Underfloor heating prices depend on the quality of the product you’re buying and who you’re buying from. Do not assume because the price for your system is high that you’ve buying the best products or because the price is low that you’re buying junk. Almost every company selling underfloor heating sells a slightly different combination and variation of products and some of these companies add on enormous profit margins while passing off their expensive product as superior when it simply is not. Beware of being caught out! Talk to your seller in depth and learn exactly what it is you’re buying and how they justify their price.
When buying your underfloor heating system you want to get it right first time. Getting it wrong can be very costly to fix. The ideal setup is a one time install that will last you at least 25 years with little to zero maintenance. But not all wet underfloor heating products are the same, and some products being sold on the market today are prone to much shorter life cycles and costly fixes later down the line.
When you consider buying an underfloor heating system, the main components of the system are the parts you should be spending your money on since these are the parts that are the heart of the system- the pipe, manifold, fittings and pump unit. The rest of the system- tools, clips, insulation roll, thermostats etc, these are all secondary and have little to no difference in quality from one seller to the next. Any price differences you’ll notice for the same product comes down to the sellers preferred price and is not reflective on the quality.
Pipe is arguably THE most important material in the system and it cannot be stressed how important it is to get this part right because once it’s laid and covered it’s a massive undertaking to fix or replace. Unlike a radiator system that uses the same old copper piping used in every house up and down the country, underfloor heating pipe is NOT all the same. There are numerous types of pipe and some are simply better suited for warm water underfloor heating than others.
The type of pipes you’ll come across are Pex, Pex-Al-Pex, Pert-Al-Pert, and Polybutylene. The best pipe for underfloor heating is widely regarded as Pex-Al-Pex or Pex/Aluminium/Pex. A layer layer of aluminium is sandwiched between two layers of pex and combined with the cross linked structure of this polyethylene pipe is perfected suited for underfloor heating and offers a number of advantages to other types of pipe- the best heat transfer, extremely long life cycles and much lower costs to the end user.
Be cautious of an underfloor heating system that uses polybutylene pipe. Why this pipe is still used in underfloor heating is highly questionable but some companies continue to sell it. In the United States and Canada polybutylene has in fact been withdrawn from the market completely after a class action lawsuit which resulted in it being removed from building code approved usage. One of the problems this pipe suffers is that chlorine compounds in water can cause the deterioration of the internal structure leading to the ingress of oxygen into the system and corrosion of metal components (manifold, fittings) resulting in eventual costly replacements. Avoid if you can and chose a pipe that does not have these or similar problems. Read more about polybutylene here on Wikipedia.
Pert-Al-Pert pipe is a very good product and very suitable in underfloor heating although it does have a lower heat transfer. In other words, less heat radiates from the pipe so to get the same heat output from your ufh system using pex-al-pex pipe you would need to run a pert-al-pert system hotter which ends up costing more to run.
Who to Choose?
When you come to buy underfloor heating get at as many quotes as you can. If there is a big difference between the lowest and highest price take the time to find out why. Do not confuse the highest price as selling the best product- it simply isn’t true. A high price could be due to high manufacturing costs because of where it’s made but this doesn’t make the product any better, just more expensive to produce which the customer ends up paying for. Find out where the product was made and what certificates and approval ratings it carries- this helps identify the good from the bad and the overpriced from the well priced. Remember, the best that your product should do is last a very long time without failing, rusting or breaking while performing continually at it’s best, and high prices does not automatically grant that!
As a final point to consider, always buy an underfloor heating system that uses pex-al-pex pipe. It is the recognized standard in underfloor heating and in almost all instances comes with full United Kingdom ‘WRAS’ approval- a conformance mark that demonstrates that an item complies with high standards set out by water regulations in the United Kingdom and is granted to only the highest quality products fit for use in UK domestic water applications. If your underfloor heating pipe is WRAS approved it has already proved itself as an extremely high quality product! Our ufh pipe and fittings by Rifeng come with full WRAS approval and are amoungst the highest quality products on the market today, a fact we are proud of and that our customers can benefit from.
For more information help or advice please call our team now on 01625-618508.
Electronic Turn Dial– these are the most basic kind of thermostat you can buy. Electronic turn dial thermostats are cheap, functional and simple to use with zero fuss and basic operation. They have no programmable features are ideal for use in smaller rooms or those areas less used in the home where funtionality, features and looks are not important.
