Heating.
Underfloor Heating
Underfloor heating is an extremely efficient way of heating your home. Heat is radiated evenly across the whole floor and provides warmth from the floor up as opposed to traditional central heating which heats a room using convection and effectively provides heat from the top down. An added, and subtle, benefit is that it is invisible - no bulky radiator and pipes to site or design your room around! It can be used for whole property heating or can be integrated into existing traditional central heating systems (when building an extension or conservatory for example).
Your body is most comfortable when your feet are warmer than your head so underfloor heating provides the most comfortable heating solution.
Running Costs
The temperature of the water needed for underfloor heating is 30°C - 40°C and is much lower than the 60°C - 70°C requires for radistors. As the water does not need to be as hot, less fuel is required to heat it and is therefore more energy efficient - typically around 20%. Once installed there are no future maintenatanance requirements (servicing etc) and with the underfloor pipework having in excess of a 50 year lifespan there is no worry over replacing it.
Health Benefits
With underfloor heating relying on radiation rather than convection to heat there is a significant reduction in the movement of dust particles and therefore of great benefit to those suffering from dust allergies or asthma.
Floor Coverings
There is no restriction on the type of floor covering with solid wood, laminate, ceramic tile or carpet all being suitable however the following will need to be taken into consideration at the design stage:-
- Carpets & Laminates - Thick underlay will restrict the heat transfer
- Wooden Floors - The wood used needs to have less than 10% moisture content to avoid excessive shrinkage
- Wooden Floors - Thicknesses upto 22mm will provide excellent performance however thicknesses exceeding this will influence response time.
See System Design for a list of components required and pipe layout design along with Installation for the different installation systems
Pellet and Wood Burning Stoves
Wood Burning Stoves are very efficient. Most of the Cola wood burning stove range are around 75% efficient, with very little heat lost through the chimney. They have zero carbon footprint, as any carbon dioxide produced by a wood stove is simply reemitting the carbon dioxide absorbed by trees during their lifetime. As long as the wood is from a sustainable wood source, there is no net increase in CO2 emission - making wood stoves a very environmentally-friendly heat source. Stoves can be either for room heating only or have an integrated boiler for providing hot water. See Wood Burning Stoves for a sample of the available range or go to Anselmo Cola to view the full range.
Pellet Burning Stoves are even more efficient - typically around 80-87% and again they are completely carbon neutral. They are available in both room heating only and room heating with hotwater (both for central heating and hot water) versions. They have an additional benefit over wood burning stoves in that they have automated start up and shut down systems allowing them to operate whilst you are still asleep or out in just the same way as a gas boiler. See Pellet Stoves for a sample of the available range or go to Anselmo Cola to view the full range.
Flues
Flues are needed to remove the exhaust fumes from the building. It would be wrong to call it smoke as the combustion is so efficient that both wood burning and pellet stoves can be used in 'smoke free' areas.
Wood burning and pellet stoves have different requirements so see Flues for more information.