Floor Heating Issues – What to Do If Floor Heating Is Not Warm Enough

floorheatingheating

I've just moved in a one-room flat which has floor heating. I thought that floor heating would be enough but it turns out to be a disaster. The room is not heating as a normal room with a radiator. I can only feel the heat coming from the pipes which are located under on several places. Is this normal with floor heating or is there something wrong with my flat? The constructor of the house came and checked and told me that everything is as it is supposed to be.

What should I do to make the flat warmer?

Missing information:
You can control the temperature with a thermostat, which is maximum 30 celcius degrees. Outside is approx. 0 degrees. The floor is parquet. I have no knowledge about pipe layout though. The floor is not uniformly warm but only specific parts of the floor.

A little update: Today, they issued a mail to all of the occupants regarding the heating system is broken and they'll have to fix it. When I asked them to check if it is broken, they told me that it was working just the way it should be. Anyways, thanks for all the help, it had already begun to get warmer when I started to keep it open all the time, let's see what will happen after they fix it.

Best Answer

Floor heating systems are very slow and normally meant to run 24/7 except for long-term absence (> 3 days), if the building hull is insulated to some extent or if it is a huge building with high volume-to-surface ratio.

Do the neighbours have the same problem? Which floor is it? How many outside walls does this flat have? What is below the floor, what is above the ceiling? Any valves besides thermostats in the flat?

The warm pads could be caused by domestic hot water (circulation) lines.

Reasons for underperforming:

  • In new buildings, much energy is needed to dry the walls, floors and ceilings.
  • In older systems, clogging could be the problem since the tube material (plastic) allowed for oxygen and other gases to diffuse into the system increasing corrosion at the metal parts. Also bypass valves can be blocked (not closing ⟶ more or less heating water is bypassing the room) by tiny rust parts.
  • There could be valves for each room (in this case for each apartment), near the heating system or somewhere hidden, which are meant to adjust the throughput which might be different e.g. due to unequal tube/hose loop lengths. These valves are different from thermostat valves and could be de-adjusted.
  • Incorrect settings or design of the heating system, or not enough maintenance, especially with heat pumps. Heating water temperature too low, pump power too low, incorrect location for outside temperature sensor (on sunny south side instead of north), restrictions by timers etc.
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