North Leeds Plumbing & Heating – Home Improvement and DIY Advice

Underfloor heating is known as having been first developed by the Romans centuries ago. It is today a water or electric technology under floor system for heating rooms.

Underfloor heating utilises radiant heat rather than convected heat, this is typically longer lasting heat and is more cost efficient to produce. In the 1960s, electric underfloor heating tended to warm floors using cheap electricity during the night for suitable room temperatures during the day. This tended to be a rather unreliable system of heating however, as heat could not be effectively regulated.

Contemporary underfloor heating controls seek to address this problem. Underfloor heating systems are nowadays designed in such a way as to be self-regulating in the environment of a fully insulated building space. Technically speaking, the heat regulation is driven by the temperature difference between the floor surface and that of the air within a room. As the temperature difference between the floor and the surrounding air can fluctuate continuously, so the underfloor heating system is continuously active to regulate its heat output.

Water or wet underfloor heating control units include a manifold, a pump, a mixing valve and of course an underfloor heating thermostat. A manifold is the centre of a water underfloor heating system. It is this unit which distributes the heated water running throughout the underfloor network of water pipes. A manifold can be a part of an underfloor heating kit, and thus be installed as part of a DIY project. The same is true for the mixing valve that regulates the hot and cold water.