Underfloor Heating DIY

Pex Pipe

The pex pipe is a cross linked polyethylene pipe. The process of chemical cross-linking by electronic bombardment, with its mechanical, chemical and thermal features, ensures high quality and reliability.

High quality production guarantees long life and reliability under extreme conditions. Using this material provides a number of benefits such as quick and easy installation, lack of soldering or mechanical connections which over a period of time may cause leakages, and high durability of the material, which is not subject to scale and chemical phenomenons. The PEX pipe also has a 50 year guarantee.

Insulation Clips

The insulation clips are used to clip the underfloor heating pipes to the insulation, in between your fixing rail and on the bends. (see fixing rail layout).

Mixing Manifold

The mixing manifold is a two port manifold which means you have two separate loops of heating pipes in the floor.

The mixing manifold works by the flow of water that is fed from the boiler passing through the thermostatic valve and across the top body of the manifold pulling water from the floor heating pipes. The mixed water then goes through the pump and past the temperature sensor (linked to thermostatic valve) which controls the flow of water let into the manifold from the boiler. The mixed water then travels through the floor heating pipes at the correct temperature set at the thermostatic head.

This then means when the underfloor heating is turned on, the water passing through the floor heating pipe is heated quickly up to the correct temperature giving a quick warm up time. The maximum temperature setting on the thermostatic valve is 65° C

Programmable Clock Stat

The clock stat gives the ability to set overall time control with two different temperature settings.

As with a more conventional heating system, the first temperature setting is used to provide a comfortable living environment (typically 21° C) for the time you spend in the room.

The second setting can be used to provide a facility called night setback. Night setback is where the second temperature setting is at a much lower level (typically 16° C). Setting the clock stat to the night setback temperature will turn the boiler and pump off if the temperature at the clock stat drops below 16° C. The night setback stops the room from cooling right down during the night so that the room can be brought up to a comfortable working temperature quicker and more efficiently in the morning.

To set the time and the temperature on the clock stat refer to the user instructions provided.

Zone Valve

The zone valve is a 22mm compression valve which is used to create a single zone.

It is used to stop the flow of water from the boiler to the manifold and is wired so that when the programmable clock stat is satisfied or out of time frame, it switches off.

This in turn shuts off the pump and turns off the boiler.

Pump

Fixing Rail

The fixing rail is used to fix underfloor heating pipes to the insulation. It has a self adhesive strip on the back and spacers, so you can use insulation clips to fix it down.

The fixing rail is profiled every 50mm to take the underfloor heating pipes. They come in 1m lengths and can be joined together to make one continuous line across the floor.

Instructions

You can also read the instructions on this website.

Alternatively, you can download a pdf version of the same instructions. The file is 158kb in size.

Full contents

This shows the contents of a DIY pack.