Underfloor heating and radiators mix

[Zentachi]

Hi everyone! Nice to meet you.

 

Just bought my first property, a 1930 semi detached two storey house.

 

I am planning to retrofit wundatherm underfloor heating on the ground floor and leave radiators on the upper floor.

The house has a combi boiler. I want two zones so the radiators will work independently of the UFH.

 

What is the best way to connect them? Is just a zone valve before the manifold enough? 

 

Most probably I will get the Honeywell evohome or the tado V3 smart thermostat. Anyone had the above setup and use any of these smart systems?

 

Many thanks,
Zen

[Nickfromwales]

28 minutes ago, Zentachi said:

Most probably I will get the Honeywell evohome

I have found these to be rather complicated and somewhat unreliable tbh. I won't be using that system ever again ( and I've been installing central heating for nearly 30 years now ).

Have a good read of the existing content here first, as this has been discussed quite comprehensively. You will definitely need to introduce a buffer tank to this setup to allow the UFH to run independently and reliably without short-cycling the boiler.

Do you know if there is any insulation in the existing floors / walls? What is in the attic?

 

[Zentachi]

16 hours ago, Nickfromwales said:

I have found these to be rather complicated and somewhat unreliable tbh. I won't be using that system ever again ( and I've been installing central heating for nearly 30 years now ).

Have a good read of the existing content here first, as this has been discussed quite comprehensively. You will definitely need to introduce a buffer tank to this setup to allow the UFH to run independently and reliably without short-cycling the boiler.

Do you know if there is any insulation in the existing floors / walls? What is in the attic?

 

Thanks Nick for your advice.

I don't think I will be able to use a buffer tank, but I will have another look and try to include it.

Walls are insulated, however not the floor so this will be part of the process. It is suspended timber floor and most probably I will use PIR for insulation.

Definitely I will keep reading the various threads to find useful information

 

[PeterW]

5 minutes ago, Zentachi said:

I don't think I will be able to use a buffer tank, but I will have another look and try to include it.

Why not ..?? You can wall mount a 50 litre buffer and it will save short cycling the boiler and you can independently control the zones then too. 
 

16 hours ago, Nickfromwales said:

have found these to be rather complicated and somewhat unreliable tbh

another vote to find something else … for all the things Honeywell do well, this isn’t one of them ..!

[Nickfromwales]

4 hours ago, Zentachi said:

I don't think I will be able to use a buffer tank, but I will have another look and try to include it.

Link

These are what I use for a retro-fit where gas vs UFH is the remit and space is tight as they are wall-mounted. The 25 and 50L show as out of stock, so ask about availability. Other sellers are punting the same unit out for more money.

Telford are now doing small buffer tanks, so if you require such a unit, contact Trevor from Cylinders2go and mention the forum and he will give you a discount. 

 

 

[Zentachi]

On 09/03/2022 at 19:44, Nickfromwales said:

Link

These are what I use for a retro-fit where gas vs UFH is the remit and space is tight as they are wall-mounted. The 25 and 50L show as out of stock, so ask about availability. Other sellers are punting the same unit out for more money.

Telford are now doing small buffer tanks, so if you require such a unit, contact Trevor from Cylinders2go and mention the forum and he will give you a discount. 

 

 

Hmmm thanks for the photo, very helpful. This makes me think that such a buffer tank will fit. Can it go to the space under the boiler or does it need to be fitted high?

[Nickfromwales]

1 hour ago, Zentachi said:

Hmmm thanks for the photo, very helpful. This makes me think that such a buffer tank will fit. Can it go to the space under the boiler or does it need to be fitted high?

Anywhere you like 👍 

[CotswoldDoItUpper]

We have done this recently. We went for this box shaped buffer which sits in our coat cupboard and means we have warm n dry coats all the time! 
 

https://www.advanceappliances.co.uk/product/141-buffer-stores/

 

Just fitted Hive TRVs to each rad so each room can be controlled for temp and time individually. Also have an s-plan but it’s not set up and not sure I’m going to (both valves open all the time). Boiler timer switches on/off when heating is required.

[Zentachi]

Many thanks!

 

On 11/03/2022 at 14:02, CotswoldDoItUpper said:

We have done this recently. We went for this box shaped buffer which sits in our coat cupboard and means we have warm n dry coats all the time! 
 

https://www.advanceappliances.co.uk/product/141-buffer-stores/

 

Just fitted Hive TRVs to each rad so each room can be controlled for temp and time individually. Also have an s-plan but it’s not set up and not sure I’m going to (both valves open all the time). Boiler timer switches on/off when heating is required.

Coat cupboard sounds like a good idea. I was thinking of having the manifold in there as well.

As for smart controls. most probably I will go with tado https://support.tado.com/en/articles/3487152-how-does-tado-control-multi-room-heating-setups-with-a-combination-of-radiators-and-water-based-underfloor-heating and something along the lines of option no 2.  Looks pretty straightforward.