What is warm water underfloor heating?

This heating system uses coils of, usually, 16mm pex-alu layered pipes laid underneath the screed of a solid floor or between the joists of a wooden floor - warm water runs through these pipes to heat the building.

The pipe runs up to a manifold and is connected to a boiler or heat pump.

Why is underfloor heating better than a radiator system?

Underfloor heating has the advantage of running on significantly cooler water temperatures than radiators, which makes it very compatible with heat pumps that may struggle to achieve the traditional radiator water temperatures. For this reason UFH is also more energy efficient which is attractive in our increasingly energy conscious world.

Underfloor heating is much more effective for heating large high ceilinged spaces such as barn conversions, as you don't end up with your heat in the rafters. The heat stays close to the floor where you are actually living.

Many people appreciate the aesthetic benefit of being able to design their room layout without having to allow wall space for radiators. Ironically radiator sizes are possibly set to increase as people install more energy efficient heating where the water temperature is cooler and their radiator area will have to be larger to heat the room adequately.

A disadvantage of underfloor heating is that it is not a pleasant or straightforward job to 'retrofit' this system to an existing house. This is because you need to have your floor dug up or floorboards lifted to create enough depth for the pipes, some customers do think it's worth it see case study on retrofit UFH and Testimonial Mrs C. People often opt for a mixed system having UFH installed in a kitchen or garden room extension, whilst still retaining their radiator system.

Why choose R A Brown for your UFH

We have been specialists in warm water underfloor heating for fifteen years and unusually for a small independent company we design your system in house. We choose to use high quality Henco products, only because we think they are good, we are not tied to them in any way.

This has the advantage that it is completely bespoke. We will obviously advise you on what we think will suit your project best and there are genuine options of having a mixed UFH and radiator system, UFH on the ground and radiators on the first floor. Also we can offer options as to how the system is controlled and where the manifold(s) are located.

We are flexible in the service that we provide; we are happy to install just the underfloor heating. Alternatively, if you call us in very early on in the planning stages, we can plan a whole energy efficient, modern heating system using your preferred components and install all of it too, including all your plumbing.

We can supply the UFH materials and also supply hot and cold services using the same high quality pex-alu Henco pipe which will make the whole installation faster and more satisfactory. We sell these products in kit form and provide free technical support via phone and e-mail.