Should underfloor heating be turned off at night?

If you’re upgrading from central heating to underfloor heating, you will need to change the way you control your heating. Instead of the ‘on and off’ approach you may have used with your radiators, you’ll get better results from underfloor heating if you leave it running 24/7.

When I tell people this, one of the first things they say is, ‘But I don’t want the heating on at night’. After all, no one is there to benefit from the heat, and it can be uncomfortable to sleep with the heating on at the same temperature as you’d prefer in the daytime – experts suggest the best bedroom temperature is 18°C.

So, what should you do?

There are two answers to this – the short answer and the longer, more detailed answer.

Should underfloor heating be turned off at night? (The short answer)

No. Leave your underfloor heating on and use the night setback setting to adjust your home to a more appropriate temperature.

Should underfloor heating be turned off at night? (The longer, more detailed answer)

No. To understand why, it’s helpful to have some background.

For conventional underfloor heating in a screeding floor (which I’d recommend), the screed will get cold if you turn off your heating. When it gets cold, it takes a long time to reheat – as long as six hours. This means you won’t be able to reheat your home quickly in the same way you could with radiators, for instance.

That’s why it’s better to slightly reduce the temperature flowing through your underfloor heating using your night setback setting. This will give you a more comfortable sleeping temperature and reduce night-time energy consumption while preventing the ‘hot/cold’ problem you’d get if you switched your underfloor heating off at night.

Take this approach, and you’ll get a more comfortable home and reduce your overall energy consumption.

Don’t take it from us; here’s what our happy customers say…

“We now have a permanent warm, comfortable home and constant hot water thanks to Tom’s Weather Compensation control installation. The boiler now runs at a lower flow rate, on average at 40 degrees centigrade, saving on gas usage. An unexpected benefit for us has been getting a room back in the house which we would have previously shut off to save on energy cost.” – Mrs Crewsdon