Nothing beats a pleasant warm home.
With underfloor heating the comfort increases. Warm feet, no cold corners in the room and no more radiators on the wall.
Do you wonder if underfloor heating can be used to heat your entire home? Read on to determine whether your home is suitable for underfloor heating as main heating (main heat source) or only as supplementary heating (additional heating).
The difference between additional heating and primary heating?
What exactly is the difference?
Main heat source: Underfloor heating takes care of (almost) the entire heat demand. Sometimes a radiator or infrared panel is needed to help.
Additional heat source: A different heat source (such as radiators or panels) provides the most heat. Floor heating is used for a pleasantly warm floor.
Underfloor heating as additional heating is often cheaper to buy. But that of course only applies to the floor heating itself. The other heat source (for example a radiator) naturally also uses energy.
And a radiator is a high temperature heating system, which means it uses more energy to heat the home than floor heating does…
Do you want underfloor heating as your main or additional heat source? Ask underfloor installers for advice. Request free underfloor heating quotes.
What is low temperature heating (LTV)?
The underfloor heating is a low temperature heating system. This means that the floor heating reaches a maximum of 55 ℃.
A conventional radiator is a high temperature heating system. This system heats up to as much as 80℃ to allow it to effectively heat up the room, however, LTV may only need to heat up to 55℃ to obtain the same, consistent room temperature.
You can understand that much more energy is needed to reach the 80℃.
Heating up to 55℃ is much more energy efficient. This only applies to hot water underfloor heating. Electric underfloor heating is not as energy efficient.
Do you have a home where the heat disappears through the cracks due to poor insulation? In that case underfloor heating as the primary heat source could be the wrong way to go.
It is therefore important that you properly insulate your home to be able to use underfloor heating as the primary heat source.
Underfloor heating system as your primary heating
Water underfloor heating
If you want to use underfloor heating as the main heat source, you should opt for water underfloor heating.
This floor heating system is much more energy efficient on larger surfaces (which is necessary to fully heat your house).
Save on energy with water underfloor heating. Get free quotes from underfloor installers.
Electric underfloor heating
Electric underfloor heating is used as additional heating in mainly bathrooms and toilets.
For small areas that need to be heated quickly, electric floor heating is the best choice as it provides a faster heat source.
Thermal or insulation envelope
Everything actually stands or falls within the so-called ‘thermal envelope’, this concerns the insulation of the roof, the floor, the walls and last but not least the energy efficient uPVC windows with insulated glazing.
The better your home is insulated, the less heat is needed.
If you have a good thermal envelope, it is often possible to use floor heating as the primary heat source.
Have an installer inspect your home to determine if your home and flooring is suitable for underfloor heating. Request free quotes from underfloor heating installers.
Insulation measures
It is important to properly insulate your home in order to optimally enjoy floor heating.
Combining floor insulation with underfloor heating
Underfloor heating without an insulated floor, however, only saves around 5% of your energy costs. With insulation this goes up to 15%.
When your underfloor heating is installed, an insulating layer is usually already applied.
It is also advisable to insulate the crawl space and ceiling, so the heat does not disappear through the bottom of the floor
If you have underfloor heating installed, it is important to opt for insulating boards to save energy.
Roof insulation
Get your roof insulated. This way the heat will not disappears through the roof.
You can insulate roof from the outside as the insulation material comes directly below or above the roof covering (on flat roofs).
The most common method is to insulate on the inside. This can be done by a experienced DIY’er..
If you do not use the attic, you can choose to insulate the attic floor.
Cavity wall insulation
The most economical way to insulate your wall is by using cavity wall insulation. Insulation material is injected into the cavity wall. This way no heat disappears through the inner wall.
Glazing and uPVC windows
In addition to insulating the wall, floor and roof, you must not forget the uPVC windows with insulated glazing.
With uPVC windows with insulated glazing your house is completely insulated. Your facade does not only consist of walls, but also of window frames and glass.
You don’t want any heat loss there, right?
What is additional heating?
It can take a long time before underfloor heating has heated the rooms to the desired temperature
It can take up to 3 hours before the floor is fully heated from a ‘cold’ state.
If you require a faster heat source you could consider using additional heating, such as traditional radiators.
The traditional radiators heat the room at a high temperature and are therefore not energy efficient, as you could have read earlier.
You also have low temperature radiators which do not get much warmer than 55°C
Another solution to help underfloor heating is by hanging infrared heating panels. These are panels which quickly give off a lot of heat. They are unfortunately not economical and require a lot of energy.