Underfloor heating - controllable per room???

Hello everyone,

how well can underfloor heating systems be controlled nowadays? Supposedly, it should even work on a per-room basis.

If I now imagine a single-family house with underfloor heating in the basement, ground floor, and upper floor... can the temperature really be controlled properly today? So, for example, can I set 19 degrees in the basement; 21 degrees in the kitchen and living room on the ground floor; 20 degrees in the hallway, guest bathroom, and study on the ground floor; and on the upper floor, 21 degrees in the children's rooms, 23 in the bathroom, and 18 in the bedroom? Is that theoretically possible or does it also work in practice?

I ask because I currently live in an apartment in a multi-family house and our underfloor heating cannot be controlled properly at all, even though there are sensors and controllers in every room. The house was built in 2000 and we have underfloor heating in every room except the bedroom and children's rooms, where there are regular radiators. We only have underfloor heating in the bathroom and living room an – then the bathroom and living room are at 24 degrees (in the other rooms a comfortable 20-21 degrees) oder aus, then it’s only 19 degrees, which is too cold for us. Nothing in between is possible. We also only turn the underfloor heating on in the bathroom and living room; we don’t heat the other rooms.

The heating company has also been here several times, but the control still doesn’t work any better.

Hello,

how good is it nowadays to control underfloor heating?
Supposedly it should even work per room.

Not just supposedly, it works.

If I now imagine a single-family house with underfloor heating in the basement, ground floor, and upper floor... can the temperature really be controlled properly today?
So can I, for example, set 19 degrees in the basement; 21 degrees in the kitchen and living room on the ground floor; 20 degrees in the hallway, guest WC, and study on the ground floor; and 21 degrees in the children's rooms upstairs, 23 degrees in the bathroom, and 18 degrees in the bedroom?
Is that theoretically possible or does it also work in practice?

You can, if a heating load calculation is done in advance that considers the different temperature levels/rooms. If 21° is assumed uniformly, then it is still okay in one room but too cold in the next.

I ask because I am currently living in an apartment in a multi-family house and our underfloor heating cannot be regulated properly at ALL, even though there are sensors and controllers in every room. The building is from 2000 and we have underfloor heating in every room except the bedroom and children’s room, which have normal radiators. For us, the underfloor heating is only on in the bathroom and living room – then we have 24 degrees (in the other rooms a pleasant 20-21 degrees) or off, then it’s only 19 degrees, which is too cold for us. Nothing in between. Although we only have the underfloor heating on in the bathroom and living room, we don’t heat in the other rooms.

The heating company has also been here several times, but the control still doesn’t work better.

Fourteen years are almost worlds in the development of underfloor heating. On the other hand, I could also imagine that – besides the different heating media radiators + underfloor heating – part of it lies in your heating behavior, that it doesn’t work properly for you. Heating only 2 rooms must confuse the technology.

Underfloor heating is still a bit sluggish, but nothing like the systems from 2000 anymore. So in new buildings set the rooms to the desired temperature and keep your hands off the controller. By adapting to the outside temperature, the underfloor heating regulates itself almost automatically and the feeling of sluggishness can’t arise in the first place.

Rhenish greetings

That already sounds good. I hoped that a lot had changed there.

Again about our current apartment. Almost nobody is ever in the bedroom and the children's room, so it doesn’t make sense to heat those. So I could still turn on the heating in the kitchen. But then it will get warm there as well and the living room won’t be any less warm. I just think something is fundamentally wrong there. In the living room, for example, even the 2 meters in front of the terrace door aren’t heated at all. And I recently read somewhere that normally the heating loops are laid extra tightly right there. But if it really works out with the property now, I honestly don’t care anymore because we won’t be living here for much longer. And the heating costs are very manageable as well.

Am I basically approaching the planning correctly at the moment? I first think about what I would like to have (number of rooms, fireplace, roof shape, underfloor heating, temperature in the rooms) and then at some point start to think concretely about which technology will allow me to build and heat it most economically?

I’m really overwhelmed right now, I have read here often that you can only plan the technology (gas, solar, heat pump, etc.) once the energy demand is fixed. But the energy demand also depends a lot on the planning (which materials are used, how thick the walls are, etc.) or am I seeing that wrong? I really don’t know how to best approach the whole thing right now.

But keep in mind that in modern well-insulated houses you hardly get any temperature differences. I currently have 21°C on the ground floor and upstairs I have the heating off everywhere except the bathroom. I still hardly get the bedrooms below 19.5°...

As a construction expert says, a properly set-up system is roughly adjusted once... then finely tuned in the first few months, and after that, you shouldn’t be turning any more controllers... otherwise, something is wrong with the system...

My system regulates itself... you don’t have to do anything anymore...

The choice of the heat generator is a matter of the wallet and your own preference fossil or non-fossil, etc.

Good evening,

first of all - you should not rely exclusively on learned or acquired half-knowledge for everything relevant to house construction. Don’t you have a seller/advisor you trust? At least for a consultation?

Nochmal zu unserer jetzigen Wohnung. Im Schlafzimmer und Kinderzimmer ist ja fast nie jemand drin, das macht ja keinen Sinn, das zu heizen.

Why does that not make sense to you? Have you ever heard of thermal bridges? These also occur if you only heat individual rooms. The easiest way to explain this is with a boiling kettle. Once boiling, it only requires a little heat to maintain the temperature. If you turn off the electricity/gas, the tea water cools down and you need significantly more energy – ramping up also costs money – to bring the water back to boiling.

Completely turning off, in my view, makes no sense at all, because a once set temperature regulates itself automatically via the outdoor sensor. You should also handle night setback temperatures moderately => kettle that has to reheat again.

Aber der Energiebedarf hängt doch auch sehr von der Planung ab (welche Materialien werden verbaut, wie dick sind die Wände usw.) oder seh ich das falsch?

Yes and no equally. You decide on a new building according to the Energy Saving Ordinance or KfW level and the rest is taken care of automatically based on the required calculations of the heating demand by your building partner. Not every heat generator is equally suitable for every building project; the values of your building project will show you the alternatives.

If you want information about the possible alternatives beforehand – before you have found a building partner – you can commission a TGA planner with the required calculations.

Rhenish regards