Plumbing Africa January 2019 | Page 53

51 FEATURES A domestic underfloor heating installation in progress. can be placed, as they are hidden beneath the floor itself. Because they spread under the entire area, there are no warm and cold spots close to and far away from the heater. Although underfloor heating has often received a bad rap in South Africa, it is actually the most efficient form of heating, explains Ray Tewson, managing director of Warmup, a local manufacturer and supplier of underfloor heating systems. “Also, not only is it efficient, the comfort levels you get are unmatched when compared to other forms of heating,” he says. Albie Schröder of Pioneer Floor Heating agrees: “Underfloor heating systems are by far a more energy efficient way of heating, as heat rises naturally,” he explains. “As soon as you start going into other forms of convection heating, you require 15–20% more energy to achieve the same comfort levels as generating heat from a floor.” Schröder has been around the block and is involved not only on the contracting and installation side, but also on the product manufacturing and supplying side. He says they have seen a definite increase in the popularity of particularly hydronic underfloor heating systems. “Hydro has been around 12–15 years locally. But it’s really only over the past five years that the market on hydro floor heating has exploded. Not just commercially, but also domestically,” he explains. OFF TO A SLOW START With so many obvious benefits, why isn’t underfloor heating more popular in South Africa then? www.plumbingafrica.co.za The biggest resistance to hydro was the fact that the first companies who brought it into the country did not install it correctly and ever since, it has had a bad reputation. “Up until very recently, architects still questioned whether hydronic underfloor heating actually works,” says Schröder. “This was a big issue from the start. People are also worried about leaks and there has been resistance. But now slowly but surely, the architects are getting used to it,” says Schröder. It is important that the pipe runs on hydronic circuits do not exceed 100–120m, to prevent heat losses and pressure drops. Wolfgang Stöhr of EcoSmart, a company specialising in integrated heating solutions, agrees. It was hard to get into the market initially, especially with using pellet boilers as the heat source (something they specialise in). “The architects were not willing to recommend the products to their clients. The clients had to be approached directly and convinced that the products were great and cost saving. For us, the biomass boilers and heating combination is becoming more popular and is finally being specified by many architects. It was slow progress in the beginning, though.” EcoSmart moved into the commercial and industrial market this year as well. As such, Stöhr has been focusing on meeting with engineers across the country to talk to them about the product. “Out of maybe 100 engineers, architects, and quantity surveyors I saw, only two even knew that the biomass boiler integrated with hydronic water underfloor heating option existed!” says Stöhr. Underfloor heating is definitely gaining popularity now, Stöhr says. “The only reason people are still putting in electrical, is because they don’t know that better options are available.” January 2019 Volume 25 I Number 1