g wrote:

Hi,

I have always been an avid supporter of underfloor heating -- I don't
know anyone personally to have any complaints about them. However in
telling people here in Ireland that we installed it in a stone house
we are renovating, almost everybody is "appalled" and skeptical. They
tell us stories of people who have them installed and get them ripped
out soon afterwards because of the gas guzzling/high heating costs. I
can only think that in these bad experiences, the insulation under the
floor and on the walls is improperly done, but they insist that this
possibility is unlikely and that underfloor heating is an inherently
disastrous heating method. But I don't see how something that is so
successful and common elsewhere remains so successful if that is the
case. I'm tired of defending the choice we made with the heating :-(

Anybody have ideas on the possible sources of bad experiences/high
running costs with underfloor heating?



With decent insulation and a wet system - i.e. not electric - its pretty
close to a conventional system.

What I find is that teh longer delays mean it spends a fair time warming
up and colling down, and this represents a little bit of heat you
probably wouldn't have used if it came yup to temp faater.

Do a decent insulation job and go for it. If you want to be very clever,
bt in zone valves and thermostats for every room. Then buold a
controller than can cope with all of that on a different basis from the
rest of the CH.

Its possible to vastly overheat if you don't have some way of ensuring
each room is at the right temp.





Thanks,
g