Underfloor Heating Response Time
Different factors, all interrelated, affect the response time of an underfloor heating installation:
1. Climate conditions
Climatic conditions vary in different parts of the world. Water underfloor heating systems are designed to cope with the temperatures of the coldest months of the year. This implies that the underfloor heating system is designed to work properly during the winter seasons. The response will, however, be more rapid during the other intermediate months in the beginning and the end of the coldest season. There will be capacity reserve to improve the response time.
2. Design of the Building
The insulation of a building, the U-value, will complement the performance of the underfloor heating system. If the building is poorly insulated, which causes indeed a waste of energy, the response time will be affected by the losses.
The floor structure also affects the response time. In houses with concrete screeded floors, the screed store energy. There will be an initial retardation of the response time in comparison with wooden suspended floors.
In public buildings the storage effect can be used to save energy at night or during the weekends. A temperature drop can be accepted when the buidlings are not occupied. The underfloor heating system can be controlled by programmable digital room thermostat to allow for the system response.
In houses with wooden suspended floors or floating floors, the response time will be rapid since wood has a low thermal mass. The underfloor heating system should be provided with an infill in order to achieve an even floor temperature on the whole surface of every room.
3. Design and installation of the underfloor heating system
The correct design and installation is crucial as to whether the underfloor heating system will operate satisfactorily or not. Design aspects such as loop configuration, pipe size, pitch and depth are the base for a correct operation.
Other aspects having influence on the underfloor heating systems performance are the calculated values such as water temperature and required flow rate. Finally a correct installation and balancing of the loops will ensure the efficient performance of the underfloor heating system.
Contact us here for more information on how to make the most of your underfloor heating installation.