Electric floor heating - advantages and disadvantages

Electric underfloor heating can be a truly universal means of heating a room, apartment, or country house. It allows you to evenly distribute heat over the entire surface of the floor itself, and fully warm the air in the room. All types of flooring, whether it is carpet, linoleum, laminate, parquet, tile, or even natural stone, are compatible with such a heating system.

The basis of the electric underfloor heating system are heating cables laid under the floor covering. This can be single-core or two-core cables, or heating mats, which are a reinforced plastic mesh in which a two-core heating cable is laid. The power supply to the cables is regulated thermostatcontrolling the amount of heat transferred to the floor.

During installation, the cables are laid in a concrete screed with a thickness of 3 to 5 cm, observing the same pitch between the turns of the cable. So, the differences between an electric heated floor and a water heated floor are obvious: here you do not need a water pipeline or any boilers for heating water, only electricity and cable heating elements that are completely electrically insulated.

Of course, the use of an electric underfloor heating system as a heat source has both its advantages and some disadvantages. Let's look at both sides of this solution, and start with the merits.

Advantages of electric underfloor heating

As noted earlier, an electric heated floor can be used with any floor coverings, that is, there are simply no restrictions on this.

This system is able to replace the main heating system, and all its elements are hidden from view, there are no radiators or pipes that could violate the aesthetic aspect of the interior.

With proper operation, the system will last an unlimited time, and will not create any trouble for the owners. And if a malfunction does occur, it is easy to identify and eliminate.

Compared with a conventional radiator heating system, the indisputable advantage of an electric heated floor is uniform heating of the entire surface area, there is no overheating of individual sections and underheating of others - heating everywhere occurs with the same intensity.

From a safety point of view, the temperature of the heating elements is not too high - an important advantage. The temperature regulator included in the kit allows you to set the required floor temperature very accurately, up to fractions of a degree, and the on and off times can also be set manually.

Need for gas or electric boiler, as is the case in water floor heating systems, it disappears here, that is, extra bulky equipment is not required.

The system can be used both in residential and in office premises.

Laying an electric underfloor heating does not require special tools and special skills, so a person inexperienced in this topic can also install it.

Disadvantages of electric underfloor heating

Now consider some significant and relative disadvantages.

The cost of electricity will be quite large if you need to warm up a significant area, because the power of the heaters in this case can reach 12-20 kW, which will significantly affect the monthly costs of the consumer.

A powerful electrical wiring is required, which does not overheat during a long supply of such significant power as a warm electric floor requires. In addition, it is important to provide the system with reliable grounding and residual current deviceto increase security.In addition, in wet rooms, any risk of electric shock should be excluded.

It is useful to take into account the following fact. The heating cable is a source of electromagnetic field, and this can have a harmful effect on the human body.

The wood coating is sensitive to overheating, it can deform over time.

With the laying of a warm floor, the ceiling height will be reduced by about 10 cm. Despite some shortcomings, an electric heated floor remains an extremely popular way to increase the comfort and quality of life of people, since the advantages of this technology make it very, very attractive. Do you think about this?

Read also on this topic: How the electric heat-insulated floor is arranged and works