Radiant Floor Solutions – Controls in General

RADIANT FLOOR SOLUTIONS floor heating systems are well suited to this using much lower water temperatures and therefore a lower thermal store within the floor.

Lower operating temperatures with RADIANT FLOOR SOLUTIONS underfloor heating means less energy is used to maintain comfort levels since there are no convection currents when the floor and the air temperature are within 4 to 5°C of each other. Compare this with normal temperature radiators which create convection and much higher ceiling or roof temperatures.

Suitable Types of Controls Underfloor systems are better controlled by using a constant volume variable temperature circuit using proportional control. The water should be constantly circulated around the floor to ensure an even distribution of heat within the building, leveling out cold areas such as external walls and windows with internal warmer areas. The circulating water temperature can be controlled from an internal detector in combination with a flow detector to maintain comfort conditions. This form of control can be for individual zones or for the complete system using averaging detectors where there are several areas to be controlled.

Where an overall control system is to be installed then ideally this should be a weather compensated and/or fully optimized on and off controller. The use of these controls means it is perfectly possible to always match the temperature of water circulating within the floor to the precise level required by the external temperature. This can be enhanced by careful zoning and the use of solar compensation where applicable.