Practical advice on heating and cooling your Perth home
Straight answers from the engineers who design and install the systems. Floor heating, radiators, heat pumps, geothermal and heat recovery.
Should I heat the whole house, or just the living areas and bathrooms?
People who leave out the laundry usually regret it. When to heat every room, and when one bathroom is all you need.
Is a radiator a heat exchanger? The difference in plain words
A radiator hands heat from water to a room. A heat exchanger usually hands it from one loop of water to another, without the two mixing.
What temperature should underfloor heating be set at?
Three temperatures in a heated floor: the room, the floor and the water. What each should be, and the one that decides your power bill.
Which pipe is used for floor heating, and does the choice matter?
Most heated floors use the same kind of plastic pipe. What decides whether it lasts and heats evenly is the joins, the loops and the design.
Can I set a different temperature in each room?
A thermostat in every room sounds sensible and rarely pays with floor heating. What works better, and when room-by-room control makes sense.
Does floor heating need insulation under the slab, and what kind?
Without it, up to 70% of the heat can go into the ground. What the code asks for, which board to use, and where it goes.
Why does floor heating feel warmer at a lower setting?
You feel the floor and walls as much as the air. Why a warm floor is comfortable at a lower setting, without the physics lecture.
Is floor heating better for allergies, asthma and damp?
No fan, no blown dust, warmer walls. What floor heating can and can't do for allergies, asthma and mould, from engineers, not doctors.
Floor heating mistakes you can’t fix once the slab is poured
Most floor heating mistakes end up under concrete. The four you can't fix after the pour, and how to catch them on paper first.
Why is one floor heating quote so much cheaper than another?
Same house, two quotes, a big gap. What usually explains it, what to ask for in writing, and how to compare them fairly.
In-slab, screed or electric: three ways to heat a floor
Pipes in the slab, in a screed on insulation, or electric cable. Which suits a single-storey home, an upstairs floor or one bathroom.
Will my polished concrete floor crack if it has floor heating?
Cracks come from a floor with nowhere to move. Where the joints go, what you'll see of them, and why they're settled before the pour.