New self build design, heat and architect

[G and J]

18 minutes ago, JohnMo said:

UFH cooling was the thermostat on wall only reads a couple of degrees cooler. But you feel way cooler and more importantly the whole building gets back to a nice temperature way quicker.

This was certainly our experience as 'newbies' ...very pleased with it, and certainly much, much better than we had expected.

 

2 hours ago, MikeSharp01 said:

We never saw an upstairs temperature, in the roof apex, above 27,  never got to 29,

This is very similar to our numbers, and certainly we kept the temps below those that others were experiencing, but still way too hot to sleep comfortably which is what we're hoping for.

 

Also worth saying that although it doesn't really cool, by reducing the humidity any given temp doesn't feel as hot as it would have done in our previous house.

[SteamyTea]

1 hour ago, JohnMo said:

The floor surface becomes cooler than your body, its primary cooling method is a radiant heater in reverse

Really.

May work if you suspend yourself naked a few mill above the floor.

 

[saveasteading]

1 hour ago, JohnMo said:

you are thinking the wrong way

That's my usp.

 

1 hour ago, JohnMo said:

floor sucks the heat from you.

I get that.

My feet are at 36°C so even the recent heatwave has been lower.

Cooled floor at what? 16?

 

So it's a feel-good for the feet, if choosing to go barefoot, but it hardly cools the body. And it's the air temperature that we need cooler. Don't we want to be at 18°C max for deep sleep?

 

It's a luxury to have cool feet and go barefooted ( I find that unpleasant on hard surfaces)  and that's an individual choice.

[-rick-]

1 hour ago, saveasteading said:

So it's a feel-good for the feet, if choosing to go barefoot, but it hardly cools the body. And it's the air temperature that we need cooler. Don't we want to be at 18°C max for deep sleep?

 

You're wrong. Cooler feet has a huge impact on how you feel overall. I don't have UFH but do live in a building that suffers from cold floors/cold air layer at floor level in winter.

 

The thermometer can read 23/24 at table level but 16C at feet level. In that situation I feel fairly cold.

 

1 hour ago, saveasteading said:

It's a luxury to have cool feet and go barefooted ( I find that unpleasant on hard surfaces)  and that's an individual choice.

 

Nothing to say you need to be barefoot. Wear socks if you want, even open light slippers. You'll still feel much cooler in a space with a floor that is noticeably cooler than the air temp.

 

Edit: Frankly, given my experience I suspect even if you wore whatever outside clothes you were comfortable with I suspect you'd still feel the cooling effect from a cool floor, just maybe not as pronounced.

Edited 16 hours ago by -rick-

[JohnMo]

1 hour ago, saveasteading said:

That's my usp.

 

I get that.

My feet are at 36°C so even the recent heatwave has been lower.

Cooled floor at what? 16?

 

So it's a feel-good for the feet, if choosing to go barefoot, but it hardly cools the body. And it's the air temperature that we need cooler. Don't we want to be at 18°C max for deep sleep?

 

It's a luxury to have cool feet and go barefooted ( I find that unpleasant on hard surfaces)  and that's an individual choice.

So let me rephrase 

 

imagine walking into an old stone church, it feels way colder in summer than it's actual temperature. Underfloor cooling feels similar.

 

2 hours ago, SteamyTea said:

Really.

May work if you suspend yourself naked a few mill above the floor.

 

No naked suspension needed. Or certainly never heard of anyone with floor cooling going to that effort, but maybe... well not go into what you maybe get up to.

[Oz07]

22 hours ago, JohnMo said:

We have a plant room, but you really don't need one. An MVHR unit can be located in a cupboard same as the UFH manifold or in the utility, the hot water cylinder just needs to find a space 

But that will obviously for heating (but can do cooling) so you don't need planning permission.

With the mvhr you do need to get the 5 or 6" supply and extract pipes to an external wall and around 2m apart. Plus all your ducting. So its not quite as easy as popping in a cupboard. I'm not trying to be pedantic its just these do take up a bit more room once you allow for connections. Have to be strategically placed too. 

[JohnMo]

52 minutes ago, Oz07 said:

around 2m apart

Not required if you use a combined/directional inlet outlet. One of our two MVHR units is in the middle of the house, the two ducts effectively go in void above built-in wardrobes to the outside wall. Our manifolds are in the same void. But it only feeds two bedrooms and extracts from two bathrooms.

[SBMS]

9 hours ago, saveasteading said:

That's my usp.

 

I get that.

My feet are at 36°C so even the recent heatwave has been lower.

Cooled floor at what? 16?

 

So it's a feel-good for the feet, if choosing to go barefoot, but it hardly cools the body. And it's the air temperature that we need cooler. Don't we want to be at 18°C max for deep sleep?

 

It's a luxury to have cool feet and go barefooted ( I find that unpleasant on hard surfaces)  and that's an individual choice.

We’ve gone fancoils upstairs and UFH downstairs. Dual zone setup on Ashp so we can run the fancoils with proper chilled water in hot temperatures.  Hoping we will be in in next few months and will report back in summer if it works!!