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Thread: UNDERTILE HEATING... ALL THESE QUOTES!!! HELP

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    UNDERTILE HEATING... ALL THESE QUOTES!!! HELP

    Good day everyone.

    I need some advice/help. I am currently building and am installing undertile heating in a variety of areas in my home...
    I, like any responsible consumer, sent out quote requests to various different suppliers... I have now received back all these quotations and am totally baffled as to what is what! I pretty much don't have clarity as to what I should be made aware of, what I am getting for my money etc!

    Some advice from any professionals out there?

    Kind regards
    Tallulah

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    Getting a quotation for underfloor heating can be an extremely daunting task. As a customer, you provide your wall to wall measurments, the floor cover you intend to use, (carpets, tiles, wood etc) then sit back and wait... lo and behold, you are suddenly receiving quotations with different Killowatts, thermostats, PVC or Teflon coated wires ?? So, how do you, as an end user, know what you are getting... and why, in some cases, there is such a varient in price??? Here are a few basic principales to focus on:

    TEFLON VS PVC:

    PVC is what the good old fashioned underfloor heating was coated with. *This system, back in the dark ages, was actually placed within the concrete slab of your floor, as apposed to the newer generation heating that is literally placed directly under your floor covering of tiles, wood etc) Whilst there is nothing essentially WRONG with PVC, it is a much cheaper product than TEFLON. What has also been discovered over the years, is that the lime in your screed actually eats away at PVC, making it extremely brittle after a few years. Eventually, this corrosion process can cause the element to burn out in certain spots.TEFLON will basically outlast your flooring.

    KILLOWATT PER M2:

    NOW THIS IS HIGHLY IMPORTANT!!!
    The basic principle to follow, when getting a quotation for underfloor heating, is as follows: You require a KILOWATT of heating power for every 10/12m2 of room space (from wall to wall) The system itself will not cover wall to wall, however, you need this amount of power per m2 to ensure a cost effective and efficient heating system. Basically what happens if you undercut on the required killowatt, is that the system runs for an extended period of time before the room will reach the ambient temperature that you have set the thermostat to, thus resulting in extremely hot floors, sometimes cracked tiles and a system that costs you a fortune to run! (Imagine trying to tow a 4x4 bakkie with a Ford KA...The little KA is going to burn out its engine and die after 2min as the load is simply to heavy!! for lack of a better analagy)

    THERMOSTATS:

    There are two basic varieties when it comes to a thermostat... A probe thermostat, or an air thermostat.
    Lets explore the difference...

    A probe thermostat will read the temperature of the floor you are heating... So if you set the thermostat, to say 28 degrees, it will switch off when the actual surface of the floor reaches 28 degrees. This thermostat is recommended when the actual unit needs to be sitiuated outside the area that you are heating. (For eg: If you are heating an ensuite bathroom and the thermostat is situated inside the bedroom) This thermostat is also used when heating laminated wooden flooring, as wooden flooring can only be heated to a maximum of 28 degrees FLOOR TEMPERATURE.

    An air thermostat will do exactly what the name stipulates...It will read the temperature of the air in the enviroment that it is situated in. A pointer to remember in this scenario is that if you set the thermostat to say 30 degrees, it will only switch off when the ambiant temperature of the air is 30 degrees. As we know, hot air rises and circulates, so the temperature of the actual floor surface will be more than the temperature of the air.

    There are also two different "types" of thermostats available... Digital or analogue.
    Digital thermostats can be set with a variety of different options, ranging from different setting per day, to different setting per hour...basically little computers!
    Analogue thermostats are the no mess, no fuss thermostats of the underfloor heating world. Turn the dial to the required temperature and TAAADAAAAA, it does its job.
    (a bit like a smartphone VS a landline... they both can ultimately make a call)

    As you can see, underfloor heating (as with any product) has many different aspects and varieties to keep in mind when selecting which product/company to go for. Always ask plenty of questions and ensure that you have educated yourself on exactly what bang you are getting for your buck!

    Please dont hesitate to contact us if we can be of any further assistance.

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    The IP address used for the above posts is exactly the same. Be aware that this may be a way to get information out.
    Only stress when you can change the outcome!

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