Newbie1

Hi I don’t have the specs with me but all of these have been ruled out. Flow rate has no impact, input water temp, insulation and soacing all over the spec. for the space it was designed for. The problem we have been told is that the wood is not in contact with the UFH pipe work so it is heating up the air in the gap between UFH heating and the wood floor.

Hi wondering if anyone has experience with Hetta wet overlay UFH system with engineered wood flooring. We had this fitted by our builder (background we had full renovation done and had wrongly assumed screed system would be fitted, we had specified UFH and engineered wood floor). Work completed in summer and only when cold weather hit did we realise the system was not working well. Temperature in some rooms could not be increased and in smaller rooms no heat coming through at all. All electrical and plumbing fine. Design fine for heat output required. It is an Hetta wet overlay system, pipes are fitted into overlay boards. Problem seems to be the fitting of UFH with the engineered wood floor (which according to Hetta they system is designed to work for). external opinion says It’s the flooring not in contact with the pipe work below, so poor heat transfer. Pipe work is just heating an air gap above. The floor is very springy and therefore lots of air gaps. Any advice on how to deal with this without having it all ripped out and starting again?

Hi I have very heat sensitive feet. I have lived in numerous apartments with wet UFH system with mix of engineered wood and porcelain tiles. I hate tiles as they always feel cold unless you have the heating higher than what you actually need it. For wood I find it comfortable underfoot as long as the room is a comfortable temperature. If you live somewhere hot, you might like the cool tile in summer, which is when you tend to notice the temperature difference the most:)

Hi all - posting in case anyone else has a similar problem in the future, or can help with mine. We got an independent assessment. All electrical and plumbing fine. Design fine - it is an Hetta wet overlay system, pipes are fitted into overlay boards. Problem seems to be the fitting of the engineered wood floor. Basically as you walk on the floor you can see that the floor is springy. It’s not in contact with the pipe work below, so poor heat transfer. Pipe work is just heating an air gap above. It’s worse In smaller rooms. Wondering if a floor levelling compound would help? Any thoughts? I don’t want to lift the floor up, relay and have the same problem again.

Thanks for suggestion, the problem seems to be that this loop isn’t giving out any heat even to surrounding areas. temperature of the loop itself with thermal camera is very low. Not sure what is causing this as hot water is going through the pipe. I think we may need to lift up floor to see if anything is covering the pipe and preventing heat transfer.

Seem similar to all other loops

Unfortunately no. We had to move out for the refurb and only periodically saw the property. For loops that work fine I recall seeing some WIP with insulation (looked like white polystyrene with loops laid into the inset) but don’t recall this room. So fear we will have to list up the flooring. Installer is no longer responsive.

It’s not an extension it’s l990’s house with internal garage. The cold room is the front entryway with stairway and toilet and double doors through to lounge. We had full refurbishment to make open plan and install of UFH throughout all ground floor. We have engineered wood floor throughout all ground floor. So same builder and team for install throughout. But yes I think you are right they have not used insulation at the front of the house and heat is just going down. It’s certainly not transferring heat up to wood floor.

Hi update - turn off heating to all loops except for the room that won’t heat up. Used thermal camera and found that the out and return of this loop go through the open lounge area. Surprising loops show good heat and transfer to adjacent area 30C and in between loops 24C. Once the loop crosses the threshold to hallway temperature of loop drops to 22C in some parts and adjacent area 17C as follow round and cross threshold back into lounge temp recovers to 30C. Suggests that they have fitted differently in this room/not used same substrate. Any other thoughts?

Hi thanks for all your suggestions, balancing seems to have worked. 5 working radiators now.

I have tried this and made no difference but not tried with thermal camera. Will try again and report back!

Anyone know how this might look on thermal camera other than low heat transfer (which I see). The installer has refilled and bled and is adamant that done correctly so there should be no air in there.

It is the downstairs toilet, hall and entrance. It is laid as to design plan ad per supplier and is a 48 metre Loop. Thermal camera shows that there isn’t any heat transferring to surrounding floor and the loop itself doesn’t reach even target room temp. I spoke to Hetta and they say it should work - there is no heat transfer coming though at all so can’t be room size/loop size.

Hi so I have been trying to balance. I have two towel radiators and both inlet outlets are exactly the same. I have opened both valves fully. Hot water inlet seems to be on opposite sides for each towel rad (temp readings on pipes) I am not sure which side is the one I should close/adjust - is it the inlet? It looks like both towel radiators are 1 and 2 out of the five to heat up.

Hi we have tried that and left it for days with no impact and everything in between too. Will try again though.

In and out both at bottom, opposite corners.

We tried the rooms separately and checked thermostat to actuator so confident the right thermostat is connected to the right loop. There is one thermostat for this loop and room next door as one thermostat and three loops. Would an airlock show on the thermal camera? And would it make all of that loop cool?

Hi yes water seems to be flowing properly and I calculated flow rates from length and used those as I thought that might be a problem. The smaller loop (in cold room) I have tried at different flow rates, it’s now set at flow rate of 1.5 at moment. Other larger room at just over 2.

I have newly installed UFH. All seems fine, actuators working, heat differential out/return, thermostats call and I see the flow rate/actuator working as it should. All good except one room (the smallest) it just won’t heat up at all! Room is between 14-18C depending on outside temp. I have set at 27C with no impact on room temp. I have hired a thermal camera to see if anything obvious. I started with the thermostat low and turned up high, I could see system respond, the hot water working through the system from the manifold and underneath the floor, but many hours later and the floor is still cold and room temp unchanged. I can see on the thermal imaging camera a difference on the pipes in the floor. The UFH pipes are measuring 21C and the gaps between 17C - I have set the thermostat at 27C. Compared to adjacent room (double doors through, same wood flooring) this is sitting at desired temp 23C. Pipes on camera show 27C and gaps between 22/23C. The installer completed a water purge of the system to remove any trapped air with a hose but no change. Any ideas I am at a loss and the installer has given up as all seems to be working electrically/plumbing wise. thank you!

Installer says this is normal…..thanks will try balancing tomorrow. I will let you know if resolved thank you.

Hi we have had a new boiler and central heating radiators/pipe work fitted. The radiators in two rooms (towel rads) are working fine. The other three are only hot at the top and become progressively cooler to the bottom. We also have problem to get all of these three radiators giving enough heat in all the rooms, setting the same thermostat temp on each radiator, all given different heat (all three rooms are same size). If we turn the radiators off and turn only one on - then they do get fully warm throughout, so not thinking we have sludge or air (we have bled and it’s completely new system anyway). frustrating as we can’t get all rooms to a comfy temp. How can we resolve? thanks for any ideas!