For most country houses, dachas and households in the private sector, one of the most convenient and efficient ways of heating is underfloor heating. The technology turned out to be so convenient and practical that the number of supporters of this heating system is growing every day. The main reason for such popularity is the simplicity of design, high efficiency and not as complicated installation as it seems at first glance. A correctly made calculation will allow you to achieve not only the efficient operation of such a residential heating system, but also allow you to forget about the hassle associated with the operation of the structure itself for a long time.
Having superficial engineering knowledge and skills, you can use a calculator for calculations, which will do everything for you by itself, giving out the final technological parameters. We will try to find the answer to the question of how to independently calculate a warm water floor for your apartment, house or bathroom, without resorting to the services of professionals. What methods are used for this?
Features of the underfloor heating system. The value of the calculations
How to calculate the water floor, if you do not have a private house, but a city apartment in a multi-storey residential building? How to make such a heating system if you are only interested in seasonal heating and in a limited space? These and many other questions have to be solved by the townsfolk when it comes to realizing the desire to make efficient and high-quality heating at home.
Let's start with the fact that underfloor heating is fundamentally different from the traditional radiator heating method. The heat in this case is evenly distributed throughout the entire interior of the room, rising with warm air currents from the floor to the ceiling. The air in the room warms up almost evenly. Such a heating scheme can be used as the main heating option or be used as an auxiliary, secondary source of heat in the house.
For example: heating according to the "warm floor" scheme is very important for bathrooms, rooms in which small children live and stay.
On a note: the difference in air temperature near the floor and under the ceiling is no more than 2-4 0 C. There are no cold corners in a room heated by warm floors.
Even at the design stage, an important place is occupied by the calculations of your heating system. Any mistake made in the calculations is fraught with domestic inconvenience and additional costs that will arise when technical defects are eliminated.
What is the peculiarity of the calculation method. Which is better, counting by hand or using a calculator
Process calculations at the design stage not only give you an idea of how the heating system will behave in operation, but also give you a realistic idea of what you will face. You can pre-calculate the amount of consumables, get a ready-made heating scheme. Calculations are done manually or on a calculator that you can use right now.
If you have decided in principle that a water-heated floor will become your main source of heat in the house, the accuracy of the calculations in this situation should be perfect. Why?
The thing is that such a choice puts before you a lot of nuances, including the preparation of regulatory documents, as well as the selection of materials necessary for installation. Here the stakes are very high. Your comfort in the house and well-being depend on the correctness of the calculations, therefore it is better to entrust the project and all hydraulic and thermal calculations to a specialized company.
The second option, when a warm floor is an auxiliary option for you, looks much simpler and more attractive. You can calculate such a design yourself, using your own knowledge, professional advice or using an online calculator. When entering data for automatic calculation, a lot of nuances are taken into account. You should enter data on the number of storeys of the building, on the type and area of \u200b\u200bthe dwelling. Often other technical information and other technological parameters are required.
What is the manual calculation method based on?
The first and main aspect to focus on is the layout of your heating system. Typically, a water floor is a pipeline laid in a special way on the floor and covered with a screed or stacked structure on top, so in most cases your scheme will look like this:
- thermal insulation layer;
- heating water circuit;
- collector;
- a set of shut-off valves, including inlet and outlet valves, a tap for supplying tap water and a drain valve;
- fittings, fasteners used in the installation of the structure.
After you have an idea of what is in your house, technological parameters are taken into account. This should include:
- the area of the heated room;
- optimal temperature conditions in the room;
- the scale of heat losses in a residential area;
- type of flooring.
On a note: those who are going to equip their apartment with underfloor heating need to take into account secondary factors. This includes the degree of glazing of the apartment, the level of thermal insulation of the premises, the thickness of the screed and the height of the ceilings. Without taking into account these data, your heating system will not be fully calculated. In the future, already in the process of heating the room, you may encounter a number of issues that will require additional effort and costs from you related to the elimination of the problem.
Here it would be appropriate to note the following aspect. Particular attention should be paid to wooden or parquet flooring. Wood has poor thermal conductivity, unlike concrete screed and tiles, so it is necessary to calculate a heating system with double the power.
How individual elements of the heating system are independently calculated
To begin with, we present to your attention a simple and understandable diagram - a drawing that shows the location of water circuits in residential premises.
Calculate power should begin with elementary, simple steps. The location plan of the water heating circuit will become the basis for subsequent calculations. The diagram usually indicates the location of window and door openings.
Such schemes are carried out on graph paper, on a scale of 10 mm it corresponds to 0.5 m.
Important! Your water circuit layout will be useful to you or other occupants of the housing during the overhaul. Lack of information on how the pipeline of the heating system is located can lead to an unintentional break in the water pipe.
Before drawing up the layout of the pipeline in all rooms, pay attention to the step with which the installation of the water circuit and the diameter of the pipe will be carried out. the data will be decisive for achieving the highest possible efficiency of your heating system.
Important to remember! The effective heating area when using a warm floor should not exceed 20 m 2. Large rooms require laying two or more water circuits, each of which will have its own separate entrance and exit. For greater efficiency of the heating system, the permissible length of the water circuit should not exceed 100 meters.
To determine the usable heated area, you should start from the step. The following ratios are usually applied:
- with a step of 15 cm - the usable area should not exceed 12 square meters. meters;
- with a step of 20 cm - no more than 16 m 2;
- at a step of 25 cm - no more than 20 m 2;
- a step of 30 cm allows you to efficiently heat a room with an area of 25 m 2.
According to experts, it is better to obviously reduce the indicated area by 1.5-2 square meters. meters, if the length of the pipe from the connection point exceeds 15 m. When dividing the water circuit into separate sections, try to make them approximately the same. In extreme cases, it is allowed to exceed the length of one contour over the other by 20-30%, no more.
How to calculate the pitch of a water pipe and its length
One of the important elements in the installation of water floors is the pipe pitch. The water heating circuit is laid only on the basis of design data and taking into account the calculations made. Clear rules and standards work here:
- edge zones - the step is 10 cm;
- the rest of the zones, the pipe pitch varies with a difference of 5 cm, i.e. in other words, 15, 20 and 25 cm. But not more than 30 cm.
The greatest heat losses occur at the locations of windows and doors. The pipe, which is laid on the floor, should be located at a distance of 20-25 cm from the wall. The step that is used for laying the pipe varies between 15-30 cm. It is possible to decide in advance which step will be better in each case, only if you have a pipe at hand. Its diameter and type of material is key in this case.
For reference: limitations are related to the peculiarity of the perception of the human foot of heat emanating from the floor. The larger the pipe pitch, the greater the perceived temperature difference in the floor areas.
The length of the heating water circuit is calculated by a simple formula: L \u003d S / N x 1.1
S is the area of the room in which the pipeline is supposed to be laid;
N is the step when installing the pipe;
1.1 is the stock of the pipe, taking into account the turns.
Having received the result, add to it 2 meters of pipe necessary for connecting the water circuit to the collector, for connecting the supply and return.
For example: we calculate the length of the pipe for a room of 12 m 2. The distance from the collector to the warm floor is 7 meters. Step. The pipes used in this case are 15 cm. As a result, we get: 12 / 0.15 x 1.1 + (7 x 2) = 102 m.
Eventually
In conclusion, we can say that every technical nuance, parameter is important for the accuracy of calculations. Before proceeding with the purchase of equipment and consumables, make some simple calculations. This can be done manually, on your own or with the help of an electronic calculator.
It is important for yourself to learn a simple truth, what kind of underfloor heating do you need, as the main heating system or as an auxiliary means of heating. Take into account the power of the heat source, the area of \u200b\u200bthe premises, the required temperature parameters. All of the above data and other technological parameters will help you get ready-made calculation data with high accuracy, which you can rely on when installing a warm floor at home.
