Water underfloor heating system, using an electric boiler?

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S_function

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I want install underfloor heating (UFH) and, apparently, because of the wooden floor boards we can’t use an electric UFH system, so we have to use a water system. But I don’t have a gas boiler to make hot water. There are electric boilers which apparently- according to google- will be ok for UFH, but a bloke in a shop gave me a 10 minute long teeth drying inhalation at the suggestion. I can’t find anything sensible online so I thought I’d ask. Is it ok? Thanks!
 
Assuming your electricity supply is suitable it can be done and will work, but the running costs will be astronomical.

Is gas available at the location? Or space for a gas tank or oil tank?
 
Hi, thanks.
Gas is in the house. I thought putting in a new gas boiler would be a bit tricky and costly. I assumed it would be a lot simpler to have an electric one. But if the cost would be huge then it may not be worth it. If the boiler is just used for the UFH, and considering the temp doesn't have to be that high would it really be astronomical?
 
The existing heating is warm air. And the existing hot water is from a storage heater. So i can't use them for the UFH.
 
Heatrae Sadia do a variant of the Amptec Electric boiler specifically for UFH, but I'm not sure what the difference between that and the standard Amptec Electric Flow boiler. Perhaps the temperature range is lower, and the pump overruns longer than standard. Expensive to run, so this may be a good time to consider replacing the warm air with rads.
Have you considered other ways to heat the UFH, eg heat pump?
 
Personally I'd go for the gas boiler if you already have gas. An electric boiler might be a bit cheaper to fit, but it will be around four times more expensive to run
 
I've got one in the back of the van which may or may not be fubar'd :D

Edit: sadia electric boiler is what I refer to above :mrgreen:
 
Thanks for all your advice. As mentioned we have warm air central heating but it's not very good at heating the downstairs. It's an open plan house and the heat just rises upstairs. I thought getting additional underfloor heating would make the difference and mean downstairs would be much more pleasant. However, as it sounds like the cost of running an electric boiler, even just for the UFH, is astronomical, then maybe it's not worth it.
 
S_function said:
I thought putting in a new gas boiler would be a bit tricky and costly.
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Not much difference - electric boilers are many £100s to £1000+. Just like gas ones.
Electric boilers will require a new circuit installing, and probably a new consumer unit as well.

S_function said:
I I assumed it would be a lot simpler to have an electric one.
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The majority of the installation and cost (as in the underfloor piping etc.) will be the same.

Electricity is 4x more expensive than gas.
 
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