Comments

Analyses

'I have been very impressed with the amount of information available on your web site.' M Philipson, Berkshire.

The most comprehensive website in Europe on underfloor heating and plastic plumbing. Many websites are no more than a company and product introduction with very little detailed information. The IPPEC website is for those looking to learn about underfloor heating for their project or as installers. You learn how it works and what to look for. You learn about solid and suspended floors systems, the material of the pipes and and water and air temperature control. Installers can learn all about plastic plumbing, how to design and install mains pressure hot water systems and radiator central heating. The site is organised on product lines. Each section explains the products and their benefits with the aid of many illustrations. The webshop is also arranged by product section. The products are presented in easy to buy packages.	Installers wanted ! If you are interested in our product as a trade person or know one looking for new opportunities, please ask them to contact us immediately.
Does company size matter? At last, warm water underfloor heating is gaining recognition in the UK just as it has in Europe years ago. Many new suppliers have come on the market since IPPEC introduced its Pexatherm systems and recently the large companies in the plumbing section has joined in the fray. Even the merchants, who are even more traditionalist, are showing interest. Large companies are driven by turnover figures and have large overheads. Technical support on a one to one basis would be very expensive for them. Underfloor heating requires technical support before and after installation. There are not many plumbers familiar with installation let alone design of underfloor heating. It is crucial that underfloor heating is designed and installed correctly. The cost of digging up the floor sends shudders down people's spines.	In depth knowlege with long experience from IPPEC!
Knowledge matters Unfortunately, we have witnessed quite a few mistakes made by others over the years: such as the wrong pipe material, incorrect designs and now we have reps. selling to customers by impressing them with the size of their companies rather than know-how or technical support. Worse still, almost all underfloor heating companies offer a restricted product range and the plumbing contractor or builder is left to his devices for the rest of the heating installation. This always leads to the passing of blame onto others. No wonder underfloor heating is treated with caution by many builders. When different is not better? Many companies try to be different in an emerging market. In many cases the different solution solves one minor problem to introduce a major one. For example using a small bore pipe for a one off convenience of flexibility during installation introduces major problems of output, extra costs of manifolds, and more inaccessible joints. Another example is introducing hundreds of joints in the floor by incorporating the pipe in floor boards. See below. The real difference We have recognised these problems a long time ago. We have been asked to remedy mistakes made by such companies on several occasions. The lesson to learn is not to be fooled by company's size or glossy literature. Look for knowledge and experience. See how much information they are prepared to give beyond the glossy brochures. Many of our customers visit us and see for themselves the system in operation and the wide range of products we can supply. In the 'Information Technology' age, we are a phone call or a mouse click away. Visit us during the week or at one of the regular seminars. Whether you are a contractor with repeat business or an owner occupier, you are welcome at IPPEC. Discovering IPPEC in 2004 may be one of your best moves for the year.	The knowledge base The site is available on CD with the installation videos included on the CD. Our website is continuously updated. New 'ground breaking' products are on the way. Please visit regularly to see new products, innovations and new case studies in the magazine / showcase section. Bookmark this site! Solutions! The Multizoner is nothing more than a wiring centre with diagnostic features. Yet it is a major solution for wiring multiple temperature zones, including hot water cylinder and secondary circulating pump. It also Incorporates hot water priority for avoiding boiler oversizing and with it energy saving. *Only one Pexatherm 5-ways UFH manifold* *under the stairs. Pipe laying and wiring to this manifold is simpler and cheaper. No need for extra pipes from the many manifolds to boiler when you use small bore pipes.*
Tried and tested At IPPEC we never pride ourselves at reinventing the wheel. We just supply tried and proven material and technology. We believe there are no shortcuts. That is why we supply the widest range of sound systems: in underfloor, radiator heating and plumbing. Our service is comprehensive and has been imitated. Better by design We use proper modulating mixers for reducing temperature in the floor and not fixed mixers used for hot water taps. We offer low temperature sensors to avoid overheat in the floor. We control pumps separately from boilers to induce pump overrun and dissipate heat from boilers. Thus minimising boiler cycling.	Solutions! Our 'solution products' are based on experience and know-how. Products introduced recently, include new black diffusion plates for better output since any gap between the plates and the floorboard is an insulator. Black plates emit 100% their radiant heat. Unlike silver coloured plates. Solutions! Hot water demand is rising and at IPPEC we were one of the first to offer large capacity cylinders. The 300 litre unvented cylinder are popular with the larger properties. We also offer 500 L cylinders for institutions hotels etc.
Storing problems Thin walled copper cylinders cannot withstand mains water pressure. Only steel cylinders can. An inexpensive solution for the existing copper cylinders is to reverse the role of the heating coil. The cylinder now contains 'dirty' high temperature heating water and the coil in the cylinder contains the fresh water from the mains. This is known as thermal store. Storing water at high boiler temperature is energy wasteful. A one litre capacity boiler heat exchanger will cycle excessively to keep say 200 litre of water in the thermal store at 80 oC. This boiler cycling is also energy wasteful. The amount of domestic hot water generated is limited with this system. Hot water can spill into the roof tank causing even more heat wastage. A normal mains pressure (unvented) cylinder stores water at 50 oC and therefore looses less heat. The boiler is heating water at much lower temperature than its own and cycles much less at all times compared with heating a thermal store. The whole process of heating domestic hot water is more energy efficient and less problematic. A much larger amount of hot water supply to taps is available on demand at all times too.	IPPEC's unvented cylinders. The right solution.
What to avoid! Cutting continuous plastic pipe from the reel is sacrilege when not necessary. Systems with many hidden joints. Multiple manifolds and extra secondary pipe per floor. Wiring many manifolds and valves spread all over the floor. Inaccessible joints. Joints buried in the floor could leak. The one Pexatherm UFH manifold is usually situated unobtrusively and yet accessible under stairs or in the airing cupboard. All the pipe joints are at the UFH manifold. Small diameter pipes requiring more joints and more manifolds. Systems needing thermal store cylinders incurring extra unnecessary capital cost and energy wastage.	What to avoid! High temperature water in floor and incorrect mixers. The IPPEC one UFH manifold with its built-in modulating mixer and pump is connected directly to the boiler. Burying pipes in tracked insulation. The heat output is reduced with the now well insulated pipe arrangement. We supply multiple groove heat diffusing plate. These high output black plates dissipate maximum amount of heat from the pipe into the room. Burying battens in the screed and nailing the floorboards to them, as Mr D. Mahon of London found to his cost. He had to replace the whole wooden floor. The maple wood buckled and cupped as it could not move with change of humidity. The air gap below caused by the crumbling screed reduced the output in that room. trust gravity and do not fix the wood to a screeded floor.