UFH pipe layout

[Bonner]

Just got the first layout drawing for my UFH piping. My initial feedback would be;

Why no piping under the (open) stairs. To be fair they wouldn’t know they are open, on the other hand would you not have UFH under a boxed/cupboard staircase?

Avoid any piping under kitchen units and island? The outline of the kitchen is shown in the floor plan, location of all built in units highlighted in yellow. There are a bunch of pipes under the left hand side of the kitchen, feeding other loops. Would these normally be insulated?

Any other thoughts much appreciated!

[ProDave]

Don't put it under the stairs or any built in kitchen unit.  In a well insulated house it is arguable if it is needed at all in the hall, we have none in our hall.

 

BUT the one BIG fault with that layout, is it puts one manifold at the back of a kitchen corner unit.  that will have to be a butchered kitchen unit and even then will be very awkward to get at.  Move it so both manifolds are under the stairs and can be boxed in easily and easy access.

 

Manifold 2 would be right down at the low end of the stairs and also be pretty inaccessible.  So put both manifolds nearer the high end of the under stairs space.

[PeterW]

I was posting the same as @ProDave - manifold I would put in either the utility or boot room as they can both use the waste heat from multiple pipes. 
 

Agree on stairs too - designer wouldn’t know they are open plan. I’d also get the plans annotated with any WCs or showers, and also any fixed cabinets properly - did you provide a CAD file..?

[Bonner]

55 minutes ago, PeterW said:

I’d also get the plans annotated with any WCs or showers, and also any fixed cabinets properly - did you provide a CAD file..?

 

Only PDF file unfortunately but I will make it clear where everything goes. Why toilets and showers, can’t you put UFH pipe under them?

[Bonner]

1 hour ago, ProDave said:

BUT the one BIG fault with that layout, is it puts one manifold at the back of a kitchen corner unit.

 

Good point, thanks! I will get the manifolds moved to more accessible locations

[PeterW]

7 minutes ago, Bonner said:

 

Only PDF file unfortunately but I will make it clear where everything goes. Why toilets and showers, can’t you put UFH pipe under them?

No - you dont want pipe under a WC, shower tray or a bath as it can dry out the traps and also cause issues with fixing things down. 

[Olf]

This looks like lazy approach of the designer, just letting loopcad spit something out in no time

I would:

- put at least kitchen manifold (if not both) in boot room

- boot room and entrance heated by runs to the other rooms only, likely still requires insulating most of the pipes (especially hot legs)

- too many loops: study 1 should be enough, kitchen & living 2

- fewer loops (I ended up with 8)= shorter manifold, you may be able to reduce to 1 manifold only with simplification of supply plumbing and controls

- consider spiral loops in most of the rooms: more even heat delivery, easier to lay, lower flow resistance.

- as mentioned earlier no pipes under any fixed units and anywhere near the fridge in the kitchen, nor in the places in the WC (as explained earlier). The loss of heat delivery there will be compensated by towel rail. Tbh I'd run one loop for WC (hot leg incoming here) and utility, passing under the wall is not a big deal: just insulate the pipes 

Edited March 31, 2022 by Olf

[7dayworker]

On 31/03/2022 at 09:55, Olf said:

This looks like lazy approach of the designer, just letting loopcad spit something out in no time

I would:

- put at least kitchen manifold (if not both) in boot room

- boot room and entrance heated by runs to the other rooms only, likely still requires insulating most of the pipes (especially hot legs)

- too many loops: study 1 should be enough, kitchen & living 2

- fewer loops (I ended up with 8)= shorter manifold, you may be able to reduce to 1 manifold only with simplification of supply plumbing and controls

- consider spiral loops in most of the rooms: more even heat delivery, easier to lay, lower flow resistance.

- as mentioned earlier no pipes under any fixed units and anywhere near the fridge in the kitchen, nor in the places in the WC (as explained earlier). The loss of heat delivery there will be compensated by towel rail. Tbh I'd run one loop for WC (hot leg incoming here) and utility, passing under the wall is not a big deal: just insulate the pipes 

Thanks .. my builder showed me his ufh plan and it was very similar . He had not identified the kitchen unit array as he was busy and had a choice .

he reckons I will need the pipes run in the second floor bedrooms etc . It is mentioned to avoid the attic rooms on the forum site. Do you agree that the heat will rise there from below ?

[JohnMo]

It will rise, but whether you need heating will depend on your insulation values.

[Olf]

Parasitic upstairs heating is possible, but be careful here:

- you seem to have large floor area and relatively small stairs opening for convection 

- assuming MVHR is present it will help transferring some heat

- if upstairs floor is well insulated acoustically (as it should), it will block conduction

- depending on what is above (you mention attic, so should be ok) you may still lose more through the roof than is delivered from the ground floor