Energy efficient floor heating for Building Regulation 2005 buildings

Floor heating is widely used (approx. 70%) as heating system in new building designs, either as 'heavy floor heating' where heat pipes are casted in concrete, or as 'light floor heating' where heat pipes lies in heat distribution plates placed in expanded polystyrene. One of the advantages when using floor heating is that it contributes to a better thermal indoor climate compared with traditional heating systems. However, it has been found that buildings heated with floor heating may have higher energy consumption than buildings with a traditional heating system. The problem with high energy consumption is mainly found for 'heavy floor heating' as the system, because of its heat capacity may continue to give off heat for some hours after a room thermostat have signalled to stop the flow. The problem is especially of importance for buildings with low heat loss coefficients, which is why it should be solved before implementation of the requirements in the building regulations 2005. The aim of the project is to make detailed calculations of the necessary energy supply for heavy and light floor heating systems in buildings that conforms to the expected thermal requirements of the forthcoming building regulations. The calculations are based on models of fluctuating heat flows in floor heating systems coupled to detailed thermal room models. The heat transfer conditions in the light floor heating system are determined by laboratory measurements and are used in the calculations