Underfloor Heating - Roman to Modern Times

Underfloor heating (UFH), though widely used inBest of all, the Warmup heating system can be
northern Europe and has become quite popular ininstalled in any house, new or old, with far less
the UK in recent years, has its origin dating fartrouble than other temperature control systems.
back in the Roman period. Hypocaust heatingAn electric UFH system can even be installed on
system introduced by the Romans nearly 2,000your own, as it is roughly similar to laying
years ago is the forefather of modern centralwall-to-wall carpeting.
heating systems.1) Is Invisible and takes practically no living space.
Firstly used in Roman baths about 100 BC, it was2) No dust or any other by product is created by
later introduced to private houses. Empty spaceswarmup underfloor heating.
under the floors, such as cellars, were heated3) Even distribution of heat as warmup underfloor
with a light furnace and the warm air around themats are fitted to each individual room.
cellars would heat the floors of the rooms above.4) Warmup heating combined with thermal
How does modern underfloor heating worksinsulation is able to heat an area quickly, requiring
Warm water is circulated from your boiler to thethe system to be turned on for a minimum
electrically operated zone valves (radiators, hotamount of time.
water, underfloor heating) with a conventional5) 15% reduction in heating energy costs.
heating system or (radiators, ufh) with a combiDrawbacks
boiler. When the room stat calls for heat theThough a very efficient system there are a few
water passes through the zone valve and thenminor drawbacks with underfloor heating.
onto the manifold where the water is circulatedFirstly it has a slow response time as the the
through continuous lengths of pipe embedded incable/pipe is embedded in a solid floor. Secondly
the floor, that run at a lower water temperatureUFH beneath a wooden furniture can cause the
(typically 50°C) than the radiators (70°C).inside to 'sweat' and this can be detrimental to the
(Source: Wikipedia)life of the furniture.
Warmup Underfloor Heating benefits: