OT : Underfloor heating

I'm getting a new kitchen put in in a couple of weeks time.

I want underfloor heating but CBA with all the hassle of digging up a few CM
of the concrete floor to lay the pipes, etc, etc.

Then I was told about this lot:-
http://www.speedheat.co.uk
who claim they can install underfloor heating, including the covering screed
layer, in 5mm, which if any good will be fucking ideal as I've got to take up
the current tiles and Moben are going to lay a self-levelling screed layer. I
can just get Speedheat to pop along in the morning and lay down their heaty
stuff then come back to finish off a couple of days later.

The only thing that's concerning me is how much heat escapes downwards and is
wasted?

Anyone got any experience of this type of system?

 

[snip]

Moben? Eeek, no. Well not in my experience. I have never met a ruder
salesdroid than the one that came here to sell me a kitchen. It took a
lot of restraint not to show him the door with my toe up his arse and
probably the door not opened first.

 

From their site: "On solid floors, the element is usually laid on
insulating material, limiting any heat loss to the base"

Doesn't sound like 5mm will include much insulation. I've installed
warmup several times on wooden floors upstairs, but never on the
concrete floor downstairs. I think if you don't put insulation
underneath then a lot of heat will sink into the floor and take a long
time to get to temp.

 

On 31/01/2010 18:00, frag wrote:

Moben

Oh ****.....

 

took a blunt brush and painted...

They've been 110% throughout so far.

Desiger / sales bloke was genuine and a good laugh. Knew his stuff, listened
to me, came up with useful suggestions for the bits I was stuck with.

Technical design engineer bloke ditto.

I normally fucking hate any sort of salesy people coming round to my house as
I've experienced the hard sell, and any sign of that and they get told "I'll
be in touch, thankyou and goodbye" (adjusted in politeness as necessary) but
these two have been great.

 

There should be a 25mm layer of insulation below the underfloor heating
pipes. The screed around and above the pipes is load bearing because the
insulation is compressible so a decent thickness is required to prevent
cracking.

Be afraid and get a proper opinion from a structural engineer.

 

took a blunt brush and painted...

They're local to me so I'm obviously going to give them a call tomorrow.

The next, obvious question is how do you go about removing a layer 5~10mm off
the top of a concrete floor? I suspect I know the answer and I don't like it!

 

took a blunt brush and painted...

Que?

Or do you just want to **** the sales lass in your local Moben showroom?

 

They've been 110% throughout so far.

Desiger / sales bloke was genuine and a good laugh. Knew his stuff, listened
to me, came up with useful suggestions for the bits I was stuck with.

Technical design engineer bloke ditto.

I normally fucking hate any sort of salesy people coming round to my house as
I've experienced the hard sell, and any sign of that and they get told "I'll
be in touch, thankyou and goodbye" (adjusted in politeness as necessary) but
these two have been great.
[/QUOTE]
The one we had could not have been more different. He ignored the things
Anne wanted and effectively told us what to accept from his great
expertise. FFS who is the customer? Then to finish it all off, when he
looked at the boiler in the garage he said something to the effect of,
"why don't you get rid of those nasty bikes so you can get a decent
car?".

 

Their reputation is what it is...

http://www.moben.biz/
http://www.moben.org/
http://kitchenhell.co.uk/

....and many, many more...

 

*bzzzzzt*

 

Jeebus. That must have taken some digging.

 

Almost down to the earths core then ...

 

It's very thin mesh of electric heat elements so no pipes.
I've been asked to quote for this stuff a few times.
The theory is that a thin layer of insulation slows the conduction of
heat downwards while there's very little to prevent it conducting
upwards to the air. <Shrug>
I'd contact Speedheat and ask about energy usage for a given
area,exactly what they are using as insulation and check that they *do*
fit the insulation.
The type of insulation used under these electric underfloor heating
mesh's is usually at least a 1/4" and is not as compressible as the
usual stuff because of the thin screed above the mesh.

I'd say 5mm does *not* include insulation.

 

Cosy

 

He probably wouldn't have come to fit anything at your place though.


--
Beav

VN 750
Zed 1000
OMF# 19

 

Get his hands dirty? No I bet not. But even after applying 50% discount
"only if you sign now" the total price was ridiculous. Still we managed
to get him to go back to his car for some sample door material long
enough to get a look at his catalogue with the item price list.

 

took a blunt brush and painted...

If it doesn't then **** it. I'm not messing around hacking off 10mm of
concrete.

I did discover this stuff though
http://www.warmup.co.uk/uk-foil-heater.phtml
which looks promising.

Won't be anywhere as near as good as a proper insulation panel but it's only
to take the chill of the tiled floor anyway.

 

By their own figures, there can only be 3mm of insulation underneath, so
that means reflective foil layers. Those work, but just not as great as
is claimed for it.
So wibble flip. I dunno, suck it and see.
I can only tell you that I've seen a couple of installations and they
worked well, but I don't know how much was wasted downwards.

 

took a blunt brush and painted...

I'm doing all the tiling, no granite worktops, mate is plastering the ceiling
and it financed through Hitachi Credit who will get nice and shouty on my
behalf.

But tis nice to be forwarned. If some spotty pimp turns up by himself to do
the work he won't get over the doorstep.