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Hydronic underfloor heating system on WB


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On 12/03/2020 at 15:46, BEngo said:

No.

Have you considered the power requirement to circulate the hot water?  I doubt a cheapy 12v pump will cut the mustard, and whatever you need is likely to be on 24/7 in a cold spell.

Beyond that, how are you going to prevent  the system mainly heating the cut?  

 

N

How much more power does it need that radiators then?

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1 hour ago, jddevel said:

My two pennies worth. I`ve underfloor heating in my house and the one thing you should be aware of is they can be likened to storage heaters …...

 

When we had our house built I discussed with the builders the possibility of U/F heating and he advised "Don't even think about it"

 

He suggested that you needed to switch it on at least 24 hours before you needed any heat, and when you switch it off because it was a 'warm day' it could take up to a couple of days to cool down.

 

Too long to heat up when it's a 'cold snap' and too long to cool down when you get a 'warm couple of days'. Waste of time and money.

 

The Dog has found the underfloor track of the pipes feeding the radiators and is happy with his 'underfloor heating'.

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I have a diesel stove with back boiler that feeds the cali, it has a deprecate loop that feeds two radiators and another loop of 15mm that goes under the floor for length of boat and is in metal guides, it took me a while but now I can get on the boat cold, close of the cal and just heat rads up then slowly heat up hot water finally open last valve and heat underfloor, it makes a big difference as floor is warmed up but if I just had all 3 loops open it takes hours to heat up as inevitably a lot of heat is leached into hull but once hot tank full and rads scorching then it seems to work fine, I've a little 12v cheap pump to help with gravity move me and it works great. 

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9 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

When we had our house built I discussed with the builders the possibility of U/F heating and he advised "Don't even think about it"

 

He suggested that you needed to switch it on at least 24 hours before you needed any heat, and when you switch it off because it was a 'warm day' it could take up to a couple of days to cool down.

 

Too long to heat up when it's a 'cold snap' and too long to cool down when you get a 'warm couple of days'. Waste of time and money.

 

The Dog has found the underfloor track of the pipes feeding the radiators and is happy with his 'underfloor heating'.

Fully agree Alan. We built a house 10 years ago with a well designed under floor system. Not quite the time lag you say but big. It worked great for a house. We loved it. .....but for a bote... no way. 

This morning, it's cold and frosty out there and we needed heat until the sun came up. Now the sun is streaming in, the boat is creaking from the thermal expansion and I guess the roof is getting up to 30C. No heat needed till the sun goes down. Ok in mid winter the underfloor storage will work but that's only for 3 months. A bote needs a system that can be turned on and off easily....and that is not underfloor.

In a house it works as you can put 4-6 inches of insulation under the concrete slab. On a bote you will just heat up the cut.

Edited by Dr Bob
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11 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

adly I think the OP knows better and seems determined to re-invent the wheel.

Whilst I understand your view Mike- indeed fell into the same trap myself when fitting out my boat, I would applaud the OPs` thoughts of looking at all possibilities especially with new technowledgy.  The need for power points etc a classic example.

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46 minutes ago, Dr Bob said:

Fully agree Alan. We built a house 10 years ago with a well designed under floor system. Not quite the time lag you say but big. It worked great for a house. We loved it.

We are built on a 'block & beam' system with a solid concrete floor above, the ground floor is quite large (over 2000 sq feet) with the lounge alone being 900 sq feet and the conservatory 500 sq feet.

The slab would take some heating.

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The principle is that you place insulation- a lot of it between the load bearing floor (your block and beam) and the finished strata to deflect heat upwards. As stated in your property the pipe work carrying the water would either be encased in a screed or in loadbearing plates. The idea is to heat the air above the surface you walk on. Limit carpets etc which reduces the conductivity. The screed is to allow the heat to "evaporate" slowly thus giving a settled controlled heat rather than like a radiator quick but easily dispersed. It`s a great principle when planned and installed correctly but like all systems has its drawbacks which I`ve stated before. It`s certainly not in my view something for the canal boat. I would add that I did qualify as a Uponor Underfloor Heating installer a few years ago when in my property business.

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11 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

I put underfloor electric heating in our bathroom at home. We don't use it to heat the bathroom but just to warm the floor in the morning for when we shower

We converted our garage from junk room to cinema room and I installed electric underfloor heating. We don’t keep it permanently on because we don’t use the cinema on a regular basis but if we want to watch a film in the winter we have to switch the heating on the day before. Even two or three hours doesn’t get the temp up in time. 

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17 hours ago, WotEver said:

We converted our garage from junk room to cinema room and I installed electric underfloor heating. We don’t keep it permanently on because we don’t use the cinema on a regular basis but if we want to watch a film in the winter we have to switch the heating on the day before. Even two or three hours doesn’t get the temp up in time. 

In that respect it sounds rather like electric night storage heaters. They're perfect for taking cheaper energy and releasing it during the day which is what you want in a hairdresser's or old people's home or, for that matter, a home office. Unfortunately, if you're out all day and get home in the evening the heat has been lost with very little benefit the you as the occupant. I guess the conventional wet heating system doesn't have to work quite as hard to keep the place comfortable.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Knowledge, feedback, insights and opinions shared on every post are definitely worth considering, thanks to everyone for your take on this.

Agreed that this is rather ambitious, however have watched a few videos of other boaters installing their own underfloor heating systems (some also did pour screed all over), although at a time it appeared attractive, it could be interesting to find out their feedback about this and how it served in longer term....

 

 

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9 minutes ago, Batainte said:

Knowledge, feedback, insights and opinions shared on every post are definitely worth considering, thanks to everyone for your take on this.

Agreed that this is rather ambitious, however have watched a few videos of other boaters installing their own underfloor heating systems (some also did pour screed all over), although at a time it appeared attractive, it could be interesting to find out their feedback about this and how it served in longer term....

 

 

 

The basic concept of underfloor heating would work very well in a boat, especially a widebeam. But as previously said, it falls down due to the sheer amount of energy it takes to push the warm water through the long pipes, and due to to occasional future need for internal access to the bilge space/baseplate.

 

Consequently it is only likely to work well in a boat with a permanent shoreline for electricity to run the pump(s). 

 

Trying to do it in a CC vessel with a big generator and battery installation is not a recipe for peaceful boat.

 

 

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As a qualified Uponor Underfloor heating installer (Although obiously bias -the bees knees in underfloor heating) and someone who fitted out there own 57` semi-trad vessel I will repeat what I commented before in my opinion  DON`T. 

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