electric under floor heating
Discussion
As per the title, next project is the kitchen, roughly 6mx3m between cabinets, will be laying tiles, but could do with some sort of under floor heating, wet system is not really an option, so would appreciate any experiecies with electric systems, ( how easy to lay, what it's really like in terms of heat, how expensive is it to run etc. etc.
Thanx.
Thanx.
I've got it in my bathroom, Its nice for bare feet coming out a bath but mine certainly doesn't heat the room very well, although it is only on for about an hour so its hard to judge.
It seems to take a while to heat up, being a cheap system may be a factor.
Install is quite straight forward, "zig-zag" a wire over the floor space, tape over it with the tape supplied then tile over.
The end of the wire goes to a thermostat and there is a sensor that monitors the temperature.
Hopefully someone else will be along that uses it for heating rather than a bit of a gimmick and give a better account.
It seems to take a while to heat up, being a cheap system may be a factor.
Install is quite straight forward, "zig-zag" a wire over the floor space, tape over it with the tape supplied then tile over.
The end of the wire goes to a thermostat and there is a sensor that monitors the temperature.
Hopefully someone else will be along that uses it for heating rather than a bit of a gimmick and give a better account.
I installed electric nderfloor before tiling my mum's kitchen. It is the only heating we have in there (removed a radiator) bar n electric fan heater for when it gets really cold.
Installation, piece of piss! We got the devimat system and it come in a roll, you just roll it out and lay tiles over it. You use more effort scraping the adhesive all over it to ensure even coverage and it's tricky to use a notched float over to even out the adhesive. Plus if you don't lay it over the whole floor laying the other tiles will be tricky as you need mmore adhesive to take up the levels.
Heatwise it isn't enough for the whole room, it takes the chill off but we used our fan heater (plinth one) a few times over last winter.
I'm afraid I can't help you with cost as we have an electric kiln for fusing glass so our electric bill can be quite steep!
Installation, piece of piss! We got the devimat system and it come in a roll, you just roll it out and lay tiles over it. You use more effort scraping the adhesive all over it to ensure even coverage and it's tricky to use a notched float over to even out the adhesive. Plus if you don't lay it over the whole floor laying the other tiles will be tricky as you need mmore adhesive to take up the levels.
Heatwise it isn't enough for the whole room, it takes the chill off but we used our fan heater (plinth one) a few times over last winter.
I'm afraid I can't help you with cost as we have an electric kiln for fusing glass so our electric bill can be quite steep!
I've got a kitchen approx 6m x 6m with electric underfloor heating. It's intelligent and switches itself on early if the floor is very cold in the winter which is clever! It's on normally from 5am until 9 and from 5pm until 7pm and i can turn it down or off to suit. It's been under the floor for about 7 years and we have no other heating in the room and it's never cold. We also have it in a 4m m 3m utility room. I laid it myself which is very straight forward and not rocket science by any means. As a result I've also recently put electric under tiles in a bathroom which seems to work quite well.
I'm not sure how much they cost to run, not cheap if you turn the heat up, but in fairness the rooms it is laid in have no heating aside from the bathroom which has a towel rail.
I'm not sure how much they cost to run, not cheap if you turn the heat up, but in fairness the rooms it is laid in have no heating aside from the bathroom which has a towel rail.
The kitchen has got a rad in it, so it wouldn't be the only heating source in the room, just something to take the chill off the tiles.
Have just had a very quick google on different types, the matting seems very good easy stuff to install, they do suggest insulation matting as well, then after you fit the heat mat they talk about covering the whole area with self-leveling compound before tiling.
Have just had a very quick google on different types, the matting seems very good easy stuff to install, they do suggest insulation matting as well, then after you fit the heat mat they talk about covering the whole area with self-leveling compound before tiling.
I have put devi mat down in all our bathrooms & kitchen. Very easy to install and works well. You will need flexible adhesive & you can lay the mat, then put the adhesive straight over the top and stick the tiles on. Jobs a goodun!
Edit to say that I didn't use self levelling compound anywhere but I did start with a relatively flat base to start with. The upstairs bathrooms were overboarded first to stiffen up the floor prior to putting the mat down.
Edit to say that I didn't use self levelling compound anywhere but I did start with a relatively flat base to start with. The upstairs bathrooms were overboarded first to stiffen up the floor prior to putting the mat down.
Edited by FuzzyLogic on Sunday 13th June 20:27
We've got it in our bathroom, the base floor is wooden, so we boarded it with ply screwed rather than stapled or nailed, then the thermal tiles so the heat is reflected up into the room.
Then the heating wire and the thermostat and laid tiles over the top with the usual two part flexi adhesive. Worst part of the whole job was grouting with charcoal grout.
There is an electronic controller on the wall which you set it all up, various settings dependant upon installation, floor type, whether you've used the thermal tiles and so on.
Then it's just a matter of the timer and temperature and whether you want it controlled by floor stat or wall stat. There is also a mode they call party or something like that which just powers it up to the preset temperature and it turns off at the next event time.
PoP to install providing you make sure that the circuit is good before you lay the tiles over the top, and it's lovely. It isn't a room heater just enough to take the edge of the tiles, but we hardly have the towel radiator on as it really seems far more effective than I expected.
When it's on it doesn't use much power according to the energy monitor doobry meter. 300w maybe at full welly? Not seen any real noticeable effect on the energy bill, obviously there must be some, but in comparison to the other stuff, kettle, hair dryers, leccy shower and worst of all the bloody tumble dryer the underfloor heating is nothing.
edited to correct the wattage, just done a test.
Then the heating wire and the thermostat and laid tiles over the top with the usual two part flexi adhesive. Worst part of the whole job was grouting with charcoal grout.
There is an electronic controller on the wall which you set it all up, various settings dependant upon installation, floor type, whether you've used the thermal tiles and so on.
Then it's just a matter of the timer and temperature and whether you want it controlled by floor stat or wall stat. There is also a mode they call party or something like that which just powers it up to the preset temperature and it turns off at the next event time.
PoP to install providing you make sure that the circuit is good before you lay the tiles over the top, and it's lovely. It isn't a room heater just enough to take the edge of the tiles, but we hardly have the towel radiator on as it really seems far more effective than I expected.
When it's on it doesn't use much power according to the energy monitor doobry meter. 300w maybe at full welly? Not seen any real noticeable effect on the energy bill, obviously there must be some, but in comparison to the other stuff, kettle, hair dryers, leccy shower and worst of all the bloody tumble dryer the underfloor heating is nothing.
edited to correct the wattage, just done a test.
Edited by F i F on Sunday 13th June 20:39
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