Electric water heated floors have health disadvantages. Which is better to choose an electric heated floor: film, cable, mats? Pros and cons of each. Disadvantages of water heated floors

Choosing a heated floor

Description of varieties heated floors, their pros and cons, as well as tips for choosing a heated floor...

The use of heated floors is common not only in cold latitudes, but also in areas with a continental climate. This heating system allows you to heat the rooms evenly; be independent from housing and communal services, save space in the room, and also warm floors have a positive effect on the human body.

There are two types of heated floors: water and electric. The second type of heated floors is divided into two more methods electric heating: convection electric floors and infrared.

So should you choose electric or water heated floors?

Advantages of water heated floors

The advantage of water heated floors is their efficiency, since they are connected to a common heating system and can significantly reduce energy costs for heating the room. Can be used to heat water different types fuel and energy. If you live in a private house or cottage, when installing a water-heated floor you will have to take care in advance heating boilers, since the load on them increases significantly.

IN apartment building With central heating, installing a water heated floor is quite problematic. If your apartment does not have individual heating, it will not be possible to install a water heated floor.

Disadvantages of water heated floors

The disadvantage of water heated floors is the reduced service life if the heated area is more than 60 square meters. The next disadvantage is its complexity and high cost of installation. When installing it, you will have to fork out for pumps, filters, and pipes. And yet, if one section or segment of the pipeline is damaged, it will not be possible to disconnect only part of the system, since the pipelines are connected in series. And if the boiler that heats the water stops working, then the water-heated floors will simply be useless.

Electric option is the most popular way of arranging heated floors. Cable system heating has increased reliability, and the high resistance value allows the cable to heat up even at low current, giving off heat to the floor covering.

Advantages of electric heated floors

Electric underfloor heating is easy to install, it can be laid in concrete screed, and design the screed with a special parquet board or ceramic tiles. The heating temperature can be set using a thermostat, which is easy to control. You can adjust the temperature in each room individually. Electric heated floors do not require after-sales service, and they are quite durable. At correct operation the service life can be 50 years.

Disadvantages of electric heated floors

But, despite all the advantages, it is worth saying a few words about the disadvantages of electric heated floors. They require significant energy expenditure when heating large areas, which means heating a spacious house or apartment can cost a pretty penny. In this situation, it is more profitable to use water heated floors. An electromagnetic field is also formed, but due to the shielding braids it is insignificant.

Both water and electric floors have their pros and cons. The main thing when choosing is to take into account many factors: your budget, the size of the room and even the location of the furniture in the room. Taking into account all the nuances, you can choose what you need.



Repairing an apartment without the proper skills is quite a difficult task, and yet, quite often, out of all types of repair operations, homeowners undertake wallpapering the walls. Read the instructions on how to hang wallpaper yourself...

When choosing adjustable artificial floor heating systems, you must have minimal knowledge in this area in order to make a choice in favor of a particular product, and in the case negative assessment and refuse the purchase altogether. In this article we will look at the general positive and negative sides such systems.

Warm floors, the pros and cons of which will be carefully studied, can be selected according to the parameters of the building and selected in accordance with individual requirements owner. A correctly selected heating system will not only be cost-effective, but also comfortable to use.

Types of underfloor heating systems

Before you study the pros and cons of heated floors, you need to familiarize yourself with the varieties similar systems. They can be divided into two main groups, which differ in the type of coolant.

  • water heated floor;
  • electric heated floor.

In turn, each type has several subspecies, which differ in types of construction and methods of heat transfer. This is how convection and infrared electric floors are distinguished.


IR panels give off heat while remaining cool

Infrared heats the floor through a directed flow. The system itself remains cold without heating up. In convection floors, internal heating occurs in the coolant, after which the heat is transferred to the floors.

The same principle applies to artificial water heating. In it, energy is transferred from the coolant to the circuit, and from it directly to the screed in which they are installed.

Diagram of types of electric heated floors.

As shown above, the design of convection and infrared adjustable heated floors can be made in the form of electric mats, cables, film floors and rods. For water heating systems are used flexible pipelines small diameter.

In a private house in the countryside, a water-heated floor can be connected to common system heating. In an apartment building, such actions must be coordinated with the housing management company.

Advantages of underfloor heating systems

The floor temperature can be easily adjusted to suit your taste

The advantages of heated floors include the following factors.


These are just some of the advantages of heated floors. In addition to the general advantages for all systems, each manufacturer has introduced additional features into their products to improve their quality level.

Disadvantages of underfloor heating systems

Connection to the heating system apartment building will significantly reduce the pressure in the system

Warm floors, the pros and cons of which have been and will be considered, have disadvantages not only in the water version, although it is these systems that largely form this list.

  1. When using water systems for artificial floor heating in an apartment building, a connection is often made to a common heating system. With a large number of such inserts in the house, a decrease in the overall pressure in the central heating may occur.
  2. When installing a water heated floor, it is carried out with pumping and filtering equipment, which requires a certain space in the room, as well as the costs of its acquisition and installation.
  3. In rooms with low level cold resistance of external enclosing structures, an artificial floor heating system cannot be the only source of heating. The rooms must be heated with radiators.
  4. Installation of artificial floor heating is quite a labor-intensive task. He will demand preliminary calculations, drawing up a plan diagram of the pipeline system and equipment, preparatory, installation and finishing works.

In the list of common negative points of these systems, the disadvantages of water heated floors were highlighted additionally.

This does not mean that these floors are much inferior to electric ones. The only point is that it is advisable to study electric and water floors in parallel, highlighting the advantages and disadvantages in comparison with each other. For information on when you should not install a water-heated floor, watch this video:

Comparison of electric and water heated floors

Many people are concerned about electromagnetic radiation emanating from devices and cables

Despite the fact that the advantages of heated floors were common to both types, and water systems had more disadvantages, the latter also have their advantages over electric ones.

For example, water heated floors do not emit electromagnetic waves, which can sometimes have negative impact for certain types of people.

We can say that all people live in modern world, which is everywhere saturated with radiation and various waves from instruments and equipment, but one way or another the absence of such waves from water floors gives them a certain advantage over electric ones.

Also, when operating artificial water floor heating, you will not need to spend a lot on electricity. Operating from hot water boilers, water heaters and heating systems, water-heated floors remain low-cost in terms of energy costs.

But electric artificial floor heating remains the leader in comparison with water heating in terms of installation speed and cost. The device of electric artificial heating will not in all cases require wet screed over it. For example, before laying the laminate, you can lay infrared film floors under it, which will be separated from the finish flooring with a special substrate, and from the subfloor - with foil heat insulator.

The pros and cons of a water heated floor in comparison with an electric one can be assessed in terms of design, maintenance, ease of use and other parameters.


Entrust the selection of components to specialists and then your heated floors will serve you for decades

Also important criteria selection are the type of room and the type of energy used to produce heat.

Installation modern equipment during the construction and renovation of houses and apartments, it increases the comfort of living and also makes real estate more expensive.

Service life of heated floors various brands is decades, which allows you to make a one-time investment for many years.

It is better to entrust the selection and calculation to specialists so that the power and heat transfer are optimal. Then at minimum costs Optimal operation of controlled underfloor heating systems is possible.

Warm electric floor - unique engineering design, which allows you to heat the entire room, perfectly complementing other heating systems. In some cases, the heated floor even becomes the only one heating element. This design can be used not only in houses, but also in other premises being renovated.

Most often, heated floors are used in rooms where the floor is paved with porcelain stoneware or tiles. In addition, it is extremely rare that an electric floor is used without central system heating. As a rule, these designs complement each other. The electrical system helps warm up cold flooring. Most often, tiles or porcelain stoneware are laid in the bathroom, kitchen or hallway, which is why heated floors are often used in these areas.

It is worth noting the absolute advantage of a heated floor - heating the air to a height of up to 2.5 meters from the floor. Warm indoor air makes living conditions even more favorable and comfortable.

Particular attention should be paid to the installation process of the electric floor. It is highly not recommended to save on materials, even if it seems that the difference will be insignificant. It is best to entrust installation to professionals.

Advantages of installing heated floors

Electric heated floors are very popular today for a number of reasons:

  1. Electric floor design can eliminate the disadvantage central heating in apartments. As a rule, the main heating in modern home heats the floor the least, leaving it quite cold. This is due to the fact that the batteries are located at some distance from the floor, as a result of which cold air. Warm floors help solve this problem. As a result of installing an additional structure, the heating of the room becomes uniform.
  2. Installation of heated floors does not require the use of additional equipment, what is he doing possible installation such a design in any room.
  3. The degree of floor heating can be easily controlled by choosing the most optimal option for yourself.
  4. The warm electric floor is complemented by a special thermostat, which allows you to set the required temperature in each room. In some zones you can also easily turn off the heating altogether.
  5. Warm air from the floor rises, thereby eliminating the formation of drafts in the apartment or house.
  6. An electric floor allows you to rid any room of excess moisture, which, in turn, eliminates the possibility of mold formation.
  7. A warm floor covering can easily be made the main source of heating in the house, thus getting rid of radiators, which take up additional space and collect a lot of dust.
  8. Electric floor is pretty reliable design, which extremely rarely fails. If the installation process went correctly - in accordance with the instructions, then breakdowns are unlikely to occur. Most often, problems with heated floors appear only in cases where breakdown or damage occurs due to the fault of the owner. For example, if a nail was driven into one of the elements of the system. If some kind of malfunction does occur, do not worry or panic, since any electric floor can be easily repaired. If you can’t do this yourself, you can contact a service center.
  9. The heated floor system is absolutely safe and resistant to moisture. Thanks to this design, you can create warmth and comfort in your home.
  10. The design of a warm electric floor is compact and convenient, so it does not reduce the height of the ceiling in the room.
  11. All elements of the heated floor design are well hidden from view, which makes the system invisible and neat.
  12. Installation of the structure is quite simple; even a person without much experience can install all the equipment and the system as a whole.
  13. With the help of a warm floor, the surface in the house warms up evenly and equally everywhere.

Disadvantages of an electric floor

Despite a large number of advantages of heated floor design, this system still has some disadvantages:

  1. The first and most obvious disadvantage of an electric floor is the increase in energy costs in the house. In this case, in order to reduce costs as much as possible, it is best to use a thermostat that will lower the temperature or turn off the heating in some areas.
  2. The second disadvantage is also associated with significant costs. The fact is that heated floors are an expensive structure, which also requires certain costs for its installation.
  3. Before installing an electric floor structure, it is necessary to change the wiring in the house. Such a system significantly increases the load on the electrical system, so old wiring I just might not be able to stand it.
  4. The design of a heated floor is very demanding on the floor covering. It must, first of all, have good thermal conductivity in order for the efficiency of the system to be felt. If there is a carpet or carpet on the floor, which transmit heat rather poorly, the efficiency of the heated floor will not be great.
  5. Some types of flooring may be affected by the use of heated electric floors. The greatest impact is on a wooden floor, since the wood shrinks when heated and then begins to change shape.
  6. If the floor covering is also varnished on top, the heating temperature cannot exceed more than 21 degrees.
  7. In order to save energy and energy costs as much as possible, heated floors, as a rule, are not installed in places where furniture is located. In this regard, rearranging the furniture in the house will also entail reinstalling the heated floor structure.
  8. The use of heated floors in the house provokes the appearance of electromagnetic radiation. Of course, today everyone uses electrical devices, despite the propagation of electromagnetic waves, however, with the installation of an additional electrical system, the radiation increases, so this factor must be taken into account.
  9. The use of any electric heater, including an electric floor, entails an increased risk of electric shock. This factor should be taken into account, especially in rooms with high humidity.

It is worth noting that, despite all these disadvantages, most people still use heated floors in the house, since for them such systems are a necessary condition comfortable stay. Moreover, most of these shortcomings are completely insignificant and can be easily eliminated. As for additional expenses, as a rule, everyone understands perfectly well that comfort costs extra money.

Electric heated floors are used much more often than water ones. This is easily explained, since such a design has a number of advantages:

  1. An electric heated floor is much simpler and more convenient to regulate in terms of temperature supply than a water one. It is enough to simply use a thermostat with which you can set desired temperature and do this much more accurately than in a water system.
  2. Installing cables in electrical design warm floor is much easier and faster than water pipes in a water heating system.
  3. The use of a water heated floor system entails the installation gas boiler for heating water. This measure requires additional space, as well as increased installation costs.

Thus, we can determine that electric heated floors are very convenient to use. It is especially suitable for heating small rooms, for example, an apartment or a small country house. Also, the design of a warm electric floor is excellent for an office, since in such a room it is not always possible to install a gas boiler.

Disadvantages of electric heated floors compared to water ones

Unfortunately, electrical system heated floors also have some disadvantages compared to water-based construction:

  1. Often a water heated floor becomes more economical option than electric. Such savings are especially noticeable in large areas.
  2. Using hot water for floor heating and space heating is a safer option than using electricity. Hot water can harm a person to a lesser extent than electric current.
  3. A water heating design can last much longer than an electrical system. According to the most popular manufacturers of such systems, a water floor can last in a house for up to 50 years.

Using a water floor is best suited for heating large rooms. For example, it is better to use it in large country houses or in work areas.

Electric floor - unique modern design allowing you to create maximum comfort in your home. With such a system, your floor will always be warm, which will allow you not only to walk barefoot, but also to allow children to play on the floor without fear of being exposed to a draft. At the same time, the design is absolutely safe; the system perfectly protects all elements from the ingress of water and other objects.

Video: which electric heated floor is better?

Today, heated floor technology is not much inferior in efficiency to radiator heating systems, but has many advantages. We propose to consider the main advantages of hidden heating systems, installation and connection features.

Advantages of hidden heating

One side of the attractiveness of underfloor heating systems is the concealment of utilities. Neither radiators, nor heating pipelines, nor shut-off and control valves will disturb the harmony of the interior. However, this is not the only advantage of the secrecy of the heating system.

If in living rooms pipes do not pass through the wall ceilings and along them, this will greatly facilitate the finishing work. For leveling and application decorative materials The entire plane of the walls is accessible; in addition, there are no difficulties with cutting the floor covering; there is no need to hide the passage of pipes during installation suspended ceilings. The absence of visible communications is especially beneficial when changing layouts.

In addition to aesthetic advantages, there are also technical ones: uniform heating of the floor creates optimal scheme distribution warm air. Since the main emphasis is not on convection heat transfer, but on its direct radiation, there is no need to warm up the upper uninhabited zone. This ensures a reduction in heating costs of about 10-15%. What’s most interesting is that savings here do not come at the expense of comfort: the temperature in the leg area is about 20-22 ºС, in the head area it is 3-4 ºС lower.

The main disadvantages of water heated floors

The main disadvantage of a heated floor system is the complexity of its design. Laying process heating elements in the floor is quite technologically advanced and labor-intensive, but if we are talking about a water heating system, additional difficulties arise with organizing the piping and setting up the heating operation.

This is not at all a reason to refuse to use heated floors. Using quality materials and installation system, compliance with the technology of laying pipes in the floor and installing floor coverings, all efforts will pay off handsomely. Underfloor heating is a truly effective, economical and durable heating system, but, we repeat, only if it is designed in compliance with a number of key requirements.

Among the difficulties of the device, it is worth mentioning separately the need to carefully select the material for the floor screed. In addition to strength qualities, it must meet standards for heat capacity and thermal conductivity, as well as the ability to emit heat in a certain spectrum - about 9-10 microns. In principle, when heated to 40 ºС, almost all cement-bound materials emit heat in this range. All that remains is to achieve the highest possible density of the coating and uniform distribution of thermal energy in the warm layer of the screed. For this purpose it can be used steel fiber, liquid glass or special polymer additives for underfloor heating screed - plasticizers C-3, HLV-75, BV 3M and the like.

Materials for the device

As already mentioned, underfloor heating systems require extremely careful selection of materials. Just one and a half to two decades ago, everyone was content with laying in the floor metal-plastic pipe, convincing yourself that nothing threatens the heat exchanger in the floor other than corrosion. This approach has a number of disadvantages that become apparent during the first 3-5 years of operation.

In order not to repeat the mistakes of others, for heated floors you should use tubes that, if damaged, can restore the structure of the polymer over time and have the highest possible thermal conductivity. It is impossible to guarantee that when installing the tubes they will not be broken, but for metal-plastic this, without exaggeration, is a death sentence. The best way In this regard, cross-linked polyethylene behaves, the alternative to which is copper. In the latter case there is a series additional benefits: even higher thermal conductivity, a miniscule coefficient of thermal expansion and the ability to remember shape during deformation.

For open systems heating, the absence of excess pressure can lead to the ejection of gas molecules through the walls of the tubes; over time, gas particles can accumulate into fairly large plugs. To exclude such phenomena, modern pipes for heated floors they are made of composite materials with a built-in oxygen barrier.

When it comes to materials for installing heated floors, insulation cannot be ignored. Its choice is decisive for the durability of the heating system and the floor as a whole. The thermal barrier must be incompressible, retain its shape and, naturally, have high resistance to heat transfer. Of all the options, extruded polystyrene foam and polyurethane foam are most suitable for use as a thermal cutoff; polyisocyanurate boards are less commonly used.

Do you need a backup heating system?

You can often hear the opinion that water heated floor systems are unreliable, and therefore when using them as the main source of heating, there is an illusory risk that over time the house will be left without a single source of heat. This misconception is associated, first of all, with the experience of operating underfloor heating systems, which, in essence, are budget counterfeits of the original technology.

Judge for yourself: if low-quality pipes are used for the heat exchanger, the risk of their clogging, breakage and destruction of the screed due to thermal expansion increases significantly. Here it really makes sense to combine floor heating with the installation of radiators, although this option heating system is associated with adjustment difficulties: you constantly have to adjust the flow, otherwise the temperature in the room increases to truly uncomfortable values.

However, if a warm floor is designed taking into account all technological requirements, it can work as the main heating system for many decades. Care and sensitivity during the installation of thermal insulation, pipes and when pouring screed eliminate the main risk factors for both the occurrence of leaks and damage to the floor covering or the base on which it is laid. In general, the costs of organizing a backup heating system and correct device water heated floors are approximately equal.

Preferred types of boilers

The main disadvantage of water floor heating systems is their extremely low resistance to overheating. This rule mainly applies to heat exchangers made of polyethylene - this material has one of the highest coefficients of linear thermal expansion. For copper pipes this figure is significantly lower.

Due to such restrictions, it is required right choice boiler unit and corresponding adjustment of its operating mode. Boilers running on natural gas and electricity are considered the most suitable. Their thermoregulation system eliminates the supply of too hot coolant to the underfloor heating system.

The least suitable for connecting a water floor heating system can be safely called solid fuel boilers. Their peak power is almost impossible to limit, especially when periodically changing the type of fuel. That is why such systems require inclusion in the hydraulic circuit special devices that maintain the water temperature in the heating circuit by mixing liquid from the return line.

Connection diagram

The final argument against underfloor heating systems is the complexity of organizing the coolant distribution scheme. If the system has more than one floor heating circuit, the installation of hydraulic manifolds with flow regulators is required.

House heating scheme with water warm floors. A - gas heating boiler; B - combined mixing unit and collector group; B - heated floor contour. 1 - boiler with built-in circulation pump; 2 - security group; 3 — expansion tank; 4 — three-way valve mixing; 5 - circulation pump; 6 - ball valve; 7 - needle valve or valve with a servo drive; 8 — pressure reducer; 9 - flow meter

On the one hand, installation and commissioning of such complex networks is comparable to additional costs. However, all the efforts to organize heating with underfloor heating are more than compensated by the comfort of its use: each room can easily adjust its own thermal regime, while the entire system can be easily and efficiently balanced even if there are several dozen “loops”.

Otherwise, the heating floor connection is made according to classic scheme organizations closed system heating with overpressure. The only addition is the water preparation unit at the make-up inlet: since the heat exchanger consists of fairly narrow channels located at the lowest point of the system, it is necessary to remove from the water all mechanical impurities that can settle and eventually completely clog the tubes.

Today, heated floor technology is not much inferior in efficiency to radiator heating systems, but has many advantages. We propose to consider the main advantages of hidden heating systems, installation and connection features.

Advantages of hidden heating

One side of the attractiveness of underfloor heating systems is the concealment of utilities. Neither radiators, nor heating pipelines, nor shut-off and control valves will disturb the harmony of the interior. However, this is not the only advantage of the secrecy of the heating system.

If in living rooms the pipes do not pass through the wall ceilings and along them, this will greatly facilitate the finishing work. For leveling and applying decorative materials, the entire plane of the walls is available; in addition, there are no difficulties with cutting the floor covering; there is no need to hide the passage of pipes when installing suspended ceilings. The absence of visible communications is especially beneficial when changing layouts.

In addition to aesthetic advantages, there are also technical ones: uniform heating of the floor creates an optimal distribution pattern for warm air. Since the main emphasis is not on convection heat transfer, but on its direct radiation, there is no need to warm up the upper uninhabited zone. This ensures a reduction in heating costs of about 10-15%. What’s most interesting is that savings here do not come at the expense of comfort: the temperature in the leg area is about 20-22 ºС, in the head area it is 3-4 ºС lower.

The main disadvantages of water heated floors

The main disadvantage of a heated floor system is the complexity of its design. The process of laying heating elements in the floor is quite technological and labor-intensive, but if we are talking about a water heating system, additional difficulties arise with organizing the piping and setting up the heating operation.

This is not at all a reason to refuse to use heated floors. If you use high-quality materials and installation systems, follow the technology of laying pipes in the floor and installing floor coverings, all your efforts will pay off handsomely. Underfloor heating is a truly effective, economical and durable heating system, but, we repeat, only if it is designed in compliance with a number of key requirements.

Among the difficulties of the device, it is worth mentioning separately the need to carefully select the material for the floor screed. In addition to strength qualities, it must meet standards for heat capacity and thermal conductivity, as well as the ability to emit heat in a certain spectrum - about 9-10 microns. In principle, when heated to 40 ºС, almost all cement-bound materials emit heat in this range. All that remains is to achieve the highest possible density of the coating and uniform distribution of thermal energy in the warm layer of the screed. For this purpose, steel fiber, liquid glass or special polymer additives for underfloor heating screed can be used - plasticizers C-3, HLV-75, BV 3M and the like.

Materials for the device

As already mentioned, underfloor heating systems require extremely careful selection of materials. Just one and a half to two decades ago, everyone was content with laying a metal-plastic pipe in the floor, convincing themselves that, apart from corrosion, nothing threatened the heat exchanger in the floor. This approach has a number of disadvantages that become apparent during the first 3-5 years of operation.

In order not to repeat the mistakes of others, for heated floors you should use tubes that, if damaged, can restore the structure of the polymer over time and have the highest possible thermal conductivity. It is impossible to guarantee that when installing the tubes they will not be broken, but for metal-plastic this, without exaggeration, is a death sentence. Cross-linked polyethylene behaves best in this regard, the alternative to which is copper. In the latter case, there are a number of additional advantages: even higher thermal conductivity, a miniscule coefficient of thermal expansion and the ability to remember shape during deformation.

For open heating systems, the lack of excess pressure can lead to the ejection of gas molecules through the walls of the tubes; over time, gas particles can accumulate into fairly large plugs. To eliminate such phenomena, modern pipes for heated floors are made of composite materials with a built-in oxygen barrier.

When it comes to materials for installing heated floors, insulation cannot be ignored. Its choice is decisive for the durability of the heating system and the floor as a whole. The thermal barrier must be incompressible, retain its shape and, naturally, have high resistance to heat transfer. Of all the options, extruded polystyrene foam and polyurethane foam are most suitable for use as a thermal cutoff; polyisocyanurate boards are less commonly used.

Do you need a backup heating system?

You can often hear the opinion that water heated floor systems are unreliable, and therefore when using them as the main source of heating, there is an illusory risk that over time the house will be left without a single source of heat. This misconception is associated, first of all, with the experience of operating underfloor heating systems, which, in essence, are budget counterfeits of the original technology.

Judge for yourself: if low-quality pipes are used for the heat exchanger, the risk of their clogging, breakage and destruction of the screed due to thermal expansion increases significantly. Here it really makes sense to combine floor heating with the installation of radiators, although this version of the heating system is fraught with adjustment difficulties: you constantly have to adjust the flow, otherwise the temperature in the room increases to truly uncomfortable values.

However, if a warm floor is designed taking into account all technological requirements, it can work as the main heating system for many decades. Care and sensitivity during the installation of thermal insulation, pipes and when pouring screed eliminate the main risk factors for both the occurrence of leaks and damage to the floor covering or the base on which it is laid. In general, the costs of organizing a backup heating system and properly installing a water heated floor are approximately equal.

Preferred types of boilers

The main disadvantage of water floor heating systems is their extremely low resistance to overheating. This rule mainly applies to heat exchangers made of polyethylene - this material has one of the highest coefficients of linear thermal expansion. For copper pipes this figure is much lower.

Due to such restrictions, the correct selection of the boiler unit and appropriate adjustment of its operating mode are required. Boilers running on natural gas and electricity are considered the most suitable. Their thermoregulation system eliminates the supply of too hot coolant to the underfloor heating system.

Solid fuel boilers can easily be called the least suitable for connecting a water floor heating system. Their peak power is almost impossible to limit, especially when periodically changing the type of fuel. That is why such systems require the inclusion of special devices in the hydraulic circuit that maintain the water temperature in the heating circuit by mixing liquid from the return line.

Connection diagram

The final argument against underfloor heating systems is the complexity of organizing the coolant distribution scheme. If the system has more than one floor heating circuit, the installation of hydraulic manifolds with flow regulators is required.

House heating scheme with water-heated floors. A - gas heating boiler; B - combined mixing unit and collector group; B - heated floor contour. 1 - boiler with built-in circulation pump; 2 - security group; 3 - expansion tank; 4 - three-way mixing valve; 5 - circulation pump; 6 - ball valve; 7 - needle valve or valve with a servo drive; 8 — pressure reducer; 9 - flow meter

On the one hand, installation and commissioning of such complex networks are comparable to additional costs. However, all the efforts to organize heating with underfloor heating are more than compensated by the comfort of its use: each room can easily adjust its own thermal regime, while the entire system can be easily and efficiently balanced even if there are several dozen “loops”.

Otherwise, the connection of the heated floor is carried out according to the classical scheme of organizing a closed heating system with excess pressure. The only addition is the water preparation unit at the make-up inlet: since the heat exchanger consists of fairly narrow channels located at the lowest point of the system, it is necessary to remove from the water all mechanical impurities that can settle and eventually completely clog the tubes.