The UK, like the rest of the world, is moving away from gas. That means it’s moving away from gas heating systems. Removing old-fashioned gas radiators gives homeowners a chance to review how they approach heating.
With that in mind, we teamed up with Rio Heating to produce these insight into electric radiators as compared to underfloor heating.
The basics of electric radiators
Physically, electric radiators look much the same as traditional gas radiators. Their internal operations are, however, very different. Despite the name, gas radiators are fed by hot water (which is heated by gas). This means that they need to be attached to walls and connected to pipes.
Electric radiators, by contrast, really are powered by electricity. The electricity heats a metal element that, in turn, heats the area. This means that electric radiators can be freestanding (plug-in) as well as wall-mounted. There is also more flexibility about where you can wall-mount electric radiators.
The basics of underfloor heating
Technically, electric underfloor heating works in much the same way as electric radiators. The key difference is that, as the name suggests, underfloor heating is installed under floorboards. For safety reasons, the heating components are sandwiched between insulated mats.
How electric radiators compare to underfloor heating
Here is a quick guide to the main points you need to consider when choosing between electric radiators and underfloor heating.
Installation
Retrofitting underfloor heating in existing buildings is a lot more complicated than installing it in new buildings. This means that its installation costs are significantly higher than the installation costs of electric radiators. In fact, you can use electric radiators without installing them at all. You can just plug them in.
This means that the cost of installing underfloor heating is likely to be significantly higher than the cost of installing electric radiators.
Running costs
On a like-for-like basis, the running costs of electric radiators are going to be much the same as the running costs of underfloor heating. They both use the same source of power and operate in much the same way. This means that, on a like-for-like basis, they are equally effective at distributing heat.
With that said, in practical terms, electric radiators may have an edge when it comes to zoning. If you are having underfloor heating installed, you will need to ensure that any zoning infrastructure is installed at the time. As previously mentioned, any retrofitting to underfloor heating is likely to be very expensive (and disruptive).
With radiators, it’s much easier to upgrade as you go. You can also create zones just by plugging in a freestanding electric radiator wherever you need heat.
Use of space
When space is really tight, underfloor heating may have the edge over electric radiators, at least over wall-mounted ones. In small homes, walls are often prime real estate. For example, they’re often used for storage.
This is probably part of the reason why underfloor heating is especially popular in bathrooms. The other part of the reason is that bathrooms are places where people sometimes have to stand on bare feet. Underfloor heating is lovely on exposed toes.
Please note, however, that you need to be careful about the furniture you use when you have underfloor heating. In particular, it’s better to use soft furnishings on legs to avoid having a large, upholstered surface coming into contact with a source of heating.
Maintenance, repairs, and upgrades
This is a clear win for electric radiators. Once underfloor heating is in place, making any changes to it is expensive and disruptive. This means that even scheduled maintenance is likely to be a major inconvenience. Lengthier tasks, like repairs and periodic upgrades, could really impact the usability of your home.
