# Underfloor heating in a motorhome ?



## Grizzly

It occured to me this cold weekend that underfloor electric heating would be a boon in a motorhome. No blown air fan noises, no electric heaters to trip over and a steady even heat throughout. I understand that when it is put down in a house the wires are laid onto a thin base and then the flooring can be put down on top. Seems like an easy job even as a retrofit.

I've never heard of a motorhome which has it as standard or even optional so there has to be a snag somewhere or someone would have done it. Does anyone know why it isn't used ?

G


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## DABurleigh

Grizzly,

Yes, it is used. The only UK/European designed and built fifth wheel uses it. The snaking on the floorplan shows it:
http://www.fifthwheelco.co.uk/floorplans.html

As to why it is not more prevalent, well, you have to be on mains for it to work. Gas or diesel, you don't.

Dave


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## olley

Hi grizzly the one that dab shows is actually a hot water pipe system, the water can be heated by gas, diesel or electric. 

I have fitted both systems but only in house's, the electric one you are thinking off is normally only used in bathrooms to give you a warm floor with additional heating from towel radiators. 

The water pipe version can be used for whole house heating and is very effective, but takes time for the heat to penetrate the floor.

Olley


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## Grizzly

Thanks Olley

Could the electric system be fitted to a small motorhome do you think ? I don't know what sort of "underlay" it needs and what, if anything, other than laminate or wood floor above. I imagine that the cables themselves are flexible enough for the job - ? I realise that a supplementary gas heater would be needed for non-hookup camping. 

I'm puzzled as to why they are not fitted. It seems that a MH is perfect for this.

G


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## Scotjimland

The only electric underfloor heating I've seen is laid in concrete or stone... bit of a weight issue maybe .. 8O

But.. here is one for wooden floors .. >>Floor heating<<


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## olley

Hi grizzly they are normally laid in a screed of tile cement as shown in scotjimlands site, this to hold the cable in place and to conduct the heat evenly up to the floor, 10mm of screed over your floor would weigh a bit I think.

You have to be careful how you lay it incase it locally overheats, where as the small bore hot water system has no such probs. 

Actually the sites idea of putting it down on to an existing concrete floor is crap, the heat loss through the floor would be enormous. 

Olley


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## Grizzly

Thanks all.....I think this explains very well why it hasn't caught on !

Another good idea gone to pot

G


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## 88782

Back in the 70s(?) there was a system of painting an area ( wall/floor) with conductive paint and applying a low voltage with a high current transformer thereby heating the whole room, never realy caught on.

KenS


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## spykal

Hi

There is a UK company that manufactures electrical underfloor heating pads which can be laid under laminate floors or fixed carpeting.

Link to Warmup <<<,click here
There is a fitting manual download available on the page showing how to install under carpet.

The only problem that I can see if it was installed under the carpet in a motorhome is that unless the floor was insulated in its original construction a lot of heat would escape to the outside world instead of going into the van. if you were serious about trying it contact them and ask for their recommendations on how to do it.

Coincidentally, my house has electrical underfloor heating ...the wires are buried deep into the thick concrete base which is insulated underneath, each room has a thermostat, ....the ground floors act as a giant nightstore, heated by cheap nighttime electricity...even in this cold weather enough heat is stored overnight to keep the house warm all day and evening. The heat produced is very even and there are no convection draughts whatsoever (radiators cause draughts). It is great to be able to walk around in bare feet ...especially on the kitchen tiles first thing in the morning :lol: Upstairs we have normal nightstores and I have looked at the Warmup undercarpet mats as a replacement so that it would feel warm to my feet up in the bedroom too :wink: ...trouble is they would not store any cheap heat!

While away last weekend, super cold crisp weather and blue skies but damn cold.... I was parked up next to an RV which had underfloor heating....water pipes , gas powered ...sorry can't remember the manufacturer at the moment :roll: He was Ok even when the site electrical supply kept going off due to all the vans wanting their full 16 amps :lol:

Mike


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## 88974

The new Alde system is what they call a wet heating system, it is sort of like a cross between your radiators and under floor heating. In the burstner 747 and 748 it comes as standard, it heats the hot water to radiators which are housed in the double floor of the m/h and the heat comes from these. The unit works off 12v, electricity or gas. No more hot air just your normal  radiators. Downside it can take a bit longer to hit, Plus side, heat remains longer, less noise.


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## kipperkid

Our motorhome has electric underfloor heating (not the wet system, electric wires/pads laid between the layers of the floor). This was an optional extra but has to be factory fitted, cannot be done afterwards.

It is lovely getting out of bed on to a warm floor.  

On a chilly evening it is enough to stop the MH getting chilly, but in really cold weather it is not sufficient on its own, additional heating is needed. Rated at 300W.

And has already been said, only works on EHU.


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## olley

We have underfloor warm air heating in the brave, as the ducts run the full length of the RV after its been on a while the middle of the floor gets nice and warm.

Like spykal we have underfloor heating in part of the house, we retro fitted a wet system using 10mm small bore 10 years ago, when we did some major renovations to our 1926 bungalow. 

I can vouch for the warm floor in the kitchen, but the bathroom is the best, getting out of the shower on to warm tiles; lovely :lol: 

Olley


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## Sagedog

*Elec under floor heating*

I was in a tile shop before xmas and saw a system of the like spykal was talking about. It just clipped together and then you tiled over it sorry can't remember the name of the shop though!!

Of course all the points of weight, safety and supplementary heating all need addressing but i love your idea.

Hmm warm toasty feet nice thought esp as mine are freezing off and i'm in a heated office!!


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## Grizzly

*Re: Elec under floor heating*



Sagedog said:


> I was in a tile shop before xmas and saw a system of the like spykal was talking about. It just clipped together and then you tiled over it sorry can't remember the name of the shop though!!
> quote]
> 
> I wonder if it was the same one I saw in Johnson Buildbase just before Christmas ? I didn't look too closely at the installation details but was impressed by the lovely heated tile and wondered then why MHs didn't have it installed.
> 
> I've got cold feet at the moment as well and have been told by 3 friends in as many days that they have been suffering the same way recently. Never heard of a "cold feet bug" but it makes you wonder ! :?
> 
> G


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## BERTHA

We have the Alde underfloor heating and apart from being quite the even spread of heat does away with cold spots.

We use the Heat Exchanger when travelling which does away with any warm up period when arriving on site.

Not the same has proper underfloor heating but with 10 radatiors hidden between the floors i suspect almost has good

H


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## caddyuk

Hi every one, regarding under floor heating for motorhomes or caravans I have found the perfect solution from a UK based company that provides a system that runs from 12 VOLT supply, it is lightweight and praticaly indistrucable, for more info check this out look for the underfloor heating page.


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## teemyob

*12v*



caddyuk said:


> Hi every one, regarding under floor heating for motorhomes or caravans I have found the perfect solution from a UK based company that provides a system that runs from 12 VOLT supply, it is lightweight and praticaly indistrucable, .


That would be some current draw!


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## paulkenny9

I know it is a bit off topic but a few people have said about putting a wood floor over under floor heating,

This is something which must never be done, wood floors dont like extemes of temprature.

laminate or engineered wood only for under floor heating


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## 747

I read somewhere that motorhomes *were* produced with underfloor heating. It is some time ago that I read it and forget the details. They were British made ones.

It might have been models produced in the 1970's.


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## soundman

Our last van (Hymer S820) had under floor heating and our current van which is only two months old has it also (Hymer Bestline)
Admittedly you need to be on hook up for it to work but it does have the advantage of a being silent when in use.
Soundman


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## geraldandannie

caddyuk said:


> I have found the perfect solution from a UK based company


Are you by any chance related? Like, your post livened up a four year old thread (not that it's a bad thing, BTW), and you're in Yorkshire, and the company is based near Halifax (in Yorkshire)?

There are forum rules on advertising, which is one thing, but notwithstanding that, it's more polite to introduce yourself if you are indeed related to the company. And if you are, please change the colours of the links on your website front page - bright blue on blue is very difficult to read :roll:

But I like the idea of underfloor heating. I presume it's electric, since :


> Space saving (only 0.2mm thick)


Gerald


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## Glandwr

You gets what you pay for. Under floor wet gas heating has been standard on top of range German MHs for decades. Alde and Truma. Part of the reason we bought (S/H). Found blown air heating very bad for noise and sinus. It also keeps the tanks from frost in the most extreme conditions.

Dick


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## PeterandLinda

Hi

Our Hymer has underfloor heating, it runs on mains (actually dropped down to 60v through a big transformer) and whilst it isn't enough to heat the van on its own it does make a huge difference to the comfort, especially when you first get up.

P&L


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## bognormike

the revival of this thread after nearly 6 years is somewhat iffy, as noted by Gerald above. I have removed the advertising link. :wink:


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## geraldandannie

bognormike said:


> the revival of this thread after nearly *6* years


2011 - 2006 = ??? :wink:

Gerald


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## Glandwr

geraldandannie said:


> bognormike said:
> 
> 
> 
> the revival of this thread after nearly *6* years
> 
> 
> 
> 2011 - 2006 = ??? :wink:
> 
> Gerald
Click to expand...

I must adjust my calendar Gerald

Dick


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## bognormike

whoops!!  yes, nearly FIVE years :lol:


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## Rosbotham

bognormike said:


> the revival of this thread after nearly 6 years is somewhat iffy, as noted by Gerald above. I have removed the advertising link. :wink:


Might be more effective if you also removed it from Teemyob's subsequent quoting of the post in question... :wink:

Mod Note : done :wink: a report would have had it done even quicker :lol:


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## CliveMott

The latest Concorde A class motorhomes have underfloor heating using pipes built into the floor sandwhich. Its Alde heating and the underfloor arrangement removes the need for radiator pipes and side ducts effectively making the useable inside width greater. Heating by gas or leccy as required. Just don,t nail down any new carpet though!!

C.


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## blondy

You must have VERY good insulation under the heating source
with under floor heating, or you will be helping towards global warming.
domestically its normal to have quite thick polystyrene.


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## esperelda

Our Burstner came with underfloor heating as an added extra and I must say I wouldn't want to be without it now. In October we had ou first real trip away to France and it was lovely to wake up and walk on a warm floor, we also left it on all night when we were hooked up, just kept the van at a nice temperature.


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## grizzlyj

blondy said:


> You must have VERY good insulation under the heating source
> with under floor heating, or you will be helping towards global warming.
> domestically its normal to have quite thick polystyrene.


Hi

Would that be the case with a camper though? The ground under your house floor will be a lot more conductive than a campers perhaps? And to have the system at all means a false floor? (Probably wrong there?!)

I also wonder about electric heating rather than hot water pipes. The floor couldn't flex much or the heating wires would fatigue in time?

This link to some heat pump info illustrates perhaps that with a screeded floor you would need less energy input than a wooden floor, in as much as it suggests a higher temperature is needed in each flooring type to heat any given floorspace. (Table about half way down the page) 35-45deg C for screed, 55 deg for timber.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_pump

Having said that the pipes from our Eberspacher diesel fired water heater run all around under our camper floor, and where they run is toasty on a cold morning. Diverting these to more comprehensively cover the floor would be easy, and not require gas or hook up.

Jason


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## SaddleTramp

The new Rapido's have underfloor heating as an optional extra, It is the electric type.


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