Infrared floor, its design and types, advantages and disadvantages, materials required for manufacturing and installation technology. An infrared floor is a heat source designed to maintain a comfortable temperature in rooms. It can be used to heat apartments, summer cottages and private houses, office and auxiliary buildings. The technology for laying infrared floors came to us from abroad. Today you can familiarize yourself with it by reading this article.
Infrared floor construction
The main difference between an infrared floor and other heating systems is its operating principle. The energy of a warm infrared floor is not used to heat the air in the room, but goes to heating objects in its closed space. Those, in turn, accumulate and give off heat to the room, maintaining the natural microclimate in it. Infrared radiation is absolutely safe for the health of living beings and is comparable to solar heat.
The infrared heating system is made on the basis of heating elastic mats or lavsan film. The heating element is in the form of conductive strips, which are located with a pitch of 15 mm and are made according to the Carbon NanoTube technology. The electricity to initiate the heating element is supplied to it through copper-silver contacts. The entire system is sealed on both sides with polymer, which has increased electrical insulating, fireproof and waterproof properties.
The infrared underfloor heating is connected to the mains through the thermostat in a parallel way. The tightness of the joints, the high quality of the materials used and the use of carbon adsorbent spraying ensure the heaters operate in an efficient and continuous mode. Thanks to the parallel connection, the system will function even if any of its sections fails. Sometimes this happens with mechanical damage.
The main types of infrared floors
Warm infrared floors are available in two types: film and rod heating systems. They are produced in rolls with a width of 500 and 1000 mm. Film floors are bimetallic and carbon. In the first version, the floor is based on polyurethane, and the thermoelement is made of a copper-aluminum alloy. In the second, the carbon strips of the heating element with parallel connection are laminated with a Mylar film. Its presence protects the system from moisture ingress and electrical breakdown. Film warm floors last about 15 years, their cost is 550-1100 rubles / m2.
In an infrared floor rod system, elastic mats combine flexible conductive bars and rods. The heating elements of the system are made of composite materials. During the entire operating time of the infrared rod floor, electromagnetic radiation is practically absent. This property is similar to film heaters. Its difference from them lies in the special design of thermoelements, thanks to which the core floor has the ability to self-regulate and is not afraid of overheating.
The technical characteristics of such a floor allow it to be installed in a cement screed and in an adhesive layer under ceramic tiles. The core floor system can be safely used in rooms with humid air and even install bulky furniture on it, which is not recommended in the case of film floors. The warranty period for the operation of the core floor is 20 years, its cost is about 1,500 rubles / m2.
The infrared floor is powered from a 220 V network. If the room has good thermal insulation, the warm floor consumes 30-55 W / hour per 1 m3 space. The most comfortable temperature in a room with an infrared floor is ensured by installing a thermostat.
Advantages and disadvantages of IR floors
By installing an infrared heating system in the floor, you can get a lot of advantages, these are:
- Saving energy due to its low consumption due to the high thermal conductivity of the floor thermoelements.
- Possibility of installing an infrared heating system under any finishing floor covering.
- Easy installation of the heating system. It does not have to be laid in a screed or tile adhesive. If necessary, you can do the installation of the infrared floor with your own hands.
- High reliability of the heating system, provided by the method of parallel connection of its elements. Damage to one section of the floor does not interfere with the proper operation of others.
- The ability to quickly transfer the system to another location. This is especially true when redeveloping a room or moving.
- Uniform heating of the entire room due to the heat emitted from objects.
- The impossibility of freezing the infrared heating system, overheating or cooling the room.
- Independence from central heating mode.
- Concealed installation. Such a floor is invisible in the interior.
- Maintaining a natural indoor climate.
- Silent operation of the heating system.
- The healing effect of infrared radiation. For some diseases, it serves as a preventive measure.
There are very few disadvantages to this floor. First of all, this is the high cost of the models. If misused or damaged, the base of the infrared heating system can melt.
Materials and tools for installing an infrared floor
To install the floor, you will need the simplest tools that are likely to be found in any home: wire cutters, a screwdriver, pliers, scissors and an assembly knife. In addition, materials will be needed, the list of which is given below:
- Infrared floor film and connecting clips;
- Contact clamps;
- Electric wire;
- Thermoregulators equipped with temperature sensors;
- Construction tape;
- Vinyl mastic insulation;
- Heat-insulating material, its basis should be polypropylene or polypropylene film, but not foil.
Depending on the type of coating, you can also add to this list: chipboard sheets with a thickness of at least 5 mm or plywood - for linoleum; reinforcing metal mesh - under the tiles.
Infrared floor installation technology
Laying an infrared floor is not particularly difficult and is carried out in several stages: preparation of the base, installation of thermal insulation, marking for the location of the heater, installation and connection of the system.
Subfloor preparation
To make an infrared floor of high quality, you need to install it on a flat and dry base. The old floor covering must be removed completely before the wooden or concrete base of the floor is exposed. The horizontalness of the resulting surface should be checked with a building level, deviations should not exceed 3 mm.
After that, the wooden floor must be looped, and the concrete base must be sanded. The debris that will appear during these procedures must be removed, and then the surface of the dust must be cleaned with an industrial vacuum cleaner.
On a clean base, lay a plastic film with a thickness of at least 50 microns to waterproof the floor.
Thermal insulation is laid on top of the waterproofing layer. The heat insulator must be covered with polypropylene or polypropylene film.
If you intend to make the floor finish soft, such as linoleum or carpet, you should use a material with a soft layer, for example, infraflex, as a heat insulator.
If there will be tiles, parquet boards or ceramic granite on the floor, it is necessary to choose thermal insulation with a hard layer, for example, a technical cork so 2mm. After installation, the joints of the insulation must be sealed with tape.
Floor surface marking
Before starting the marking, you need to determine the installation location of the temperature sensor, temperature controller and connecting the infrared film floor to the network. The thermostat is usually installed on the wall 10-15 cm from the floor surface.
When marking the floor for laying the IR heater, follow the guidelines below:
- The infrared film floor must be laid on an area of the room free from furniture and household appliances.
- If the warm floor is the main source of heating the room, they should cover 75-80% of the area of the room. For additional heating, 40% of the area under the infrared floor system is sufficient.
- Heating elements should be laid with a distance of 10-40 cm from the walls.
- When calculating the required characteristics of a warm floor, one should proceed from the maximum power consumption of the system, which at the time of connection to the mains is about 210 W / m2.
- To separate the heating sections of the infrared floor, the film must be cut along special marking lines and nothing else. Typically, such lines are located in the longitudinal direction at distances of 17.4 cm, and in the transverse direction - 50-80 cm.
- The core of the core floors must be cut according to the instructions supplied by the manufacturer to this product.
Features of laying the IR floor
At the end of the preparatory work, we proceed to the installation of the infrared heating film. It is advisable to do this along the length of the room: in this case, with a larger number of solid strips, there will be fewer connection points. The floor installation procedure is described below.
The heating film must be laid down with a copper conductive strip, the distance between the strips is taken at least 5 cm. When installing a warm floor under a laminate or linoleum, they can be laid close to each other, thereby ensuring uniform heating.
The infrared floor strips must be attached to the thermal insulation with construction tape. This ensures the immobility of the elements for the convenience of subsequent actions. Cut lines located in the area of copper conductors must be treated with bitumen insulation. The same procedure should be followed with the silver-plated contacts connecting the heating elements to the tape.
On copper conductive strips, you need to mount contact clamps: one half of them should be inside the film, the other - outside on the strip. The contacts are secured with pliers.
IR floor system connection
At the final stage of the installation of the infrared floor, it is necessary to connect it. The system thermostat can be positioned permanently or connected to an electrical outlet using a cord. At the same time, it should not interfere with the further arrangement of household appliances and furniture.
The floor temperature sensor should be located closer to the thermostat under the infrared foil. It is fixed on the foil under the carbon paste with tape.
After installing the clamping contacts on the film, the supply wires should be connected to them, and the joints should be treated with a bitumen insulator.
Then the heating system must be turned on, set a comfortable temperature and check the insulation of the film cutting line, heating all film strips and connecting the wires (with a probe screwdriver).
After checking the operation of the system, we lay the floor covering. Some of its types will require additional actions with a warm floor.
If the topcoat is linoleum, fiberboard or thick plywood should be laid on the infrared film. If a tile is planned as its quality, a reinforcing mesh with 2 mm cells or a fiberglass mesh with 5-20 mm cells will have to be mounted on top of the warm floor. They are point-fixed to the base with dowels. Then the screed can be laid on top.
Important! The markings for fastening the coatings should be done in advance to avoid damage to the heating elements of the system. How to make an infrared floor - watch the video:
Warm infrared floors have an incomparable advantage over heating that uses the combustion of any materials. Besides the fact that they are silent, they also do not emit toxins at all. Therefore, they are actively used in medical and children's institutions.
