Benefits of Under Floor Heating

While climate change experts are agonising over the rising average annual temperatures

Government literature meanwhile compels us to turn down our thermostats by a couple of degrees to ‘do our bit’ for the environment. Unquestionably temperature, energy use and carbon emissions are all connected, it is crucial that we start using more renewable energy resources.

50 years after the buildings for the Festival of Britain were built on the Thames’ South Bank, which featured one of the country’s first heat pumps, people are beginning to realise the benefits and performance of these refrigerant based engines which extract heat from the environment around them. Basically all the energy used by heat pumps is provided by the sun, suppliers are competing to provide buyers with ground source, air source and water source heat pumps to meet domestic and hot water requirements.

It has become obvious that heat pumps work best when it is linked to under floor heating. Under Floor Heating tends to work best when it is fed with water at around 40oC. They provide an even level of heat and also allow heat pumps to be run for long, extended periods which in turn maximises their life.

Modern boilers operate most efficiently when they are connected to under floor heating as it achieves low return flow temperatures that keep them in condensing mode, heating the room from the bottom up, instead of how a radiator heats the ceiling first.

One heating company has been running a campaign with the slogan ‘Free your walls’, which is designed to encourage people to choose under floor heating systems. The hidden coils of under floor heating rid the need for unattractive radiators that limit the redecoration and layout possibilities for a room. Underfloor heating can be laid under almost any type of flooring and radically reduce the amount of dust in the air, which benefits allergy sufferers.

Underfloor Heating has the following Fundamentals:

• Under Floor Heating provides a house with an even level of radiant heat
• Linking an under floor heating system to a heat pump gives optimum efficiency
• Linked to under floor heating a modern boiler will work most efficiently