Does anybody know a way to calculate the true cost of using underfloor heating (electric or water).?
Answers:
Yeah try actually asking a company who provide underfloor heating for a quote.
I don't believe that it is really possible to calculate the true cost unless you're able to buy the materials yourself and you seriously know what you are doing.
Clearly, buying yourself is cheaper but practially all quotes are free and there is no harm in asking for one.
Generally, the costs you'll need to consider are;
- Materials
- Tools / Equipment
- Flooring (for replacing it after you've removed it)
However, I would still use a professional who knows what they're doing and can also give you a good guarantee too..because I would think that there is a serious risk of fire if you do it wrong!
Good luck and if you'd like any further help, let me know!
:-)
sorry no try google
The only way to calculate the true cost of using any form of heating is to use it and see what the difference is in your average fuel bills (assuming that you are changing fuels - if not, there's no way of figuring it out).
As the cost of heating depends not just on the type of heating and the space to be heated but also on the amount of time you decide to have it on and the energy efficiency of the building, it is impossible to come up with even rough estimates.
The best you can get is an estimate of how much energy it uses per hour of operation (in kW), and then guess how many hours per day you'll have to operate it (in Hours), and multiply this by the unit cost of energy (in £/kWh).
ring your electricity supplier, they are very helpful about consumption issues, mine always sends a booklet with saving tips with the bill.
Firstly you obviously need to know how much energy you are putting in to the heaters.
Electric underfloor is fairly easy, ie the heater is probably quoted in watts/ metre, or a total power consumption per each length of heater.
Eg if your heater works out as 4Kw then to run it for an hour its 4Kw X your electric unit price( see your bill ( 1 KwHour).
eg. if its 8 pence per unit then 4Kw X 8Pence = 32 Pence /hour
Water is a little more difficult as you need to work out the efficiency of your gas ( I assume) boiler, in heating the water, then you need to find the thermal output of the underfloor heater in Watts/ metre, then it similar to the electric calculation, ie total power output of whole length of pipe etc.
Conclusion
There used to be a good argument for using Gas as it was cheaper than electric, but with changes in the cost of gas over recent years, versus the hassel of installing pipes over the ease of electric, i would prompt for electric.
Now if you want to compare the cost of underfloor to central heating, then everything gets a lot more complicated !
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