Underfloor heating: safe as houses

 If you’re unfamiliar with underfloor heating, you’re naturally going to have questions about its safety. You needn’t worry – provided you choose a professional company. To find out more visit http://www.athomemagazine.co.uk/sarah-beeny/5229-toasty-toes

If you’re considering underfloor heating for the first time, one of the most natural concerns to have is in regard to its safety.

Many people are slightly suspicious about the idea of walking around on a giant cooker hob – and in kitchens and bathrooms, where water spillages are likely, the risks tend to grow in the mind. But the reality is that underfloor heating has a very good safety record – provided you install a quality product from a reputable company.

Underfloor heating has a safe reputation

Electric underfloor heating has been widely available since the Second World War without gaining a reputation for being anything but safe. It works by passing a current through a cable to create heat; the same principle that powers an electric cooker hob or immersion heater element – or the less reputable electric blanket.

Like in a cooker hob, the inner heating element is earth-sheathed and electrically insulated from the working surface so, if it is fitted correctly, there is no danger of electric shock. An added safety feature of underfloor heating, though, is that every underfloor circuit is connected to a dedicated fuse in the consumer unit, protected by its own circuit breaker.

Underfloor heating systems don’t need to be too hot

Another significant difference between underfloor heating and the cooker is that electric underfloor heating cables do not have to get very hot in order to warm the floor. Most systems incorporate a floor thermostat as well as a room thermostat, and the maximum floor temperature usually doesn’t need to be more than slightly higher than body temperature.

Because floors are much larger than radiators – which rely on pumping a much greater heat out of a much smaller surface area – they don’t have to be as hot to keep a warm room.

An article in the Daily Telegraph pointed out one weakness that might make an underfloor heating system more prone to breakdown, if not less safe.

Underfloor heating: use as thick wire as possible

Underfloor heating systems intended for use under bathroom floor tiles often have very thin heating cables – to minimise the raised-floor level, the newspaper says. It continues, “In order to engineer sufficient electrical resistance into the cable, the heating elements are sometimes made with very thin wire, wound in a helical pattern. Electricians tell me that this type of cable is more prone to damage during installation and can also develop ‘hot spots’ and burn-out.”

Otherwise, an underfloor system can provide efficient, comfortable and safe heating in your home for many years to come.

Robbens Systems is a company with many years of expertise in underfloor heating. With more than 15 years in the business, the company is ideally placed to help you plan and install underfloor heating in a wide range of buildings – from care showrooms to renovated buildings.