Installation Of Underfloor Heating (61 Photos): How To Do It Right With Your Own Hands, Competent Installation, Laying The Device In A Private House And Apartment

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Installation Of Underfloor Heating (61 Photos): How To Do It Right With Your Own Hands, Competent Installation, Laying The Device In A Private House And Apartment
Installation Of Underfloor Heating (61 Photos): How To Do It Right With Your Own Hands, Competent Installation, Laying The Device In A Private House And Apartment

Video: Installation Of Underfloor Heating (61 Photos): How To Do It Right With Your Own Hands, Competent Installation, Laying The Device In A Private House And Apartment

Video: Installation Of Underfloor Heating (61 Photos): How To Do It Right With Your Own Hands, Competent Installation, Laying The Device In A Private House And Apartment
Video: Underfloor heating system installation by Continal Underfloor 2024, March
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Warmth is one of the criteria for home comfort. This is especially true for the winter period, when the question arises about the heating system. Traditional heat carriers have an alternative and this is a warm floor. It is worth talking about whether it is necessary to install it in the house, what are its pros and cons, and what is the installation instruction.

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Features: advantages and disadvantages

Before installing the floor, you need to pay attention to its advantages and inconveniences that it can create.

The advantages are as follows:

  • Underfloor heating saves a lot of space, which means it gives freedom of creativity in the implementation of unusual design ideas.
  • Drafts are excluded. The floor spreads heat evenly throughout the house, which means that even asthmatics and allergy sufferers will feel comfortable.
  • The floor provides the air with the right level of humidity.
  • Underfloor heating is good for your health because it transfers heat through radiation, not heating the air.
  • Underfloor heating is more efficient than radiators, because it heats the room faster. This pattern is especially relevant for the owners of private houses.
  • Heating systems are carefully hidden from view and do not harm the overall aesthetic appearance of the room.
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Comfort comes at a price. The disadvantages of a warm floor are as follows:

  • The floor covering must be selected with care. A wooden floor is prone to deterioration due to temperature effects.
  • Certain types of wood can reduce heat efficiency to zero.
  • Installing an electric floor will increase energy costs. Basically, 110-150 watts are consumed per square meter. Although the heating temperature is saved if the owners are not at home. With the right approach, you can save about 40% energy. Infrared floors are recommended for use, the indicators of which are reduced by up to 50%.
  • Electrical grids in some buildings do not always withstand the load when heating the house.
  • After the installation of the electrical sample, the electromagnetic radiation rises. It is believed that this has a negative effect on human health. But this has not yet been proven by science. The creators of the infrared floor claim that the film floor has no electromagnetic radiation.
  • In the event of an unexpected or planned power outage, the warm floor is useless.
  • Installing a water floor heating requires a lot of time and effort.
  • Significant cash costs are required.
  • Not all warm floors are reliable. A water floor is less efficient than an electric sample.
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Types and characteristics

Underfloor heating is divided into two types, but they have a unifying factor: the floor surface has installed heat conductors that do not interfere with overlapping like slabs. And each of them can adjust the temperature regime. And the types of underfloor heating are as follows:

Electric - cables are used as heat sources (flat conductors on the film are possible). The floor is heated by an electric current that flows through the above-mentioned conductors

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Water - heat is provided by pipes heated with hot water. It is a huge battery installed in the floor. This floor is in great demand, especially in private houses, as they use their own water heating system. And also the water floor is cheaper than cable (electric) and does not have electromagnetic radiation

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Also, the "warm floor" system is often used. It is relevant at a time when the weather is warm and it is pointless to turn on the heating completely. In private houses, heating can be activated independently, with a minimum mode.

But in houses with central heating, a "warm floor" is needed.

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Premises for installation

Warm floors of different types can be installed anywhere. Both electric and water floors can be installed in the apartment. The reason is this: the city has all the necessary resources for comfort.

There are nuances according to which water and electric floors should be installed in certain places:

  • In a private house, it is better to lay a water floor, since outside the city you should not rely too much on electricity.
  • The frame house will be provided with the most natural level of humidity and uniform air temperature if a water floor is installed in the building. If the electricity goes out due to unforeseen circumstances, the house will be left unheated.
  • The key factor that affects the comfort in the house is the power of warm floors. It, in turn, depends on the type of premises. For heating dry rooms, the optimal power is 100-120 W per square meter, for wet rooms you need 150 W, for loggias - 180 W.

But if the floor is the only source of heat, the numbers can go up.

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To make it easier for the owner to navigate in the selection of the floor, he should familiarize himself with the table, which contains the necessary thermal calculations.

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Materials and tools

Before starting the installation, you need to prepare all the necessary tools to avoid incidents.

For installation you will need:

  • underfloor heating system;
  • fasteners;
  • copper cable for grounding;
  • wires for connection;
  • RCD protection system;
  • regulator;
  • thermal sensor;
  • glue;
  • mounting tape;
  • temperature sensor;
  • pump.
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The determining principle in the selection of materials is the calculation of the heat loss of the room. It is necessary to choose a certain wire spacing and the desired length for the entire space. For film systems, calculations are easier: you need to select as many elements as you need to cover the entire area. It is necessary to take into account the wire connecting the warm floor and the regulator from the meter to the system elements from the regulator. Under no circumstances should the electric floor be plugged into an outlet.

It is necessary to make sure that the electrical input can withstand the load. Otherwise, you will have to change it and select the necessary automatic fuses.

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How to do it yourself?

If the owner of the house wants to do the editing from "A" to "Z" himself, he has a lot of work to do. It will be about installing a water floor, since it is most optimal in private houses. First you need to prepare the floor itself for installation.

The procedure is as follows:

It is necessary to remove the floor covering, if any. Fill cracks with cement mortar. A small layer of clean coarse sand will also work. You need to make sure that the floor is not distorted. This requires a building level

Otherwise, areas with stagnant coolant will appear, which means that the rooms will not be able to heat up normally.

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Install the tape from the damper along the perimeter and at the contour joint. The tape itself can be of any width. It may or may not have an adhesive layer on it. The width of the tape must be greater than the calculated height of the concrete screed. You need to choose a mount, depending on what the wall finish is. Tape with an adhesive layer is easily attached to even walls, and it should be attached to rough areas with dowel-nails

The tape is needed because it ensures the reliability of the screed during heating or cooling of the floor.

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Then you need to do the laying of reliable thermal insulation. It can be polystyrene in the form of plates, or maybe foamed polyethylene rolls with a foil coating. Plates should be laid, avoiding cracks. The actions with roll materials are done exactly the same, but you also need metallized tape, which can be used to connect the joints

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Polyethylene is more often used in low-rise rooms, because it is difficult to apply thicker insulation there. The insulation itself must be covered with a polyethylene film, whose thickness is about 200 microns - this will provide favorable conditions for drying concrete and maintaining its reliability.

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You need to put reinforcement on the floor. This can be a 10 cm mesh or a 6-8 mm wire mesh attached at intersections with wire

A mesh is placed on the plastic guides, thereby creating a space between the base and the reinforcement.

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Polystyrene plates with bosses help to lay the water circuit, they do not need to install guide pipes. When laying polystyrene, use metal-plastic pipes instead of polyethylene

The reinforcement is laid after the water circuit has been installed.

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There are some nuances to consider:

  • The diameter of the tubes is usually 16 to 20 mm. It is undesirable to use large pipes, since water consumption will increase.
  • The uniform indentation from the wall varies from 75 to 115 cm.
  • Pipe laying should be smooth and neat. This will be facilitated by the pre-planned route of the pipe along the floor.
  • To avoid leaks, pipe bends must be free of joints.
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Pipes are laid in such schemes as:

  • snake;
  • double snake;
  • a spiral with an offset center;
  • simple spiral ("snail").
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It is recommended to use "snail" laying, since its contour has a minimum number of corners. The pipes of the water circuit are laid with a distance of 15 cm; for the southern regions, 30 cm are also suitable.

The pipes of the water circuit should be no larger than the main pipes in diameter in order for the pressure to become acceptable.

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Before proceeding with the installation, you first need to draw a plan. Pipe-laying starts from the distribution point. The work is recommended to be performed with an assistant. One worker is busy laying pipes while a partner ties the pipes to the fittings using plastic clamps. Alternatively, pipes can be clamped between bosses.

Then the edge of the pipe must be brought out to the distribution point and fixed where the floor and the wall meet. This will require metal sleeves. The connecting fittings connect the underfloor heating circuit to the distribution point. The system is then filled with air or water.

It is necessary to make sure that the pipes are safe and sound.

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The screed is filled better when the system is filled with air. For the screed, concrete grade 200 is used, filled with fine grains. Concrete is poured onto the created foundation, then board beacons are placed. The floor is smoothed using a rule. The screed must be high enough so that pipes and fittings can be covered by 5-6 cm.

If the screed is thicker, dedication will deteriorate. And if the screed is made thinner, the pipes will suffer. With the help of a sieve, the surface of the screed can be covered with cement, for greater reliability.

The screed will dry for about a month, after which you can install and load a decorative coating, for example, a tile.

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Porcelain stoneware is the best option for surface cladding on a warm floor. It can be laid on a warm water floor after the concrete screed has hardened. But if leaks do occur, it will be very difficult to carry out local repairs.

Electric floor heating can also be faced with porcelain stoneware. But if the heating breaks down, you will have to dismantle the cladding.

If the owner of the house wants centralized heating, he needs to coordinate this with the organization that supplies the coolant.

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The greatest demand for porcelain stoneware is used by two systems: infrared floors and heating mats. Porcelain stoneware covers drywall in the case of the infrared version, and in the second case, it is laid on top of the mats.

The installation of an electric floor is generally the same as the installation of a water one. The difference is that a cable is laid in the concrete screed, and an additional layer of foil is laid over the insulation.

Note: if the owner of the house wants to install a warm floor on a veranda or loggia, you need to prepare a denser layer for insulation. To do this, you need mineral wool or expanded polystyrene 10 cm thick.

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Heating can also be spread over a wooden floor, but in this case, the water system has its own characteristics:

  • The location of the pipeline with a circulating heat carrier is on the surface of a log or plank floor in specially formed channels.
  • Heat distribution plates accumulate and transfer heat to the ducts. These elements have a recess in which the pipes of the heating circuit are laid.
  • The same plates increase the rigidity of the apparatus, as a result of which the substrate is not needed during installation.
  • If you need to finish the floor with linoleum or ceramic slabs, cement-bonded or gypsum-fiber boards, which have low insulating performance, will come in handy.
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In addition to traditional methods, there is a Finnish technology for installing a warm floor. It lightens the construction and avoids monolithic filling.

The installation principle remains the same, but the number of materials has increased:

  • Gypsum fiber sheet - strong, reliable for bending, sometimes moisture resistant sheets are required;
  • Chipboard, OSB - this material has weaker heat transfer than the previous version; complete sets of dry screed flooring from these sheets can be purchased, but they are expensive;
  • Cement particle board;
  • EPPS - pipes are installed in a heater, and the gaps are filled with glue; foil helps to increase heat transfer.

Gypsum-based sheets are the best option according to several criteria: optimal price, simple division into segments, environmental friendliness.

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Installation using Finnish technology is as follows:

  • The vapor barrier passes between the logs, insulation and another vapor barrier layer is applied to it, which will strengthen the wood and insulation.
  • Gypsum fiber sheets are attached to the logs, the space between which should not exceed 60 cm.
  • The route of the future installation of pipe circuits is drawn on the formed surface. It is necessary to carefully repeat all the bends and turns in the drawing.
  • Sheets should be cut into strips and attached to the foundation of the structure using self-tapping screws. The distance between the sheets should be greater than the diameter of the underfloor heating pipes.
  • In an extreme case, you can make two rows of strips, then the height of the structure will be greater than the diameter of the pipe.
  • The aluminum foil should cover the floor surface so that it fits into the pipe recesses.
  • Following the drawing, pipe outlines are laid between the sawn sheets. They are fixed with self-tapping screws and plastic tape.
  • Remaining voids can be filled with board glue or plaster mix.
  • The resulting structure is covered with gypsum fiber sheets. They are the foundation for the final floor covering.

Note to Finnish technology: the length of the purchased pipe depends on the area of the room, the characteristics of the heat source, its costs and the power of the apparatus that heats the coolant.

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A mixing unit or mixing unit is needed when the owner of the house finally decided to heat the premises with the help of floors. The next section will tell you how to install the heating system.

Step-by-step instruction

Laying pipes under the screed is not the whole installation process. A separate task is to connect the device. The boiler is a key element in the heating system. But in order for the boiler to function, you need to carefully consider the installation of the distribution unit.

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It can be made from the following materials:

  • Brass is an expensive material with a long service life and the ability to withstand high pressure. Suitable for all types of pipes.
  • Copper - the material is able to withstand higher pressure than the aforementioned brass, up to 30 bar. This material is ideal for working fluids like oil.
  • Stainless steel is the best option because this material is relatively affordable.

A manifold, an air outlet and a drain valve are required as additional elements for the manifold, since they do not allow air to accumulate.

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The manifold cabinet must be located in a designated area. Heaters must be equidistant from it. A cabinet, a box is mounted, supply pipes (hot water from the boiler) and return pipes (cooled water that heated the floor) are supplied to the collector. A valve is mounted on them using fittings.

Then you need to connect a manifold, which consists of a pair of combs, a drain valve, an air outlet, a valve and temperature sensors. The actuators for closing and opening the valves of the distribution manifold are connected to the thermostatic valve in the manifold or to a separate valve.

The distribution unit must be assembled by yourself and hidden in niches. After the supply and return pipes are wound up, they are connected to the collector component. In this metal element, the outlet is closed with a plug, and an air outlet is mounted at the top. Then you need to bring the pipes of the floor contours and connect to the collector system using fittings.

Installation and adjustment of the sensor provide self-regulation of the temperature. Do not forget about such an element as a flow meter that controls the waste of water.

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The flowmeter is mounted vertically, and then the actions are performed in the following order:

  • The flowmeter should be connected to the manifold return line process inlet.
  • It is necessary to open the pressure gauge by rotating the flask to the left.
  • It is necessary to remove the factory ring.
  • Then the body ring should be turned to the right to the required pressure level. Thus, the flow rate of the energy carrier is balanced. The scale float will indicate the required value.
  • The ring is closed with an overlay. Otherwise, the device will be damaged. This is especially true for those situations where the water floor assembly is not reinforced in a cabinet or in a recess.
  • Next, the device is checked for serviceability.
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How to use it correctly?

Electric underfloor heating

Each type of floor has a different structure. It will be useful to learn about some of the intricacies of its operation.

The electric floor has several types of regulators, thanks to which you can control the heat consumption:

  • Electronic-mechanical regulator - it is the easiest to manage: it has a poor set of functions (controlling heating and turning off the floor), it is controlled by using a wheel on the regulator, the price is small, this device breaks down infrequently and is easy to repair.
  • Digital control panel - similar to the previous sample, only controlled by buttons or a sensor. The device is equipped with electrical sensors that detect the temperature of the air and floor in the apartment.
  • Programmable thermostat - equipped with several sensors for measuring temperature; they transmit information to the controller, which maintains the temperature in individual rooms. Some regulators are even controlled over the Internet.

When operating an electric floor, it must be ensured that the capacities of the floor and the sensor match each other. There are situations when you have to purchase several sensors for one room.

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It's one thing to set up, and another thing to install a regulator. You will need to damage the wall in order to mount the controller in it. Alternatively, you can install a box with a thermostat. The main thing to remember is not to install the regulator in wet rooms. Most often, control units with little functionality are used in everyday life. But you can purchase a programmer with which you can control the floor from a distance.

Sometimes the control unit may malfunction and you have to use a tester. It is necessary to apply current to the receiving terminal and mark it at the second terminal, which shares energy with the heating element. In cases where there is no current, the device must be returned to a specialist for repair.

Sometimes the temperature sensor is not functioning properly. It is checked with a multimeter that measures the resistance of the sensor.

If the parameters do not correspond to the standards (5-45 kOhm), the sensors must be changed.

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Water heat-insulated floor

Pay attention to some of the nuances associated with the operation of a water floor:

  • The structure should be activated in the first cold days. Heating rooms can last for a long time, because first the floor heats up, behind it the walls, then the air. And only then the temperature stabilizes with certain indicators.
  • The temperature of the circulating fluid should rise slowly if the flooring is laminate or wood. Thanks to this, the floor will remain durable.
  • If necessary, the water floor can be heated for a whole year. On hot days, it makes sense to use heating branches under the ceramic stove, which keeps the cold at any time of the year.
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If you do not pay enough attention to the arrangement of a warm floor, mistakes will be made that will appear in the future:

  • The floor surface will not distribute heat evenly.
  • The cost of materials will be in vain, since some of them will be unnecessary, and some will even be missed.
  • Furniture, walls and underground will warm up, although it shouldn't.
  • Excess water and cement will lead to cracks in the floor. In some situations, cracks can be repaired by priming the surface several times. But it is best to consult a specialist.

A separate piece of advice for those who want to install a warm floor with a covering such as carpet: if the buyer lives in a country house, heating mats will come in handy, for residents of a private house - water floors, for apartment buildings - infrared samples.

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For more detailed instructions on the features of installing a warm floor, see the following video

Successful examples and options

As a visual illustration, examples of warm (mainly water) floors are given in several variations:

  • In the country;
  • On the loggia;
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  • Under the carpet;
  • Infrared sample.

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