Which Brands to use? UFH

[tombo8383]

I'm looking to install a brand new Wet UFH system in a renovation I'm doing. It's a large bungalow with a suspended floor. We will be filling in the suspended floor with a new concrete insulated floor, so a perfect time to install UFH. 

 

I'm after some advice on brands? I'm not looking to do the job on the cheap so i'm after advice on the best brands for the 15mm lay flat pipe (John Guest? etc) / Uponor / Rehau and some advice on the best pumps, actuators, manifolds etc? I'm sourcing everything myself and installing everything apart from the boiler (done by my plumber).

 

I'm looking at the Heatmiser system for the thermostats too - any experiences or better brands?

I really want to use the best materials as it will be our family home for a long time. 

Thanks in advance.

Tom

[ToughButterCup]

Have you looked on this site for any advice that already exists? Half an hour using the search tool on the site will get you more detail than you can shake a stick at

[wozza]

I wouldn't necessarily trust a Plumber to supply your boiler - he will get what he can make the most profit on.

 

[SuperJohnG]

7 hours ago, AnonymousBosch said:

Have you looked on this site for any advice that already exists? Half an hour using the search tool on the site will get you more detail than you can shake a stick at

As @AnonymousBosch says. Quick search will get you what you need. 

 

But to set you in the right direction...wunda seem to be the go to for wet UFH with good experiences from number of users. 

 

As @wozza says...check what boiler you need and then decide what YOU want. It might be the same as your plumber says.  I research things to do death before making a purchase...so knowing I'm always getting thr best for my money. 

[jack]

8 hours ago, SuperJohnG said:

But to set you in the right direction...wunda seem to be the go to for wet UFH with good experiences from number of users. 

 

We self-installed Wunda stuff. Good price and gear, and been working flawlessly for over 4 years.

 

I've been particularly impressed with the Wilo pump. I can't comment on the Grundfoss one that they also supply, but the Wilo one is completely silent in use.

[PeterW]

+1 to WundaTrade for UFH. 
 

Simple controls, no silly number of zones, go for  the Wilo pump option and auto balancing actuators. 
 

Boilers are horses for courses - if your plumber is a WB man then that’s what they will be comfortable with, same with Vokera. if it’s Ideal Standard, time to find a new plumber ... 

[tombo8383]

Many thanks for your replies. In response to the zones. Why would you not want a lot of zones? At the moment I have a 4 bed bungalow with 8 zones. Bed 1 & En-suite, bed 2, bed 3, bed 4, kitchen, lounge, hallway, bathroom. This isn’t a good idea? 

[PeterW]

Hallway is a pointless zone. It is a circulation space so I would if I had to zone it go with bedrooms and living rooms. 
 

unless you really want to have a whole load of expensive controllers, having two or three groups of spaces is ideal as heat transfers between them anyway. 
 

If you currently have radiators, ask yourself how often you go round turning them on or off... then decide if you really need a £70 controller and zone valve doing the same 

[joe90]

+1 for Wunda with Wilo pump that I self installed, if the hallway is central then the manifold could be there and the feed pipes to other rooms go through it to give the little heat it requires so negates it being a zone in its own right. I only have the one zone, downstairs. The heat is so gently you don’t feel it like a glowing radiator but the house stays up to temp and stays quite constant.

[jack]

9 minutes ago, PeterW said:

Hallway is a pointless zone. It is a circulation space so I would if I had to zone it go with bedrooms and living rooms. 
 

unless you really want to have a whole load of expensive controllers, having two or three groups of spaces is ideal as heat transfers between them anyway. 
 

If you currently have radiators, ask yourself how often you go round turning them on or off... then decide if you really need a £70 controller and zone valve doing the same 

 

The better the insulation, the less point there is having lots of different zones. Most (all?) of us with Passivhaus levels of insulation and airtightness just run the entire downstairs a slab as a single zone. You could, of course, alter the set flow rates per room if you preferred one to always be a little warmer or cooler than the others, but it doesn't end up making a massive difference due to the way heat moves around within the house anyway. 

[scottishjohn]

19 minutes ago, tombo8383 said:

Many thanks for your replies. In response to the zones. Why would you not want a lot of zones? At the moment I have a 4 bed bungalow with 8 zones. Bed 1 & En-suite, bed 2, bed 3, bed 4, kitchen, lounge, hallway, bathroom. This isn’t a good idea? 

I did that some years ago  and did not allow for the human factor -people not closing doors etc or wife wanting to open all the windows to get fresh air 

once that happens zones are pointless

Edited May 1, 2020 by scottishjohn

[scottishjohn]

and if condsidering MVHR in future ,then again -zones pointless 

[newhome]

1 hour ago, tombo8383 said:

Many thanks for your replies. In response to the zones. Why would you not want a lot of zones? At the moment I have a 4 bed bungalow with 8 zones. Bed 1 & En-suite, bed 2, bed 3, bed 4, kitchen, lounge, hallway, bathroom. This isn’t a good idea? 

I have lots of zones in my house and it works well for me as I don’t use several rooms here so there is no need to heat them. If the whole house is used then that approach isn’t really needed. It’s horses for courses I would say depending on how you intend to use the space and how many occupants there are. 
 

 

[Dudda]

Just adding another Wunda self install user here. Would also recommend it after 2 years.

 

If you have MVHR zones won't work as well. Not saying it won't work just not as well. If you have MVHR and looking to save a few bob then reduce the number of zones. IF the house is very well insulated and airtight (as it should be) then in theory the whole house should be fairly warm and cheap to heat. Having just the one large zone or one per floor will therefore allow the heat pump, boiler or whatever heating supply unit your using to operate efficiently and not turning on and off short cycling for small zones. Otherwise you'll need a buffer tank (additional cost and heat loss).

[tombo8383]

Thanks for all your comments. I’ll be looking into Wundatrade once they are back open again. 

[SuperJohnG]

On 01/05/2020 at 09:38, PeterW said:

 if it’s Ideal Standard, time to find a new plumber ... 

I would have said Ideal were very good. I have an old ideal combi in our flat and it has worked very well since we have had it (13 years) it might be 20 odd years old. 

 

Plus all the new ideal logic boilers come with 10 year warranty. 

[PeterW]

Just now, SuperJohnG said:

I would have said Ideal were very good. I have an old ideal combi in our flat and it has worked very well since we have had it (13 years) it might be 20 odd years old. 

 

Plus all the new ideal logic boilers come with 10 year warranty. 

So the old stuff is OK, new stuff is made of toffee wrappers. The Max boilers come with 10 / 12 years but have to be installed and serviced by a Max qualified engineer, and you have to use their engineers to repair them, which is up to a 7 day callout. 
 

There are much better boilers on the market, and £1200 for a 30KW system boiler is a bit lumpy on price too. 

[ProDave]

My thought on UFH

 

Don't get hung up on a particular make, mine is all bits and bobs of different makes put together by me.

 

Instead look at the quality of the individual components.

 

For pumps as already mentioned Wilo every time now.  I swapped both of mine for Wilo because they are so much quieter than any other make I have tried even Grundfoss.

 

Actuators.  The things that screw onto the manifolds to turn the zones on and off. In theory they are all the same.  Wrong.   Avoid the ones where the bit that screws onto the manifold is plastic.  I have seen no end of those where the plastic bit breaks or never works properly in the first place.  Instead choose the ones that have a metal threaded collar that screws onto the manifold.  Very much better.

 

It is questionable if you actually need heat in a hall.  It is certainly a waste of time putting an UFH zone on a landing.  At our previous house the hall and landing zones never came on. In this house I just did not bother wasting pipe etc for them.

[JamesP]

+1 Wunda.

[JFDIY]

I wanted to use wunda (based on good reviews here). But upstairs I need to use a fully flexible pipe to feed through metal web joists without over battening to save floor height. We just could not get to an agreed proposal, so in the end I went with TUS in Burton upon Trent, they knew what I was trying to achieve, sent floor plans quickly and changed the order several times to meet my requests, all while working from home due to the recent worldwide meltdown. I haven't fitted any of it yet, but it looks good quality (it's branded emmeti, grundfoss pump) and it was on my drive 9am the day after placing the order.

 

I got them to leave off the actuators as I will get the salus auto balancing ones from wunda.

[DLW46]

Apologies for jumping on this thread, but i'm also looking at installing 110sqM of retrofit ufh. So far had quotes from nu-heat & wunda. From those that recommend Wunda, what floor covering have you used and was it retro fit boards? Was all set to go with Wunda until i read a few reviews where there was issues with tiling directly on top of the foil boards due to a reaction with the tile adhesive. Wunda do say it can be tiled on directly..

Or are there any other retro fit systems out there which peeps recommend?