Underfloor heating is becoming increasingly popular for Australians looking for an economical and cozy home. However, as more and more people install floor heating, questions about the best way to use it arise. For example, is it essential to turn on underfloor heating constantly, or use the programmed schedule?
The answer is not just a simple yes or no; it depends on a variety of questions like what kind of system you’ve got, how your house is insulated, and what you do in your day-to-day life. We’ll look at the factors in this article to help you make a smart decision.
Understanding How Underfloor Heating Works
Before you decide whether always to leave your floor heating on, let’s go back to the basics. There are two main kinds of underfloor heating: electric and water-based. Electric floor heating, like what Hotwire offers, involves wires or mats under your floor to warm things up. Hydronic systems, in a nutshell, pump hot water through pipes under the floor.
Both systems work by sending heat up to the floor and then to the whole room. Unlike old-school heating that warms up the air, underfloor heating spreads warmth evenly around the room, making you feel really cozy and saving energy.
The Case for Keeping It On
If your underfloor heating is turned on continuously, there are a few instances where it might be beneficial:
- Homes with good insulation: One option is to keep your underfloor heating on at a low, constant temperature instead of switching it on and off. In a well-insulated home, this will maintain a nice even temperature. This will reduce the system’s power consumption as it is running at a lower temperature than if you are looking for your floor heating to be the primary heating source.
- Consistent Comfort: If the floor heating is left on all the time you never have to worry about turning it on and off and also don’t find yourself walking from cold floors to warm floors.
- Avoiding Heat-Up Times: Underfloor heating can take time to heat. Depending on your system it can take a couple of hours to warm up. If you like to feel warm right away, keeping the system in a lower setting will help eliminate long heat-up times.
When to Turn It Off
- Mild Weather: In Australia, especially in some areas with mild winters, it is likely that you won’t need to keep your heating system turned on all the time. You can simply have it on during the coldest parts of the day. You can use our fully programmable thermostat to have the heating come on and off when needed.
- Energy Savings: If you have selected to only have floor heating in your bathroom, or home office. It is probably not necessary to have the heating running all the time. You can use the programmable thermostat to control when your underfloor heating comes on and off. Hotwire even offers a WiFi Thermostat so you can turn your heating on and off remotely.
In a bathroom for example, having the system click on an hour before your alarm goes off and shut down again when you leave for work can provide comfort in those times that matter most while not consuming power other than needed.
- Long Absences: If you are going away for a longer period, such as over the weekend or on a holiday, rather than having your underfloor heating running whilst there is no one in the house it is wiser and could work out more to switch off the underfloor heating entirely. It goes the same if you are just leaving for a short period like a whole day, keeping the underfloor turned off when no one is around is a wiser choice.
Best Practices for Using Underfloor Heating
Whether you are going to keep your underfloor heating switched on for the whole time or only at specific intervals in a day, there are best practices regarding using it fully:
- Invest in a Smart Thermostat: Control your underfloor heating system through the Hotwire’s WiFi Thermostat, which can be controlled from anywhere and has several options to set schedules for the temperatures by the hour. Using this flexibility can help you limit energy use while maintaining comfort.
- Use Zoning: If your current underfloor heating system is zoned, it allows you to heat certain areas of your home instead of delivering warmth to the entire space. This becomes handy with larger homes where you only want certain rooms to be heated at certain times.
Conclusion
Should you leave your underfloor heating on constantly? Well, it depends on your unique case. For perfectly insulated houses, minimal system operation is energy-savvy and offers consistent coziness. However, in cooler weather areas or if saving energy is a key consideration then either turning the unit off or using it part-time may be preferable.
With Hotwire’s WiFi Thermostat, you can set your underfloor heating on a schedule to suit you and your lifestyle, which means it will keep you warm all winter long.
Hotwire: Warm your soul.
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