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Thread: Underfloor Heating

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    Wellington
    Posts
    894

    Default Underfloor Heating

    Can anybody advise me on this. I have seen a few houses that have this in the tiled areas (hallways, bathrooms) and wonder if a) is it expensive to run b) is it possible to control it i.e. turn it off in summer?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    Wellington
    Posts
    1,870

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    Hiya M! We must get together soon, I've missed our lunchtime meetups at cafes.

    OK another friend of mine who lives out in the Wairarapa has a big old vineyard house with underfloor heating. It's extremely comfortable, however they do complain it's expensive to run. I don't know how easy it is to turn off (must be possible). I should point out that they have pretty high ceilings, about a couple of feet taller than ours.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Hawke's Bay - Cardiff...ish!
    Posts
    2,314

    Default

    I have a friend that has this in her kitchen. She tells me that it's really expensive to run. She also has a holiday home that has it. One month the holiday home wasn't even fully occupied and the electric bill came in at $600. She does think this is due to other heaters being used in the house and people not turning things off in the same way you would in your own home.... but still! She also said that the one they have in the bathroom floor has gone wrong and to fix it, it will need to have the floor ripped up.

    I'm sure there are people out there with positives to say about it but she has put me off installing it when we build our house.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    Raumati South
    Posts
    661

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    Have it in our hallway and bathrooms. Had it on for the first 2 weeks and then the electric bill arrived. Couldn't justify the 400 dollars when I could get a pair of slippers for 20 bucks

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Wellington-Blackpool
    Posts
    137

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    was in the bathrooms of our first rental. Not particularly effective (IMHO) as never in their long enough to feel the benefit. Extremely expensive to run when coupled with the unbelievable cost of electricity in NZ.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    North Canterbury to UK
    Posts
    2,755

    Default

    Have to say it wont be installed in our new house

  7. #7

    Default

    Well we have underfloor in our tiled kitchen and diner. These are electrical elements which are switchable and controllable.

    To be honest we don't have them on much except the deepest darkest depths of winter, when we have them on low to take the chill off. If you turn them up then they become real money eaters!

    Rod

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Location
    Dairy Flat, Auckland
    Posts
    1,789

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    We decided against underfloor heating. For starters the cost of installation was a minimum of $15,000, then the heating bills would have been high. We are having a couple of heat pumps installed at less than half the price. We have a heat pump in the apartment we are in now and it is more than adequate and we only need it on a short time as due to good insulation the apartment stays warm for a long time. In the bathrooms we are having infra red lights/heaters. We found these to be very adequate when we first came over as they were in the house we rented.I know people say heat pumps are expensive but we do not find this to be the case. It depends how good your insulation is. Compared to underfloor heating, heat pumps are cheaper to run IMHO plus we have air conditioning in the summer.Another point to remember is it is very expensive to repair if it goes wrong

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    North Canterbury, New Zealand
    Posts
    865

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    Can you not have the best of both worlds? An underfloor heating system of the wet type heated by heatpumps? If you are building it is hard to believe that putting the pipework in is a huge cost; you'd want good floor insulation anyway.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    Scotland -> Christchurch NZ
    Posts
    96

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    We had a rental that had this. It extended from the tiled kitchen area into the carpeted lounge. Very warm, Very expensive.

    Was controlled by a standard room stat, and was only on for the winter.

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