programmer only have 4 states though... wake up, leaving the house, returning to the house and bed time. Might just leave it how it is, but up the "off" temperature from 5 to 15 then keep an eye on the leccy bill.
I did a little test in my en-suite and left it on all day. It used twice as much electricity compared to when I have it just come on in the morning and evening.
Mine is not insulated (cowboy builder) and the wire is just installed onto plywood nailed to the floorboards with ceramic tiles above it so it's probably heating the void below the floor more than it should
Mine is not insulated (cowboy builder) and the wire is just installed onto plywood nailed to the floorboards with ceramic tiles above it so it's probably heating the void below the floor more than it should
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