Electric UFH Virgin - about to lose it!!! - advice on turning on...

[ferrisbueller]

Hi, we have fitted a lovely Travertine floor over a 'Heatmat' electric UFH. It has been over a month now and I am now planning to turn on the ufh, as I think I have given plenty of time for flexible adhesive to dry out.

Can anyone give me advice on what kind of temperature I should start off with and no. of days to bring upto working temp ? BTW what is the 'normal' operating temp of UFH??:dizzy2:

Also, is it OK to turn electric UFH on and off during a day, or will it cause expansion and contraction problems and therefore cracking of joints ??

Total virgin with this, would welcome your help

 

[White Room]

Did you use a decoupling membrane for travertine

 

[DHTiling]

Start at 5dgs then increase couple dgs a day till to temp..after that do as you wish...

 

[ferrisbueller]

Bit unsure ....

We used screwed, tight centered hardibackerboard on suspended floor and thermal insulation board on concrete. Then screed and flexible adhesive with travertine.

oh dear.... don't think we have got a decoupling membrane!
Will this be a serious issue?

 

[Ajax123]

Bit unsure ....

We used screwed, tight centered hardibackerboard on suspended floor and thermal insulation board on concrete. Then screed and flexible adhesive with travertine.

oh dear.... don't think we have got a decoupling membrane!
Will this be a serious issue?

Just need to be careful about heating the floor. Don't go too quickly cos it will thermally shock the tiles and the may crack and debond. Uncoupling not an absolute necesity but would have helped to take up the internal stresses in the floor to help minimise the risks. I think as long as you bring it up slowly you will be ok.
My suggestion would be that you give the customer a written procedure to follow in the future. If they switch the heating off for any length of time they will be well advised to go through the warming procedure first. By length of time I mean several weeks. Is there not a procedure with the UFH kit.

 

[bert&ernie]

Start at 5dgs then increase couple dgs a day till to temp..after that do as you wish...

No need to start at 5dgs as the floor will have a migher ambient temp than this so you would be wasting your time.

At this colder time of the year i would start at 10dgs but even this is probably a bit low to start.

Then go as Dave says a couple of degrees each day. the best way to run the floor is to find a comfortable 'on' temp and then drop a few degrees for the 'off' temperature, doing this will mean that when the floor goes from 'off' to 'on' it has a smaller warmup time and will save you money. Starting from 'cold' each time means longer periods of the stat running at 100% once it has reached temperature it will run at about 30%

Do you know if you have a 'Air+Floor' thermostat or a 'floor' only? Which model of thermostat is it?