Underfloor Heating

[pinkjudy45]

We have just had an extension on the back of our house and whilst we had all the mess we thought we would have underfloor heating put down on the whole of the ground floor, but it never seems warm enough downstairs - we have just one thermostat in the hall and the upstairs radiators are boiling hot (we've had to turn the thermostats down on them because they get too hot). Does anybody know of an answer to this lack of warmth downstairs because I'm fed up with going to the bedrooms to get warm.

[Sipowicz]

Zacs, TRVs are already fitted.

[ladybirder]

So you can't have the bedrooms cooler than the downstairs areas you are sitting in?

[KARL]

Discussing this with your plumber is a sensible way forward. Engineers who spent years at university to become one dislike tradesmen/technicians being referred to as "engineers" but the term is not subject to the same regulation as that of "doctor". Anyone can call him/herself engineer at will without fear of being prosecuted but nevertheless remains a driver, plumber, electrician, etc. all the same.

[Sipowicz]

TRV = thermostatic radiator valve.

[EcclesCake]

Thermostatic radiator valves = TRV

[Sipowicz]

Lady birder, yes, turn the trvs to a lower setting than the downstairs thermostat.

[Zacs-Master]

Thermostatic Radiator Valves. They allow you to turn the temp of individual radiators down.

[Sipowicz]

PJ45, I presume you've tried turning the downstairs thermostat to a highe setting and regulated the upstairs temperature via the TRVs?

[pinkjudy45]

The TRVs (now I sound technical) are already done to 1 in the bedrooms, but at 3 on the landing and bathroom. I am going to ring the heating engineer/plumber now I have 'spoken' to everyone on answerbank I think that's the way forward.

[EcclesCake]

I'm wondering if the underfloor heating downstairs isn't gutsy enough for the job. Given that heat rises it seems odd that the upstairs rooms would affect the the thermostat downstairs.

Do you have a wet or dry system do you know what the output is?

[pinkjudy45]

I don't know if it's gutsy enough, the heating engineer that installed the heating said it would be warm enough, but it isn't. Also it's a wet system.

[The Builder]

I've no doubt that the systen should be warm enough, Judy... as your guy has said. It doesn't sound as though it's been set up properly though.

I installed underfloor heating in a barn conversion a couple of years ago. Downstairs only, divided into several zones, each controlled by an individual thermostat for each zone (wall mounted controls for each.

Even in a very cold winter, the upstairs rads rarely had to come on at all. That's how a good system should operate. In fact, when they lit the sitting room woodburner, they were down to T-shirts!

Was there a good level of insulation below the UH heating?

[The Builder]

A few more thoughts while we're waiting for Judy to get back.

From here, it does sound as though the installer has treated the UH as one huge radiator. TRVs upstairs, and one roomstat, and one rad downstairs.
UH pipework should be in several sections to provide the zones.

Pipework from each room or zone should be taken separately to a manifold somewhere. This manifold brings the whole UH system together to connect to the heat source.

In effect, controlled zoning is really the same as individual rads with TRVs for each "room".

Trying to control the whole thing with a roomstat is likely to be quite inefficient. UH doesn't work as a normal rad system as we know it. For a start, it runs at a much lower temp than ordinary rads. It should be controlled separately.

[EcclesCake]

I agree with The Builder about the insulation. We have a polystyrene base with reflective boards laid on top that the pipework feeds through.

I am zoned but some areas are closed off, if it is an open area would zoning work in the same way on a downstairs run of UFH?

[The Builder]

Eccles ........ zoning is really only separate, controlled areas pipework. I don't see why it still couldn't be zoned as with anywhere else.