You are thinking of renovating your house, or you are part of a new build process. The heating system is a critical choice in the turning of a house into a home, so you rightly looking at all the possibilities. Your heart is saying underfloor heating, and you have heard that 12mm underfloor heating pipes make this much cheaper and easier than before. Your head is saying radiators; surely this is the more economical choice?
The truth is that there is a compromise between your head and your heart.
Most people believe that it is a matter of either/ or. You select underfloor heating, or you choose radiators. The truth is that the two systems can work well together. Both underfloor heating and radiators can work from the same boiler – or can work as two independent systems
Why consider having both underfloor heating and radiators?
If you already have radiators, the process of changing the whole house to underfloor heating could be too expensive or too disruptive. Retro-fitting underfloor heating would require floors to be lifted and maybe even new flooring types selected. One of the common reasons for ineffective underfloor heating is the wrong flooring or floor covering.
You may not feel you need underfloor heating in every room. Padding out of the shower onto a cold floor is something to avoid, but heating under a carpet may feel pointless.
Your options
The good news is that you can have both systems working from the same boiler. Your home will be divided into zones, and one area can be warmed by radiators, while others can be heated by underfloor piping. You can even have both in the same room if you need for heat is three dimensional, or it is always freezing in your part of the world!
The configuration of this system relies on whether you choose wet or dry underfloor heating.
Wet underfloor heating
With wet underfloor heating pipes are installed under the floor, and these carry water or a chemical mix. The water will be heated by a boiler to a set temperature dictated by your thermostat and is then pumped around your home.
A wet underfloor heating system can be costly to install. However, you need to think of the long game with underfloor heating. The running costs of your wet system will be considerably lower than a dry system.
Dry underfloor heating
A dry system does not use water. This seems obvious, but most people don’t realise this is an option. The dry underfloor heating system us a series of mats or cables, similar to what you would find in a kettle. This heating system can be installed without having to interact with your existing heating system at all – so can be uber-convenient.
You are more likely to choose a dry system when you are renovating a pre-existing home, and there is limited space for the installation of a wet system. If you want a wet system in a renovation, it is often necessary to raise the floors, which is even more costly and reduces the sense of space in a home. You are also likely to need advice on building regulations before attempting this – which is why most opt for a dry underfloor system in such circumstances.
The best option for renovation
Combining radiators and dry underfloor heating is one of the best options for heating your home. Having a dry underfloor heating system in your bathroom can run entirely separately from the heating for the rest of the house. This can give the perceived luxury you are looking for without the extensive work and costs. This is undoubtedly the optimal choice for retro-fitting underfloor heating in the home, where the cost of dry underfloor heating throughout the house is prohibitive.
If you are concerned about the environment, then mixing radiators in most rooms with dry underfloor heating in key rooms is the best option. Having dry underfloor heating throughout the house is not at all energy efficient, and your utility bills are likely to rocket. Even if you only choose underfloor heating in the kitchen and the bathroom, anyone coming into the house is going to presume you have the luxury of underfloor heating throughout.
The best option for a new build
We are a little biased. We think that underfloor heating throughout a new build makes complete sense. However, some may still want the option of both radiators and underfloor heating. If this is the case, when building a new property, it makes more sense to use a wet underfloor heating system. This will mean running the two heating systems from the same boiler, but this is entirely possible.
Keeping the two systems independent using a zone valve is easy. The great thing about a zone valve is that it puts you in complete control of your energy usage, so you can then control your running costs.
A wet system works by hot water from the boiler flowing around the system. Once it has circuited the system, it returns to a temperature sensor. If it is still warm enough, the water will be recirculated around the underfloor heating. If the temperature has dropped too much, then the boiler will click into action and will prompt more hot water to be pumped into the system. The further the water needs to travel the more it will have cooled before it returns to the temperature sensor. Therefore, by using a zone valve, you can limit the journey of the water around the radiators and the underfloor heating.
A sensor attached to the underfloor heating manifold will detect the drop-in temperature, and this runs separately from the radiators. Therefore, while the thermostat will dictate the temperature of the radiators, the underfloor heating can work independently.
The single zone option
One of the easiest ways to connect your new system is by controlling your underfloor heating from radiator circuits. Essentially what this means is that your underfloor heating will kick in when your radiators come on. You will likely have your radiators programmed to come on at a particular time, at which point your underfloor heating pump will also switch on. There may be a delay before the underfloor heating pump starts, as it requires the temperature in the pipes to be warm enough before pumping begins.
You can adapt this system to include zones by adding manifolds. The problem with a single zone system is that there is a limited length of pipe. By adding manifolds, you can extend this piping and control the temperature passing through each area. You can run 100m of pipe without needing an additional manifold, so unless you have an unusually large house, it is a choice not likely to be dictated by size. Without the manifold, however, all the rooms would be run from the same thermostat.
If you talk to anyone who has chosen underfloor heating, they will tell you that the significant benefit is controlling zones. You can have heat in the area of the house it is needed and therefore saving energy. Therefore, also a single zone makes installation simple; it might not be the best option overall.
The simple takeaway
You have a lot more flexibility in your choice of heating systems than you thought. You can have radiators, or underfloor heating, or both. You can run the systems separately or together, in zones or as a single system.
How to make a choice? You should consider:
- Is this a new build or a renovation?
- Do you want to control different areas of the house?
- Are you looking to save money on your heating costs?
- Do you want different heating options in different areas of the house?
- How much money are you willing to invest during installation?
The choices you make now have a long-term impact on the running costs of your home and the value of your house at resale. Therefore, it may be a good idea to take a long-term view when balancing cost against the benefit of the right heating system. Our advisors would be happy to work with you to balance all the options for your set of circumstances.
