Heat Pump or Heating Film (a Building Services Engineer's View)

In the house presented in this article, a building services engineer – who until then had designed heat pumps for new-build homes – recommended heating film combined with solar panels, mainly because of the lower installation cost and the simpler, faster installation. Below we present this 2018 installation: the considerations behind the decision, the layer structure of the underfloor heating, and the control.

The job was brought to us by a new building services partner. After thorough research he got to know infrared heating film technology, and this was his first such installation, about which we also made a short video. It was interesting to hear the arguments on which he weighed infrared heating against a heat pump.

Heat pump or heating film: the designer's considerations

In 2018 the building services engineer listed these arguments in favour of heating film for this house:

• lower installation cost;
• simple installation;
• shorter installation time;
• a smaller need for purchased electricity when combined with solar panels.

We do not repeat the designer's ratios from back then, because prices have changed significantly since. For running costs it is still worth knowing that a heat pump uses less electricity for the same amount of heat; how long the smaller investment takes to offset this is worked out in the recent cost comparison of heat pumps and infrared heating. Today, because of gross metering, solar panels reduce the electricity you buy, but do not make operation cost-free.

Prepared site, precise data

With this installation the customer could plan ahead with the heating film, because the building services engineer provided precise data throughout. The electrician team was met by a well-prepared site, so the work went smoothly. In our experience this is the most important thing: the position, power and control of the heating must be fixed before the flooring.

Underfloor heating under the concrete

The house got electric underfloor heating. The infrared heating went under the concrete, so the concrete works as heat storage. We built up the underfloor heating layers on the insulation already completed on site:

1. reflective foil,
2. heating film,
3. vapour barrier foil,
4. earthing,
5. and finally 4-5 cm of concrete.

If the client had decided on underfloor heating only after the concrete was poured, only a T-Mat heating mat embedded in tile adhesive or levelling compound would have been an option; under a laminate covering, 4th-generation heating film can also be laid on finished concrete, with a simple layer structure (on a smaller area an F-Mat ALU heating mat is also an option). A heating mat also gives a comfortably warm floor, but with a significantly higher heating cost, because there is no heat-storing concrete layer beneath it.

A thermostat for each room

The rooms are controlled separately by programmable thermostats. This saves further energy, because there is no need to heat where it is not justified. For remote control, a smart home system or a wifi thermostat could also have been installed, but this house did not need it.

What can the builder learn from this?

For a new house, it is worth having the designer compare several heating methods before the building services plan is finalised. Ask the proposal to include the calculated heat demand of the house, the investment and expected running cost, the maintenance needs, and what layer structure and concrete thickness the underfloor heating requires. You can find a point-by-point comparison of the two systems in our article on choosing a heating system; an overview of electric heating methods is on our electric heating page.

You can also try infrared heating in person in our Budapest showroom: 1039 Budapest, Rákóczi u. 4.

More interesting and useful articles

• Is infrared heating harmful?
• Why choose infrared heating?
• Heating film showroom in Budapest, with the chance to try infrared heating