The main difference between an underfloor and radiator system is the flow temperature of the water in your central heating system – lower temperatures for underfloor heating, higher for radiators.
How it works
Air and ground source heat pumps typically run at lower temperatures than fossil fuel systems, and so to deliver the required heat to rooms in a property the radiators often need to be larger, modern double panel double convector systems. In a retrofit system using existing radiators where possible the flow temperature of the system would typically be set to 50°C. As part of any heat pump system design WDS Green Energy will have calculated the heat demand of each room and therefore be able to advise which radiators need to be replaced. We are happy to carry out these works ourselves or provide a schedule of the required radiators sizes for your plumber to work to.
A very popular heating system setup is to have underfloor heating on the ground floor where the main living areas are kept around 21°C, and radiators in the first floor bedrooms & bathrooms, which are typically kept at lower temperatures (18°C).
Running a heat pump system at lower flow temperatures of 45°C will improve the overall efficiency of the system. However, it is likely then that most if not all of the existing radiators will need to be replaced with larger, modern radiators.