Cable or foil underfloor heating: which is better

Despite the fact that both the cable and the infrared film floor are powered by an electrical network, the principle of their operation is different:

• in the first case, the heating of the room is provided by cable, which has one or two conductors made of material with high resistivity. The veins heat up when current passes through them, in turn heating the room from the bottom up;
• infrared warm floorIs a thin film with sealed rods. When an electric current passes through it, the heating elements emit infrared rays. As a result, the surface of nearby objects heats up, in our case – the floor covering.

Important!The cable floor heats the indoor air, while the infrared floor heats the surface of the objects. As a result, in the case of an IR floor, it seems warmer than it actually is..

First, let’s talk about the advantages of infrared film floors:

• as we already wrote, the heating film can be laid under linoleum, laminate, it is not necessary to pour concrete on top, that is, the height of the room is not “eaten away”. In addition, time is saved on installation, less “dirty” rough work, the floor covering can be immediately laid on top of the foil. The infrared floor can also be placed under carpet or parquet;
• the floor heats up quickly, it becomes very pleasant to the touch;
• infrared rays do not dry the air in the room, they create a favorable atmosphere in the room.

To the pluses of cable electric floors, experts include:

• the screed layer, which is necessary when laying the floor cables, becomes a heat accumulator, a kind of radiator. Even after turning off the system, the floor will warm up the room for some time;
• ease of installation is ensured by the presence of special couplings;
• the room warms up evenly, there are no cold zones.

Important! The efficiency of both cable and infrared foil is high – about 98%. That is, in general, there is not much difference in the efficiency of their work..

Now let’s compare the most important characteristics of cable and film floors:

• an infrared film floor heats up quickly, as you remember, but just as quickly cools down. If it was placed under a laminate or linoleum, there will be no accumulative effect – they turned it off from the mains and the coating immediately cooled down. In this respect, the cable floor under the screed is more efficient and economical;
• infrared floor is more reliable. If even one section fails, the rest of the system will continue to work. This is not the case with the cable;
• replacing a section of a film floor is easier, because it is not flooded with a screed, you just have to lift the linoleum, carpet or disassemble a part of the parquet to replace it. The cable floor will have to be changed by removing several layers of cover. However, despite some limitations, the film floor is also sometimes laid under the tiles, we wrote about this;
• a thin film of infrared floor should be laid on a flat surface, otherwise problems may arise in operation. The cable floor is less whimsical in this regard;
• the foil floor heats the surfaces of objects standing on the floor. If you turn on strong heat, raise the temperature, this can negatively affect the condition of furniture and household appliances on the floor. The cable floor does not heat the furniture surface;
• all modern cable systems for underfloor heating have a ground loop. Infrared does not have this, this affects the safety of operation. The safest are the two-core cable systems with a shielding layer of wire, which excludes the possibility of electric shock;
• according to reviews, when installing the film floor, sometimes problems arise when connecting to the contacts.

A very important point when choosing an underfloor heating option is the price. In this regard, the infrared film floor wins. A running meter of a 50–80 cm wide system costs from 200 to 500 rubles. The cable floor will cost from 650 to 3000 rubles per square meter, depending on the manufacturer and characteristics.

Electricity consumption is another important point. A square meter of infrared film consumes approximately 150-720 watts per day. The cable floor, taking into account the fact that there are five turns of wire per square meter, is 120–150 W. As the main source of heat, the cable floor turns out to be more economical, but as additional heating, infrared is better. However, these indicators will vary greatly depending on the power of the system, the set temperature and the characteristics of the thermostat, which saves electricity..

We state: both cable and infrared underfloor heating have their own advantages and disadvantages and deserve attention. For wet rooms under the tiles, it is better to choose a cable floor, but for bedrooms under laminate and linoleum – infrared. Now, we admit, cable underfloor heating is more popular, but the film has every chance to win the market.