Power of heating elements

The main types of electric underfloor heating are film (infrared), thermostat and heating cable. As for the film coating, it is customary to use it when laying the system under laminate and wax, and mats and cable are used to warm the floor from ceramic tiles. Each of the listed heating elements has its own characteristics: power, thickness, heating temperature, etc. Now we will consider how much electricity each floor consumes for heating.

So, the power consumption of heating elements is as follows:

• Film coating – from 150 to 400 W / ^m2 ;
• Heating cable – from 10 to 60 W/m (at a rate of 30 W). Typically, about 5 turns of material are laid per square meter of surface, so that the total power is 120-150 W/ ^m2 ;
• Thermostat – from 120 to 200 W / m2 ⁽  average consumption depending on the characteristics floor heating manufacturers DEVI and TEPLOLUX).

As you can see, the power of electric floor heating averages from 120 to 200 W / m2 ^, which allows you to make a system for complete heating of the room, and to help.

Cost technology

To independently determine how much energy a heat-insulated floor consumes, you should use the following formula:

W = S * P * 0.4,

where:

• S is the area of ​​the room;
• P is the power of the system;
• 0.4 – a coefficient taking into account how much of the floor surface of the room is covered with cable / film. In other words, 0.4*S is the effective heating area.

So, for example, if you decide to calculate the energy consumption of electric floor heating with a power of 150 W / m2 ⁱⁿ  a living room of 25 m2 ^, the formula will look like this:

W = 25 * 150 * 0.4 = 1500 watts, which means a consumption of 1.5 kWh.

Hourly consumption is known, but there is more to come. As a rule, the heating system works 8-9 hours a day, when all residents are at home. Total daily electricity costs will be around 12-13.5 kilowatts. By simple calculations, you can determine that the monthly consumption of a warm floor will be approximately 360-400 kilowatts.

I immediately draw your attention to the fact that these calculations are very difficult and, as a rule, the actual consumption is 2 times less. This is due to the fact that you can also use thermostats, which reduces energy consumption by another 40%. In total, the system will consume not 360 kilowatts per month, but 216, plus, for example, we chose a power of 150 W, and you can use a cable with characteristics of 90-120 W / m2 ^, which may also be enough in individual conditions!

The last thing you need to do is double the energy consumed by the system monthly by the cost of one kilowatt of energy in your city. Total, you get the final energy consumption of the system, on the basis of which you can make an analysis of whether such heating is beneficial or not. As you can see, the calculation formula is very simple. Using this technology, you can easily calculate the energy consumption of a warm floor in any room: bedroom, kitchen, bathroom and even on the balcony, the main thing is to have a calculator at hand!

I would also like to note that for heating a house with infrared film materials, the calculation of power consumption is based on the fact that for 1 square meter of an unheated room, about 60 W of material power is needed. For a heated room, this value is reduced to 20-30 watts. This is due to the fact that the film has high efficiency and low energy consumption, which is, in principle, the advantage of infrared heaters of any type!

How to reduce costs

Above, you saw how much electricity a warm floor consumes. If you calculate for all rooms, a decent amount of “light” will appear at the end of the month. Of course, when paying for the first receipt, you will think about how to reduce consumption and make the heating system economical.

So, I bring to your attention, tips that will significantly reduce electricity consumption by underfloor heating in the house:

1. Take care of quality insulation at home. It has been experimentally determined that good thermal insulation reduces energy consumption by 35-40%, and this is almost half!
2. Make sure to install the thermostat on the wall at the coldest point in the room. Thus, the heating will turn on when the temperature drops below the set point and vice versa – it turns off when the room is sufficiently heated. Temperature controllers can, as we said, reduce up to 40% of electricity consumption.
3. Install a multi-tariff electricity meter in the house, where the electricity tariff at night is 1.5-2 times lower (depending on the region). In any case, an electric heated floor will work in your presence, and that is only in the evening when you come home from work. So why pay more? About the most important  advantages and disadvantages of double electricity meters  we told you, while providing customer reviews.
4. Apply the material only to the usable area. It is not necessary to install under furniture and household appliances, this is not recommended from the point of view of reducing consumption, as it is prohibited by heating material manufacturers themselves.
5. You can sacrifice a little heating by lowering the temperature in the room by just one degree. An insignificant donation allows you to reduce the energy consumption of electric floor heating by up to 5%!

That’s all I wanted to tell you about this problem. Now you know how much electricity this heating system spends, and how to independently reduce energy consumption for underfloor heating!