RE: electrical underfloor heating

["Neil Ball" <neilball@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I have designed/supplied control systems that used Devi electric
underfloor
for both primary heating and tile/floorwarming applications without any
issues in the past, their equipment has proved very reliable. I am only
aware of 1 project where there were significant problems but this was
nothing to do with Devi - the incoming electricity supply was found to be
over voltage, peaking at over 300V on occasions, thereby burning out the
heating cables and also damaging controls. There are also a number of other
manufacturers/distributors you could consider - I am not too far away from
Enerfoil Magnum who supply several different electric UFH systems. You may
want to get the suppliers of the UFH to check that the output of the
different cable/mat systems could provide full primary heating for your
home
based on some simple heat loss calcs. You will also need to consider the
floor preparation required for best performance - insulation and floor
coverings. Electric UFH can be much less costly to install compared to a
full wet system which offsets the increased energy costs especially if you
are thinking that you may move house in 5-10 years. With either system you
need controls - simple timeclocks and room stats could be used although
digital stats that allow for a lower temperature setback at night will make
the system easier to use and provides simple frost protection when the
house
is unoccupied for any length of time. You can also use much more
sophisticated controls of you want to such as the Sensible Heat/Hometronic
system I sell in Scotland/Northern England. These do allow integration with
other systems, remote access by phone & web etc.



Neil B.

_____

From: ukha_d@xxxxxxx [mailto:ukha_d@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
holymarydudderogod
Sent: 18 January 2007 11:50
To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
Subject: [ukha_d] electrical underfloor heating



Hi there,

Is anyone using Devimats or a similar electrical underfloor heating
system? If so what do people think of them, do they work well or
would radiators make more sense? The house is pretty small so it
might be powerful enough to heat the whole space, and currently
there's central heating so it won't have to integrate with anything else.

I get the impression that with a water-based underfloor system you
pretty much leave it on, thus negating the whole need to have
sophisticated HA controls for it, but with electric I assume it has to
be turned on and off like a 'normal' heating system, is this right?

And finally, if anyone is automating control of such a system, what do
you use for this purpose?

Thanks,
Kathryn.



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