Underfloor Heating Systems
The concept of underfloor heating was developed 2,000 years ago when the early Romans used furnaces in cellars and other open spaces underneath floors to warm their ground floors. This ancient home heating technique has evolved into the water- and electricity-based underfloor heating that so many homeowners are using and enjoying today.
Underfloor heating works with a combination of radiant and convection heat. Electric heating cables or water pipes carrying warm water from a boiler system are buried in the floors structure. The radiant heat from the cables or pipes travels in rays until it encounters the floor, and the floor then becomes warm. The heat from the floor converts into convection heat as it travels into the air, expands, and rises. This convection heat warms the air as it proceeds up to the ceiling.
With underfloor heating, the warmest air is in the lower part of the room because the heat moves from the floor to the ceiling. Heating from a radiator works only by convection heat, and the room is heated from the ceiling down to the floor, with the ceiling having the warmest air.