Underfloor Heating

[Mitch]

We have under floor heating, I'm guessing it's a feature for this particular building. The pipes aren't plastic for our building. The caldera provides both floor heating and water heating (like a radiator). Temperature is adjusted with a dial, currently set at 65 since it's our only heat source. I actually like the feel of warm tile versus freezing tile. On the other hand, we have experienced a leak from the floor above ours. We lost use of our kitchen for 3 weeks due to mildew in the paint. All was made better, but it can be pretty inconvenient when bad things happen. With cement buildings, it makes sense. Good luck, Serafina.

Makes sense? All three people on here that have had them or dealt with them have had serious problems. Please explain how installing one on other peoples property, you translate to making sense? It's a public space. That means it's not your property to do as you wish without permission of the other owners of that property.

This thread reminds me of a quote of Bernard Shaw. It goes something like this, with names changed diplomatically: You can't help people. If a certain person needed to write a love letter, and that person asked Mitch how to write it and then William Shakspeare climbed out of his tomb and told that person how to write it, that person is just as likely to listen to Mitch.

 

[Mitch]

Makes sense? All three people on here that have had them or dealt with them have had serious problems. Please explain how installing one on other peoples property, you translate to making sense? It's a public space. That means it's not your property to do as you wish without permission of the other owners of that property.

This thread reminds me of a quote of Bernard Shaw. It goes something like this with names changed: You can't help people. If a certain person needed to write a love letter, and they asked Mitch how to write it and then William Shakspeare climbed out of his tomb and told that person how to write it, they are just as likely to listen to Mitch.

Not a double post, I stutter.

 

[GMXam]

Makes sense? All three people on here that have had them or dealt with them have had serious problems. Please explain how installing one on other peoples property, you translate to making sense? It's a public space. That means it's not your property to do as you wish without permission of the other owners of that property.
[/i]

Not the proper context of my statement..."With cement buildings, it makes sense"...to use floor heating, in general. I would never install in a multilevel building myself, but it's already in the building I live in, and I like it. True, I had a leak above in the three and half years here. I still turn it on on cold days. And, I'm sure everyone else in the building here does, too...because it's cold.

Serafina wants feedback. Based on your comments: If she gets approval from the apartment owner and the other required people, it would make sense if that's what she decides she wants to do.

 

[Mitch]

Not the proper context of my statement..."With cement buildings, it makes sense"...to use floor heating, in general. I would never install in a multilevel building myself, but it's already in the building I live in, and I like it. True, I had a leak above in the three and half years here. I still turn it on on cold days. And, I'm sure everyone else in the building here does, too...because it's cold.

Serafina wants feedback. Based on your comments: If she gets approval from the apartment owner and the other required people, it would make sense if that's what she decides she wants to do.

I'm not sure if your comment is a question without a question mark, or your interpration of what I stated? Either way, my response is no I would not reccomend her doing so even if her building approved it.

Of course these systems can make sense in various situations, I stated one in my original response. If I lived in a building where the building had it installed as yours, I would use it also. If it busts, i'm not liable for the damages. Hypothetically, would you continue to use it, knowing if it leaks again you would have to pay for damages?

In Serafina's case I would not reccomend it even if the buildings board approves it because she would more than likely still be liable for the potential damages as she will be using a common area. To put pressurized pipes in an area at her cost and risk with no access to them is not her most viable option. In fact if were her in her situation (barring a campfire in her living room) it would be the absolute last way I would choose to keep my toes warm.

There are various alternatives, the closet being running the pipes along the wall near the floor, possibly hidden behind a decorative baseboard of sorts, and have radiators above the floor. Of course by doing so your still going to have the water tank. but you will be able to access the pipes much easier.

If I were her, I would turn to Google for bathroom heating alternatives and their pros and cons.

I have a guest bedroom with no heat coming from our boiler as their is a damaged pipe too expensive for the building to repair now. I bought an electric heater with a glass front (decorative) it has a timer and a remote control to operate it's digital screen. It cost 2000 pesos. My niece is coming tommorow for a year. I will give you a progress report. Ever since the Scientology thread died, I have nothing better to do with my time.

 

[Girino]

In my home country it seems underfloor heating is very popular, hence my question. The apartment has two gas heaters which should be more than enough, though I must say that having gas burning in the room where I sleep does not something I am eager for. There are combo AC units but I haven't had yet the chance to put them to test.

From my observation the real issue is poor insulation. I still have to make up my mind about whether it is because cold weather is a novelty here or because constructors just go with the cheapest option.

Mitch, you sound very harsh. Keep it down a notch and go chase some other Scientology forum if that's what entertain you. We value your advice and your experience but you don't need to make yourself unpleasant.

 

[rickulivi]

My apartment in BA has the under floor heating system that Serafina is considering. I have a forced air heater in the US. Both have pros and cons. What I like of the under floor system is that it has no odor, no forced air coming thru pipes which reduces indoor pollution. What I don't like of it is that it's very difficult to regulate heat. You just can't get warm quickly nor can you turn it off quickly because the hot water stays in the pipes. Even in this winter in BA I have had the air conditioner in the bedroom on at night because the room is too warm for me and opening the windows did not get the room cold enough, and worse yet, invited the mosquitoes in.

My daughter in San Francisco has electrical wires in her bathroom floor. It's lovely when you step in the bathroom in a cold morning and the floor is warm. However, her electrical bill scares me.

There is no ideal heating system. To make it more complicated, people have different heat/cold sensations. While I am always hot, my wife is always cold. She wants the heater turned way up, and I don't want it on at all.

Good luck in finding your ideal system.

 

[Winterfell]

You can see I am a newcomer, joining just to give my opinion, I will introduce myself briefly on a footnote so that I can get straight to the point now. As you can see by my username, it's all very specific, the subject touches a nerve with me.

One thing I wanted to say: Winters here are most definitely NOT getting colder.

The other point I wanted to make is that about cold weather being "a novelty here". That's just plain ignorance, no offence, but you just have no idea of what you're talking about.

Thirdly, the problem is bad insulation of some houses (cheap construction), and that's a problem of recently built buildings. Most older constructions are very well built and insulated, sturdily made for proper cold like we used to have and don't have anymore.

To elaborate, I find it somewhat strange that people who have moved to BA in recent years judge that "winters are getting colder" and that "cold is a novelty here" when there's plenty of evidence to the contrary.

It used to be very common to hear people complain about chilblains, some 40 years ago when I grew up in BA*. Nowadays nobody seems to have chilblains anymore, nobody seems to know what chilblains are in fact. Ask any middle aged or elderly local (with good memory) or anyone over 40 - to 45 years of age who's grown up here.

The low temperatures we've been having for the last two or three days (July 16 to 18, 2017) used to be the normal temperature for most of the entire duration of winter, in the past in Buenos Aires. 30 years ago my house used to be a fridge inside and we had the heating turned on for most of the winter. Now the heating is almost never turned on, it's the same house but there's no need.

What's freaky is the warm winter we're having and the warm autumn we had. This cold right now, the cold of a small handful of days in June and the cold of two days at the end of May were just mere punctuations within a very warm winter, and a very warm autumn, and the warm weather is returning right away. Those isolated cold days mentioned above in this paragraph, that was what winter was like throughout, here, in BA, in the past.

Hearing people freaking out because of "the cold" like we're nearly in Antarctica when temperature is mid-teens, people going out dressed for sub-zero conditions and grimacing like braving a blizzard when it is 16° C and sunny, it just rubs me the wrong way up.

I find it deeply depressing and worrying because in my mind this is a sign that people are adapting rather too well to global warming, and that's an invitation for another discussion.


* About me:
Local, but have lived in London for close to 25 years, recently back in BA due to family circumstances. May participate later for other stuff or just bow out and vanish right after this.

 

[Winterfell]

You can see I am a newcomer, joining just to give my opinion, I will introduce myself briefly on a footnote so that I can get straight to the point now. As you can see by my username, it's all very specific, the subject touches a nerve with me.

One thing I wanted to say: Winters here are most definitely NOT getting colder.

The other point I wanted to make is that about cold weather being "a novelty here". That's just plain ignorance, no offence, but you just have no idea of what you're talking about.

Thirdly, the problem is bad insulation of some houses (cheap construction), and that's a problem of recently built buildings. Most older constructions are very well built and insulated, sturdily made for proper cold like we used to have and don't have anymore.

To elaborate, I find it somewhat strange that people who have moved to BA in recent years judge that "winters are getting colder" and that "cold is a novelty here" when there's plenty of evidence to the contrary.

It used to be very common to hear people complain about chilblains, some 40 years ago when I grew up in BA*. Nowadays nobody seems to have chilblains anymore, nobody seems to know what chilblains are in fact. Ask any middle aged or elderly local (with good memory) or anyone over 40 - to 45 years of age who's grown up here.

The low temperatures we've been having for the last two or three days (July 16 to 18, 2017) used to be the normal temperature for most of the entire duration of winter, in the past in Buenos Aires. 30 years ago my house used to be a fridge inside and we had the heating turned on for most of the winter. Now the heating is almost never turned on, it's the same house but there's no need.

What's freaky is the warm winter we're having and the warm autumn we had. This cold right now, the cold of a small handful of days in June and the cold of two days at the end of May were just mere punctuations within a very warm winter, and a very warm autumn, and the warm weather is returning right away. Those isolated cold days mentioned above in this paragraph, that was what winter was like throughout, here, in BA, in the past.

Hearing people freaking out because of "the cold" like we're nearly in Antarctica when temperature is mid-teens, people going out dressed for sub-zero conditions and grimacing like braving a blizzard when it is 16° C and sunny, it just rubs me the wrong way up.

I find it deeply depressing and worrying because in my mind this is a sign that people are adapting rather too well to global warming, and that's an invitation for another discussion.


* About me:
Local, but have lived in London for close to 25 years, recently back in BA due to family circumstances. May participate later for other stuff or just bow out and vanish right after this.

 

[syngirl]

We had underfloor heating in our place in Las Canitas. The guy above us was pumping his all the time, he lost a tonne of heat because he was on the top floor, so he just cranked it (or perhaps he just loved to walk around in his underwear all the time, for all I know). Our place, we didn`t even bother turning ours on -- the neighbours was way too strong so we had to sleep with our windows wide open in the middle of winter. So I don`t know if it was badly done, or your neighbours will just benefit more from you putting it in than you will....

 

[Winterfell]

To clarify and in a nutshell, what I meant, in better English, is: The small amount of properly cold days we had this year, that's what winter used to be like in the past, here in BA, all winter throughout.

What's freaky is the warm winter we're having and the warm autumn we had. This cold right now, the cold of a small handful of days in June and the cold of two days at the end of May were just mere punctuations within a very warm winter, and a very warm autumn, and the warm weather is returning right away. Those isolated cold days mentioned above in this paragraph, that was what winter was like throughout, here, in BA, in the past.