Summer all year round.
The benefits of warm water underfloor heating have been described many times in this magazine. These benefits fall into three major categories. 1 - Freedom of interior design. 2 - High levels of comfort. 3 - Fuel savings and reduced maintenance costs.

High air temperature caused by radiators leads to high heat loss through air changes. It collects moisture creating condensation when it touches cold surfaces - windows. Convection also causes dust markings on walls above the radiators. Creating even heat throughout the room is difficult with radiators. They must be placed under windows for better heat distribution causing even more heat loss through the window. The real big benefit of Pexatherm UFH is the savings on fuel and substantial reductions in emissions when connected to gas condensing boiler. The is because the low return temp. from the UFH keeps the boiler in its most efficient mode.

Pexatherm pipe-in-rail with primary pipe in insulation layer.

IPPEC meets the cost challenge
The UK building industry is characterised with low costs and cutting corners. Reducing material is not a solution for reducing costs. For example you need more pipe and manifolds if you reduce the diameter of the pipe for the same heat output. Tying a pipe to a mesh has all but been abandoned in the domestic market for difficulties and cost reasons. Laying pipe in grooved insulation is time consuming and gives low heat output. Having joints in the floor is also not desirable because of possible leaks. Hidden joints or sub-manifolds in the floor are to be avoided. The leak would caused much damage by the time the plumber or carpenter get to it. Anyway, forming access hatches and doors are unnecessary extra costs. IPPEC offers only continuous pipe from and to the central manifold with no joints in the floor.

 
Pexatherm hand pushed or stapler applied staple system.

Any leak at the manifold can be dealt with easily. Pexatherm systems use PEXc (polyethylene cross linked) pipes with oxygen barrier. The cross linking is done by electron beam giving precise wall thickness and strength to the pipe. The pipes meet BS 7291 and DIN 4726 standards. IPPEC is a UHMA member. IPPEC offers the EVOH plastic and the aluminium layer barrier. The preferred methods for fixing the pipes is the Pexatherm’s clip rail laid on standard floor insulation or Pexatherm’s staples pushed directly to Multiboard foiled insulation. Incidentally IPPEC was the first to introduce both these techniques back in 1986. Many other suppliers have followed. A drawing showing the pipe layout and instructions are supplied free as part of each project.

Delta weather compensator.

The right solution
IPPEC supplies metal heat diffusion plates to transmit the heat from the pipe to the floorboards in first floor timber construction or floated floors. The Pexatherm diffusion plates are also available with several grooves, pre-insulated and in optional black colour for maximum output. Low surface temperature radiators are costly and new rules requiring them to run at lower temperature increases further their cost. With mandatory floor insulation we have now reached the stage where the cost of an UFH system is comparable with a good radiator system. IPPEC supplies self ducted primary PEX pipe that can connect the manifold from each floor to the boiler. Thus IPPEC supplies quality systems at affordable price and with no hidden costs.

The mixed heating systems
IPPEC introduced the mixed heating system as far back as 1988. As an example a new extension can have UFH while the existing building remains on radiator heating. The ground floor of a new house will benefit from Pexatherm UFH due to the lack of wall space for radiators, while the bedrooms on the timber first floor may be heated by the Pexapipe radiators only in the mornings and evenings. The concept of the mixed heating system can be extended to bathrooms on first floor having Pexatherm UFH while the rest of upstairs is heated by radiators. Towel rails can be used as part of the mixed heating system if all the property is underfloor heated. Conservatories are excellent candidates for Pexatherm UFH if they are to be used all year round and as part of the living space.

Keep your cool - stay in control
Most self-builders choose to lay the insulation and the pipes. Some plumb the pre-assembled manifolds to the boiler. Otherwise IPPEC can recommend trained installers. IPPEC supplies individual room control where necessary. Rooms with imposed temp. variation need individual thermostats. Such as in a kitchen or glazed sitting room. One programmable thermostat is placed in the hall and another on the landing. These are set for different times and temperature and control each floor manifold separately. This way you only need two motorised valves in the pipework at the boiler. The micro-switch on each valves switch on the boiler when required. It is that simple. The individual room thermostats are only connected to the thermo-electric actuator at the manifold with two wires.
IPPEC offers weather compensated controls known as the Delta control system. Put simply, the water temp. in the floor and the boiler output are varied dependent on an outside sensor measurement. It is of interest to note that such controls are easier to wire, since all the sensors and the output wires from the controller connect to a labelled control panel strip. The Delta controllers offers domestic hot water control too.

What’s new at IPPEC
IPPEC supplies floor, wall and ceiling panels for heating and cooling. These are heated from a manifold just as is done with floor heating. An all-in-one chiller connects to the other side of the manifold for summer cooling. IPPEC’s website (www.ippec.co.uk) has all the details and is continuously updated giving dates of regular seminars and other events. Special offers can be purchased from the online shop. IPPEC offers free estimate service. Just send your plans to: IPPEC System Ltd, 66 Rea Street South, Birmingham B5 6LB. Tel. 0121 622 4333 Fax. 0121 622 5768.

Pre-assembled manifold connects directly to boiler.