Underfloor heeating response times?

tunes81

Hi I'm currently deciding on radiators or UFH its wrecking my head, my main issue was teh response time for UFH. If on a sunny day the temp drops outside how long will it take for the temp to build up inside?
and vice a versa, if its cold outside UFH is keeping it cosy inside suddenly out comes the sun, shinning through the window heating the house. does the house just get roasting hot? Does a smaller screed or keeping pipes closer together help the issue?
I'd be interested to hear from people with experience and what they'd recommend.
Thanks a million

Guy:Incognito

Under floor heating isnt something you can just turn on or off on the day depending on the temp. It'll take a few days to get the house warm. You pretty much leave it on all winter and adjust temps, then turn it off for summer (assuming your not going to need heat over the summer). It's a good it more expensive to run.

rooferPete

Hi,

Underfloor heating should be well past the teething stages by now, unfortunatley there are still cheaper systems available some are victims of poor quality installation.

Good quality thermostats and a good heating system are vital to the success of UFH, one of the main problems is the recovery time if the temperature is allowed to drop.

The thermostats in each room will detect the extra heat from the sun and reduce the call for heat from the boiler so ensure the thermostats are fitted in the correct location.

I expect like most systems an experienced installer is needed to help you get the most from your system.

.

KAGY

On a well insulated house with minimal ventilation the time lag for the heat loss in the situation you described would be enough for the UFH to heat up.

It will take a good day or more to heat up the house initially, but for the majority of the time, you won't have the house below 10 deg unless you go on holidays so you are looking at 3 hours or so depending on the required temperature rise . Even in the holiday case a good controller will allow you to turn on the heating before you come back. Mine has a holiday setting which shuts the system off for x number of days.

I do find that with irish weather the time lag can be a bit of a pain though, as I'm running a heat pump on night time elec a warm night followed by a cool day can leave the house a bit chilly. But that's where the "boost" function comes in, but we have an open fire in the sitting room which we can light in that situation, and windows we can open in the reverse case!

Consider using rads upstairs (or where you may only need heat for part of the day).

yop

The dept of your screed determines the response time in my opinion, for that reasoning we went with only 25mm upstairs, but on our heatpump it has an outdoor thermostat which controllers the circulating pump for the UFH so it reacts based on the temp outside.

Wobs

If you want to go with geo but are worried about response times or can't put ufh upstairs you should check out the wall system that Climate Control offer. Basically its UFH in one or two walls of your room. It comes with a temp strip you place on the wall to show where the pipe runs are so you can safely fix thing to the wall.

yop

WOBS, have you seen this in action? Seems a bit mental, I remember them on about it when we got our Geothermal in. It would like facing a hair dryer!!!

Wobs

Hi Yop, haven't seen it and agree thought it sounded a bit mad aswell. Was talking to Brian last week say's he's done a few installs already and it works well, is putting it in his parents house also. I guess it works on the same principal as UFH, low even heat distribution to create a comfortable enviroment.

He say's it will heat a distance of 8 metre's from the wall.