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How much does Underfloor Heating cost to run?A useless piece of triviaUnder-floor heating, I’m told, was first introduced by the Romans over 2,000 years ago. They would light a furnace under the floor (used as a cellar under the floor) and let the warm air circulate around the cellar to warm the floors of the rooms above. Clever!
Now for more useful informationElectric underfloor heating has come a long way in the last 10-15 years. It’s a clean and -- relatively efficient ? way to heat up a room and can use 20%-25% less energy than your standard conventional heater - if it's installed correctly.
Unlike Space Heaters, UFH heats up a larger area for the same kW power. Space Heaters heat up the area around the heater, not the room.Having said that, it's still going to cost you anywhere from R50.00 (small toilet) to R120-00 (TV room) per month per room. If you turn it on everyday, it will be on for approximately 5-8 hours in any given 24-hour cycle. (That's providing that your thermostat is well positioned)
If your thermostat or the room that you are trying to warm up has breeze paths, you’ll struggle to get your thermostat to switch off and on efficiently, and your electricity bill will sky rocket. This is because the warm air will keep dissipating out of the area that you’re trying to warm and into the colder areas. What happens is that the room temperature rises, you turn down the thermostat – the room temperature drops – you turn up the thermostat -- and so the cycle continues
The key to saving money with undefloor heating
Don't install UFH in rooms with breeze paths because your thermostat won't switch off and your electricity bill will literally sky rocket during the Winter months!
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Position the thermostat lower down, tucked away from "breeze" areas, and set it at a comfortable room temperature, 22-24', If you already have this problem, consider changing the position of the thermostat.
This is crucial! Insulate your ceiling space (yes --Pink aerolite does work) and make sure that there is no cold air coming in from under the doors and open windows.