Electric underfloor heating is simple. It's just a piece of cable with a certain resistance per linear meter. High-quality floor heating is designed in such a way that there is nothing to break. But, nevertheless, around floor heating, there are myths and misconceptions that we will try to dispel in the article.
Content:
- Myth #1: Cannot be installed under furniture
- Myth #2: Be sure to use thermal insulation
- Myth #3: Cannot be installed in wet areas as there is a high risk of electric shock
- Myth #4: Underfloor heating will "eat" the height of the ceilings
- Myth number 5: Warm floors are laid only under the tiles
- Myth #6: Underfloor heating film is the most economical in terms of electricity consumption
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Myth #1: Cannot be installed under furniture
This is a common myth about underfloor heating. Proponents of this myth argue that the heating element cannot be installed under furniture without legs. The main argument is that there is a risk of failure due to overheating, since furniture without legs impairs heat removal from the tile surface. In other words, the heat has nowhere to go and the cable begins to heat up above the melting point of the insulation.
Underfloor heating under furniture
This is only true when using underlay on the bottom and furniture without legs on top at the same time. In this case, a “sandwich” is obtained that worsens heat removal from the cable surface. But in 80% of apartments, the substrate is not used under the heating element, and more on that below.
Experience in laying underfloor heating Heating Systems shows that electric underfloor heating works great under furniture. If insulation is not used, then the furniture will not affect the overheating of the cable in any way, as the heat will go down.
Furniture from above is the same thermal insulation from below. But no one will be against the use of thermal insulation with underfloor heating. It would never occur to anyone to say that the heating system will fail because of the substrate.
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The problem with the substrate is that it is soft, even if it is extruded polystyrene foam (styrodur, isocam). It is impossible to lay a warm floor on a substrate, apply tile adhesive on top and lay tiles. Such a design would not be reliable. There is a risk that the tile will crack over time.
In order to avoid cracking, it is necessary to apply a layer of cement screed at least 5 centimeters over the thermal insulation with the addition of a plasticizer and only then mount the heating cable or mat and lay the tiles. Only with this design, the tile will not crack as a result of repeated heating and cooling.
Floor insulation
On the other hand, the advantages of thermal insulation are obvious, these are:
- saving electricity;
- rapid heating of the floor surface.
But if you still decide to make a substrate, then you will have to raise the level of the tile over the entire area of \u200b\u200bthe apartment, and not just under the heating zone. Imagine that you decide to heat three square meters in the kitchen, in an apartment with an area of 80 m². Such floor heating will consume about 100 kW of electricity per month without thermal insulation.
The substrate will save 20-30 kW per month. Is it worth saving 20-30 kW per month in order to fence the substrate and a thick layer of screed throughout the apartment, reducing the height of the ceiling? In addition, you will have to spend money on materials and wages for workers.
Thermal insulation makes sense only with relatively large heated areas in relation to the total area of the apartment.
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Myth #3: Cannot be installed in wet areas as there is a high risk of electric shock
Electric underfloor heating not only can be installed in wet rooms, but also necessary. Indeed, in wet rooms, most of all you want warmth and comfort. It is for such premises that floor heating is designed.
Moreover, electric floor heating is often installed directly under the floor covering, in a makeshift shower.
Heated floor in the bathroom
In production, the safety of the heating element is checked under a voltage of 2000 - 3000 Volts, after being immersed in a container of water. This test guarantees safety with intact cable insulation.
What if the insulation is damaged? To do this, the warm floor is connected to a separate RCD (residual current device). If a leak occurs, the RCD will instantly de-energize the cable.
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Conventionally, floor heating is divided into water and electric. For more information on how to mount a water heater, we wrote in the article. do-it-yourself water-heated floor.
Electric floor heating, in turn, is divided into:
- heating mats;
- heating cable;
- film (infrared).
Electric floor heating in the living room
A thick layer of screed is needed only for water heated floors and from electric ones - a heating cable. Heating mats and foil do not require raising the level of the floor covering. The mats are integrated into a 5 mm thick tile adhesive, and the film even involves dry installation under wooden coverings.
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Myth #5: Heated floors are laid only under the tiles
Ceramic tiles are definitely the ideal flooring for underfloor heating, as this material conducts heat better. But not in all rooms the use of tiles will be appropriate, and in many of them underfloor heating is desirable. For example, in a children's room or in a bedroom, heating just asks.
Laminate in the kitchen
Electric underfloor heating, regardless of whether it is mats, cable or foil, can be integrated under almost any floor covering.
However, the general rule is this:
- Mats and cable are ideal for ceramic tiles, marble and porcelain tiles
- Film under a laminate, a parquet, linoleum.
Perhaps the least compatible flooring with underfloor heating is parquet. And even in this case, with a strong desire, you can make floor heating.
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How much energy this or that heating system will consume depends on the heat loss of a particular room (this applies to any heating system). That is, if under given conditions, the room loses, say, 50 W per hour per square meter, then these losses must be compensated.
Both film and cable options use electricity as an energy source.
Image of a film (infrared) warm floor
At the same power, the cable and the film consume the same amount of electricity. The efficiency (coefficient of performance) of both is about 100%. This means that if floor heating draws 1000 W of electrical power from the network, then it will convert it all without loss into thermal power. That is, at the output we have 1000 W, but not electrical, but thermal power.
From this we conclude that miracles do not happen, and all underfloor heating will consume the same amount of energy under the same conditions (that is, in the same rooms at the same temperature outside and inside the room and with the same floor covering).
