"The Natural Philosopher" wrote in message
...
Not any longer. With single stage heat pumps the rads need to be very very
large so floors are used instead.

I've always wondered how much the carpets on a floor insulate the
"radiators" and prevent the heat being given out quickly so the heating can
respond to changes in room temperature and therefore keep it constant.

I suppose that's less of an issue now that so many people are having bare
tiles, lino or wooden floors, especially downstairs - which means that
footsteps echo throughout the whole house and chairs scrape noisily across
the floors. And anything even slightly brittle shatters if it falls on the
floor, whereas a carpet will often prevent breakage.

Anything is better than the hot-air ducted heating that was all the rage in
the early 70s when one of my parents' houses was built. That was appalling -
it didn't heat the house and it spread dust everywhere, and there was a cold
draught from the floor vents if you were sitting "downwind" of them.

How maintainable is underfloor heating if there's a leak? That's the thing
that has always put me off both electric and hot water underfloor heating -
the need to dig up floors to replace an open- or short-circuited element or
to fix a leak.