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