Underfloor Heating
Under-floor heated rooms are heated by (lukewarm) water circulating in continuous pipe loops embedded in the concrete floor. To ensure total reliability, there are no joints in the pipes in the floor. The floors reach a pleasant temperature of around 24 Degree C, and produce a wonderful even heat at all points in the room.
Virtually any floor covering can be used from the obvious such as stone, tiles, etc, but many people are surprised to see that the seemingly unlikely combination of wooden floors and under floor heating are growing in popularity. Most solid woods can be used once the proper care is taken to acclimatise them before installation. In parts of the house needing greater levels of heat such as near large windows or in the conservatories, pipes can be laid at closer spacings giving greater heat where required.
Comfort: Warmth from the floor radiates evenly and gently upwards for ideal comfort, even in rooms with high ceilings. Compare this with radiators, which create convection currents drawing cold air across your feet and sending warm air up to the ceiling.
Aesthetically: No radiators invade your space; your furniture and furnishings can be placed exactly where you want and where everything looks its best.
Lower Running Costs: The lower heating temperatures of floor heating, results in running cost reductions up to 25%. As less fuel is needed, the choice of under-floor heating is kinder to the environment and easier on your pocket.
Silence: Unlike the constant background hiss of water passing through radiators, underfloor heating is totally silent.
Added Value To Your Property: quality homes and apartments that have under floor heating command higher prices in the marketplace.
The sizing of distribution pipework to Underfloor Heating is critical and often done incorrectly. Spacing, manifold layout, sizing, zoning, and the appropriate & effective use of actuators and thermostats are all important technical issues which require careful consideration and expertise.
Each installation should be designed and engineered based on the projects specific requirements and limitations. When installing underfloor heating we would advise a maximum combined thermal resistance, for floor coverings, of 0.15m2K/W is not exceeded. This equates to a carpet and underlay TOG value of 1.5.
At Ashgrove we provide detailed room by room calculations to determine the heat loss of each room. This ensures that your system is designed correctly.
Heat in rooms is individually and accurately regulated by their own thermostats. Other options for control include programmable room thermostats, which give even more precise control over comfort levels with the additional convenience of a timing function. Wireless radio controlled systems are also available with an optional central control panel for zone control of groups of rooms.
Predictive Weather compensation control, is an ideal way of controlling Underfloor Heating. As the external temperature decreases, this causes increased heat loss from the building over the following hours. The weather compensating control senses this change and increases the flow temperature in the underfloor pipes via a mixing valve. The opposite is also true, when the temperature outside increases the heat loss from the building will be less, therefore we can afford to drop the flow temperture in the underfloor pipes without risking under-heating. It can be coupled with any type of heating system ie oil, gas, geothermal etc.
In essence with weather compensation we are only putting enough energy into the building at any time to replace the heat lost, resulting in an efficient and comfortable system with no over/under-heating.