UFH & Engineered Oak Flooring

[pault123]

Hi
I have installed a UFH system - 2 zones - one area has a screeded floor with standard pipe system in screed, the other is aluminium spreader plates with floor boards over. Wundatrade system.

The whole area has engineered oak flooring over the top. Each zone controlled by hard wired stat and a floor probe set to 27 c.

The problem seems to be that the floor probe quickly reaches temperature and shuts the system down, thus making it hard to reach the required room temperature.

Wundatrade are going to talk me through checking the floor probe temperatures tomorrow, and assuming they're functioning ok I'll ask their advice.

Just wondering if anybody on here has any advice or has experienced this problem. Temp on manifold flow is around 50 c. All worked fine before the flooring went down and we switched to "all sensors".

 

[Sharp Point]

Hi
I have installed a UFH system - 2 zones - one area has a screeded floor with standard pipe system in screed, the other is aluminium spreader plates with floor boards over. Wundatrade system.

The whole area has engineered oak flooring over the top. Each zone controlled by hard wired stat and a floor probe set to 27 c.

The problem seems to be that the floor probe quickly reaches temperature and shuts the system down, thus making it hard to reach the required room temperature.

Wundatrade are going to talk me through checking the floor probe temperatures tomorrow, and assuming they're functioning ok I'll ask their advice.

Just wondering if anybody on here has any advice or has experienced this problem. Temp on manifold flow is around 50 c. All worked fine before the flooring went down and we switched to "all sensors".

Why have you used floor probes? I'd be inclined to go air sensor as the wood floor will give massive thermal resistance and heat up quite hot before the heat gets through, thus satisfying the stat. I've done one recently with engineered flooring and after a great deal of faffing about and the custard whining at me being cold, the tmv had to be about 50 degrees to get the heat to come through the floor. I installed the loops before screeding and came to start 2nd fix and was alarmed to see 20mm engineered flooring WITH underlay, although they said tiles were going down.

Ffs!!!!

Energy efficiency went straight outta the window!

 

[Sharp Point]

Hi
I have installed a UFH system - 2 zones - one area has a screeded floor with standard pipe system in screed, the other is aluminium spreader plates with floor boards over. Wundatrade system.

The whole area has engineered oak flooring over the top. Each zone controlled by hard wired stat and a floor probe set to 27 c.

The problem seems to be that the floor probe quickly reaches temperature and shuts the system down, thus making it hard to reach the required room temperature.

Wundatrade are going to talk me through checking the floor probe temperatures tomorrow, and assuming they're functioning ok I'll ask their advice.

Just wondering if anybody on here has any advice or has experienced this problem. Temp on manifold flow is around 50 c. All worked fine before the flooring went down and we switched to "all sensors".

Why have you used floor probes? I'd be inclined to go air sensor as the wood floor will give massive thermal resistance and heat up quite hot before the heat gets through, thus satisfying the stat. I've done one recently with engineered flooring and after a great deal of faffing about and the custard whining at me being cold, the tmv had to be about 50 degrees to get the heat to come through the floor. I installed the loops before screeding and came to start 2nd fix and was alarmed to see 20mm engineered flooring WITH underlay, although they said tiles were going down.

Ffs!!!!

Energy efficiency went straight outta the window!

 

[kozak1968]

Why have you used floor probes? I'd be inclined to go air sensor as the wood floor will give massive thermal resistance and heat up quite hot before the heat gets through, thus satisfying the stat. I've done one recently with engineered flooring and after a great deal of faffing about and the custard whining at me being cold, the tmv had to be about 50 degrees to get the heat to come through the floor. I installed the loops before screeding and came to start 2nd fix and was alarmed to see 20mm engineered flooring WITH underlay, although they said tiles were going down.

Ffs!!!!

Energy efficiency went straight outta the window!

The flooring manufacturers probably wont guarantee the floor if its over 27 degrees. They are worried the floor will expand and lift.

 

[Sharp Point]

The flooring manufacturers probably wont guarantee the floor if its over 27 degrees. They are worried the floor will expand and lift.

Its been fine so far for two months, luckily there's a good expansion joint around the room.

They know they've done wrong for not keeping me in the loop regard flooring choice. No heat would come through that made a difference at 30degrees.

Nay mind, that's what happens when you act clever.

 

[pault123]

So as kozak says its a requirement from the flooring co. and stated in the Wundatrade instructions to fit floor probes.
I agree the heat just gets trapped under the floor and shuts it down, but short of ignoring all the recommendations what can i do?

 

[Sharp Point]

So as kozak says its a requirement from the flooring co. and stated in the Wundatrade instructions to fit floor probes.
I agree the heat just gets trapped under the floor and shuts it down, but short of ignoring all the recommendations what can i do?

He responded to my post, your answer is to convert to air sensor.

 

[Sharp Point]

It maybe as simple as going into the thermostat settings and setting air temp setting instead of floor probe setting

 

[pault123]

I can do that but if there's a problem with the flooring I dont have a leg to stand on.

 

[Sharp Point]

I can do that but if there's a problem with the flooring I dont have a leg to stand on.

You'll have to go through the rigmarole that I've just been through. I turned the tmv up 5 degrees everyday until they informed me they were starting to feel warm enough.

 

[Sharp Point]

If your that bothered you could do with keeping an eye on the thermostat to keep the slab bwithin the manufacturer's recommended temp.

 

[oz-plumber]

Had this problem also regarding temperature of the engineered oak flooring.
27 C maximum they will guarantee.

I asked the company who supplied the flooring at a site meeting, what are they going to do when sunlight comes through a window and overheats the floor.

Are they going to demand that the customer has a sensor in/on the floor to switch the airconditioning on when the floor gets too hot.

It is not unrealistic that we get temperatures that exceed the maximum temperature rating of the floor inside houses in summer.

It's just a ridiculously low temperature specified so the flooring manufacturer can get out of warranty claims.

 

[oz-plumber]

Had this problem also regarding temperature of the engineered oak flooring.
27 C maximum they will guarantee.

I asked the company who supplied the flooring at a site meeting, what are they going to do when sunlight comes through a window and overheats the floor.

Are they going to demand that the customer has a sensor in/on the floor to switch the airconditioning on when the floor gets too hot.

It is not unrealistic that we get temperatures that exceed the maximum temperature rating of the floor inside houses in summer.

It's just a ridiculously low temperature specified so the flooring manufacturer can get out of warranty claims.

 

[magicno1]

What is the design temp and flow setting for that room on the manufacturers plans????

 

[pault123]

Can't recall the flow rate setting. Think its around 2 on the flow meter.
Temperature setting on manifold flow is around 40 c.
Spoke to Wundafloor and they suggest setting the floor probe to 27c let it heat until probe reaches that temperature and then check the floor surface temperature with an infared thermometer. If the floor temperature registers different to 27c I can adjust the floor probe temperature setting on the stat by the corresponding difference.
So if infrared shows 23c at that point I'll set probe to 31c on the stat.
Infrared ordered - hopefully that sorts the problem. Their view is that either the probe is out of calibration or its sensing the screed temperature rather than the floor surface.