Question by mrmrmerton: How long does underfloor heating (water) take to heat up? Is it much slower than normal radiators?
We go out quite a bit so need heating that can warm up rooms in half an hour. We are worried that underfloor heating isn’t sufficient and that we would need radiators or extra heaters in addition.
Best answer:
Answer by A.C.Girl
I’m assuming you’re talking about radiant heat, which is fed by boilers and run under soncrete. It heats nicely but not if turned off and on repeatedly. It does take some time to warm a room, but the feeling on bare feet in winter is priceless!!
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8 Comments
the time it takes is not the issue so much.
its the fact that hot air rises and therefore its more economical to have underfloor heating if you can afford it. Also to answer your question another way … if you pump is a good one and can handle the area you are trying to heat, then it should be the same if not better than conventional radiators.
Hydronic heat takes some time initially, but once the slab is heated it recovers fairly quickly. It is going to depend on how long you are out and what you turn the thermostat down to when you are out.
It depends on your boiler………. the boiler heats the water and is pumped around the circuit.
If you’ve got loads of radiators etc in the same circuit it will take longer, because it’s a bigger circuit to fill up.
I don’t know the initial warm up time but shoudn’t it stay rather warm afterwards? If you are turning it off everyday, doesn’t that defeat the purpose?
I understand it pays for itself within 5 years.
it takes about 12 hours to heat up yr place if you have a concrete floor on top of yr underfloor
From cold !? It depends how thick the slab is. I would say between 2 and 4 hours. However with this type of heating you don’t want to use an on/off timer/programmer, but an optimising controller such as a Honeywell CM67 or Danfoss TP5000 this will calculate the optimum start up time depending on your preferred time and temperature settings, and will keep a small amount of heat in the floor at all times, ensuring a fast rise to preferred settings when the need arises. If you ‘go out quite a bit’ a couple of button presses will set the system back temporalily to a lower temperature untill you return.
The great thing about radiant is it saves money.
it also makes your feet feel warm and if there warm your warm.
the length of time of time it takes depends on different factors
system Btu, radiant pipe size, spacing of pipe, wood floor, concrete slab, etc.
usually there are results within a couple of hours.
i would also tell you to get an outdoor sensor that works with your controls on your boiler, this will only meet the the demand of the out door temp and not over or under heat your house.
as far as changing settings, don’t change radiant settings at all if your residing at your house continually. if your going away for a week that’s one thing.
the outdoor sensor and controls can save from 20% to over 70%
of your heating costs. why doesn’t everyone do it because they cant see spending $ 500.00 to $ 1000.00 at first to save them that much in fuel costs for the winter.
You have radiant floor heat and it should be left on during the cold weather. The heat rises and and heats the space in the room.
The type of heat you have is economical to operate and provides more even heating that forced air types.
Set the thermostat at the level that makes you comforable (70 degrees or so) and LEAVE it.