"NY" wrote in message
o.uk...
"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

It works fine now, presumably those older ones just didnt provide
anywhere near enough joules given the very thermally leaky houses.

and it spread dust everywhere,

Not when you filter the hot air properly. Yes, that does
need a high level of filter changes, but it is very effective.

and there was a cold draught from the floor vents if you were sitting
"downwind" of them.

Again, you only get that result when its
not putting enough heat into the house.

How maintainable is underfloor heating if there's a leak?

Yeah, thats certainly the main downside with
it, but it isnt hard to ensure that that doesnt
happen with plastic pipe now.

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.

Sure.