The difference between underfloor heating and batteries for heating a private house

There are many issues to be addressed during the construction of a new building. When the box is taken out, the roof is covered, the windows are inserted and the rough finishing work is done, it's time to think about heating. Here you need to decide - it is more profitable to have a warm floor or batteries in a private house of a specific layout. Both can work effectively provided that all incoming conditions are carefully calculated.

Subtypes of systems

To better understand the functioning of systems, you need to know their varieties.

Water heating on radiators according to the principle of operation:

• Structures with gravity flow of the coolant. They are of one-pipe design and assembled according to the principle of two lines.
• Heat circuits where the liquid is pumped by circulation pumps. Wiring in such boiler rooms can be implemented on one pipe, be two-channel, two-pipe associated type and radial.

You can come across only two options for a heated floor: with a liquid and an electric principle of operation.

Heating on batteries

This type of home heating can be called classic. A standard system has the following main elements:

• Boiler. It can run on any type of fuel, including electricity. The main task is to warm up the coolant to the required operating level. Also, the boiler contains electronics for automatic operation in a given mode.
• Radiators. Devices through which there is a direct transfer of heat from hot water or antifreeze to the environment. Convectors come in various designs with ribs for greater contact with air. They are made of materials that conduct heat well (various metals). Depending on the size of the product, its recoil power changes.
• Heat circuit pipes. The task of these components of the structure is in the implementation of the connection between the boiler and the radiators, fluid is continuously moving along them. Water conduits can be made of various types of special plastic, metal or composite. These products are produced in different capacities.
• An expansion tank with a protection group is needed to prevent the destruction of boiler equipment when the water overheats.
• Various fittings and valves. Elements are used to organize the connection of individual components of the circuit, as well as to adjust the system.

Heating operation is very simple. The boiler heats the water, it moves through the pipes to the radiators under the action of the pump, they heat up and give off heat to the room. The cooled liquid is returned back to the boiler.

Radiators are usually installed along the outer walls of the building under windows.

Underfloor heating

The fundamental difference between a heated water floor and convectors is that it is laid under the entire plane of the floor covering. Due to the large coverage area, the temperature level of the coolant in the pipe is made much lower than in the classic version with external heaters. Otherwise, their mode of action is similar: the boiler heats up the liquid, it moves along the supply conduits and enters the thermal circuit embedded in the thickness of the concrete screed.

A liquid heated floor contains one important element in its structure - an adjustment group, without which its normal functioning is impossible.The essence of its task is to balance the work of individual thermal circuits embedded in different rooms.

The option of a floor on electricity is laid in the same way as a water one, but a boiler is absolutely not needed for its functioning. The heater itself is a high-resistance cord that generates heat when connected to a standard voltage network.

The main advantages of radiators

The installation of heating batteries is less laborious in relation to the arrangement of a warm floor, and this is the main advantage of this type of equipment. If the design refers to gravity, rolling power outages or breakdowns on the line do not in any way affect the performance of the convectors, it will be comfortable in the house.

The control of the boiler room elements is more flexible here, since each separate heater can be equipped with its own thermal head.

Which system is more economical

Turning to the issue of efficiency, one can cite as an example the statistical data of the analysis of the operation of thermal circuits obtained in practice. Heated floors work up to 50-30% more efficiently.

• The surface heated from below contributes to a more even distribution of the heat flow. The heating height is just in the zone comfortable for human life - within 2-2.2 meters.
• The underfloor heating system is a low temperature one. The heating of its line does not exceed 45 degrees Celsius. If we take radiators, they begin to emit heat effectively at a metal surface temperature of 70 degrees Celsius.
• The inertia of heated concrete in many ways exceeds the inertia of even heat-consuming cast-iron batteries, so it will keep the temperature in the living room longer.

Suspended water heaters during operation can reach temperatures of 70 degrees Celsius, which is dangerous for young children with the possibility of burns when touched.

Which system is easier to repair

Considering the issue of maintainability of boiler equipment, you need to understand which elements in it are most at risk of failure. If we take into account only the batteries themselves and the pipes of the underfloor heating, hidden in the thickness of the concrete, it is much easier to remove the convector from the wall and simply replace it than to disassemble the screed. In the latter case, you still need to understand where to look for a breakdown.

A professionally made floor may not cause any problems at all, because the water conduit itself practically does not wear out and does not corrode, which cannot be said about batteries, especially made of steel. The reliability and maintainability of other heating parts for both designs depends only on the quality of the equipment, components and operating conditions.

It is important to pay special attention to the coolant that will be used in the operation of the heating circuit. The more aggressive, harder and more saturated with salts the water is, the faster it will disable various parts of the structure. In this case, it is recommended to use good filters.

In which case the warmth is felt faster in the room

If we take the average indicators of the speed of heating a building with heating radiators or underfloor heating, the former are approximately three times faster. The inertia of the latter is due to the need to warm up the entire thickness of the concrete screed. Moving on to a numerical expression, to feel warmth in an apartment in the presence of aluminum heaters, you need to wait about 20 minutes. The same volume of the room, equipped with a heated base, will pick up a comfortable temperature in a couple of hours.

As for the response to the adjustment, the situation is repeated here - the convectors, due to their low inertia, very quickly heat up and cool down, which immediately affects the air temperature of the home.

Having analyzed all the pros and cons, one must not forget one more point - the aesthetic component of the issue. Sometimes the interior design is developed in such a way that it is simply impossible to organically fit the heating elements installed on the walls into it.In this case, the only solution would be to lay the heating pipe under the floor, although the most sophisticated plumbing equipment is on sale.