Hello, dear readers of the Electrician's Notes website.
I planned to make a warm floor in my bathroom at the beginning of November. After reading a lot of reviews and suggestions on the forums, I opted for the Thermomat heating mat, or Thermo for short, from a Swedish manufacturer.
The heating cable TVK has two cores with a cross section of 2.8 (mm) in double Teflon insulation. The inner sheath is made of aluminum foil (shield), and the outer sheath is made of PVC, which gives the cable additional strength and tightness, as well as uniform temperature distribution along its entire length. The cable is attached to a plastic reinforcing mesh of a certain size.
This is how it all looks.
This heating mat is also convenient in that it can be installed directly into the layer of tile adhesive. It turns out "thin warm floor". And according to the manufacturer's instructions, it can even be installed on old tiles.
The size of my bathroom is modest, so I chose a TVK-130 heating mat kit worth 3528 rubles. Here are its characteristics:
- heating cable brand - TVK
- operating voltage 230 (V)
- plastic mesh size 0.5x2 (m)
- heating area 1 (sq.m)
- power 130 (W)
- resistance 407 (ohm)
- maximum heating temperature up to 90°С
The supply connecting wires (made of copper) have a cross section of 1.0 (mm2) and a length of 3 (m). They are also called "cold" because they are not heating, but only connect the TVK cable to the thermostat.
- phase L - brown
- zero N - blue color
- shield grounding PE - green-yellow
This kit also includes a piece of corrugation for laying a temperature sensor (temperature sensor), which comes with a thermostat. There was no thermostat in this kit, so I had to choose it separately.
How to choose a thermostat for underfloor heating
I chose the simplest mechanical thermostat TR-110 from the National Comfort company.
Its cost was 1499 rubles.
It was possible to buy an electronic one, where there are many functions, an LCD display and the possibility of programming, but it will be more expensive in price, and I don’t need so many “bells and whistles” in the bathroom. Another thing if I used it in a water heating system.
By the way, the warranty for TR-110 is 2 years from the date of purchase.
Here is a check for all purchased floor heating equipment:
Total, 5000 rubles.
Purpose and technical data of the thermostat TR-110
TP-110 is required to maintain the set temperature (from +5°C to +45°C) of the heated floor surface in the bathroom, kitchen and other rooms. This happens with the help of a temperature sensor that comes with it in the kit. In fact, this is an ordinary thermistor, in which, depending on the temperature, the resistance changes in one direction or another.
Technical details:
In terms of switching ability, it suits me, because. the power of the warm floor is only 130 (W) or 0.6 (A).
If your underfloor heating load current exceeds the maximum load current of the thermostat, then you need to use a contactor.
Installation and installation of a thermostat
First of all, it is necessary to determine the place of installation of the thermostat. I already had a socket installed in my bathroom, so in order not to lay a new line, I decided to install the thermostat just below the socket and connect it with a cable from it.
Then, between the outlet and the thermostat, I made a power cable for the TR-110 thermostat.
In my case, a VVGng cable (3x2.5) was laid from the apartment shield to the outlet. This line is protected by a circuit breaker 16 (A) and RCD 25 (A), 30 (mA). Therefore, to power the thermostat, I laid a cable of the same brand and section - VVGng (3x2.5).
If you are making repairs in the entire apartment, then it is advisable to lay a separate supply line for the warm floor from the apartment shield with a copper cable with a cross section of 2.5 sq. mm. This line must be protected by a circuit breaker 16 (A) and RCD 25 (A), 30 (mA).
For concealed laying of the supply wires of the TVK-130 heating cable and the corrugation with a temperature sensor, I made a vertical strobe in the wall from the floor to the thermostat's socket.
It remains to hollow out a channel (continuation of the strobe on the wall) in the floor at a distance of 30-50 (cm) into the heating zone for laying a corrugated tube with a temperature sensor. We immediately leave it in the channel.
Then you need to spread the heating mat TVK-130.
To do this, we will remove all debris, sharp objects and dust after chasing, prime the old floor surface (concrete base - screed).
Carefully place the heating mat on the floor surface in such a way that the temperature sensor is located at the same distance from the heating cable, and fasten it to plastic brackets.
Then we apply tile glue to the grid and lay the tiles. According to the instructions, the total layer (tile adhesive + tile coating) should not exceed 2 (cm).
On the case of almost any thermostat, a diagram of its connection is shown. My case is no exception.
The temperature sensor (thermistor) is always connected to terminals 1 and 2. The polarity does not matter.
The voltage 220 (V) of the thermostat power supply is supplied to terminal 6 (phase L) and terminal 5 (zero N).
I hope you know how to find the phase of the power supply. If you forgot, then read the article about or.
1. For two-core cable
In my case, a two-core TVK cable is used. Therefore, we will connect it to the thermostat according to the following scheme.
We connect the brown wire (phase L) to terminal 3, the blue wire (zero N) to terminal 4, the yellow-green wire (screen grounding PE) to terminal 5.
Here I ask you to pay attention to the fact that the screen of the heating cable is supposed to be zeroed. If in your apartment, then the screen should not be grounded, but grounded. Otherwise, if you have an RCD installed in your shield, then it will be.
Unfortunately, this thermostat does not have a ground terminal (PE), so you need to connect the screen of the TVK cable to the PE conductor of the network using. And lay the connection itself in the free space of the socket.
On some models of thermostats, a PE ground terminal is already installed, which greatly speeds up the installation process.
2. For single core cable
If you use a single-core heating cable, then its wires (usually white) are connected to terminals 3 and 4, and the yellow-green wire (PE screen ground) to terminal 5.
Here is a similar situation with the zeroing of the screen of the heating cable. Read the explanation for this just above.
To install the thermostat in the socket, you need to remove the “wheel” of adjustment and bend the two latches. Thus, you will remove the front part of the regulator. Lead the rest into the socket and fix it with screws around the perimeter.
How to use the thermostat TR-110
On the outside of the thermostat are:
- switch
- "wheel" for setting the desired temperature
- red on position LED
The switch has two positions. If “0” is set, then the thermostat is disabled, if “1”, then the thermostat goes into operation and monitors and maintains the set temperature of the heated floor surface.
Just the same, with the help of the “wheel” the required temperature is adjusted according to the applied scale.
When the red LED is on, it means that the thermostat has turned on the heating system.
How it works? Everything is simple. We set the temperature on the regulator to 26 ° C. If the floor surface temperature is less than 26°C, the thermostat switches on the heating cable. As soon as the surface temperature reaches 26°C, the thermostat turns it off.
In this way, both comfort in the bathroom and energy savings are achieved, due to the fact that the heaters are not always on.
P.S. That's all. Thank you for your attention. If you have any questions about this material, then ask them in the form of comments or by personal mail.
