SAVE ENERGY WITH COPPER 3 - Underfloor heating and cooling using copper tubes

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UNDERFLOOR HEATING AND COOLING USING COPPER TUBES

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Series foreword As a durable and sustainable metal with a long service life and full recyclability, copper plays a crucial role in the heating and cooling, plumbing, wiring, lighting and roofing of buildings. When it comes to making buildings more ‘green’ – i.e. with design, construction and operation that minimises negative impacts on the environment, or even offers positive contributions - key components such as energy efficiency and smarter resource usage depend on copper. The greener the building, the more copper is needed.

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Save on your energy bill and enjoy high comfort Copper: key to energy efficiency and reliability Various systems for all requirements Go further!

40°C

Convection - radiator

Radiation - underfloor heating

38°C

27°C

35°C

31°C

23°C

19°C

14°C

Temperature distribution in case of different types of heating

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Save on your energy bill and enjoy high comfort!

Underfloor heating is a low-temperature heating system with supply temperature typically 45°C, or lower with a large surface area, practically turning the floor of a room into a giant radiator. The radiant heat from the floor causes less air turbulence in the room and creates a more pleasant indoor climate than heat from traditional wall hung radiators.

Enhanced temperature uniformity and direct heat emission by radiation allow the air temperature in the room to be lowered by few degrees without reducing comfort. It is estimated that each 1°C reduction in temperature results in savings of around 6% in heating costs.

In summer, the system is reversible, i.e. it can be used for cooling. Building owners also value ‘invisible’ solutions, as they allow the freedom to design creative and spacious interiors.

Underfloor heating system installation using copper tubes UNDERFLOOR HEATING AND COOLING USING COPPER TUBES |

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Copper: key to energy efficiency and reliability Thanks to copper’s excellent thermal conductivity (the red metal is almost 1,000 times more conductive than plastic, for example) water supply temperature can be 2 - 3 degrees Celsius lower than in other systems, assuming the same thermal effectiveness. This is additionally beneficial if combined with renewable energy sources (heat pumps, solar thermal collectors, geothermal energy), significantly reducing energy consumption and CO2 emissions, as these are more efficient at lower flow temperatures.

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If we assume similar water supply temperature less tube is needed and distance between tubes might be enlarged compared to plastics at same room temperature - less length, less curve, less head loss, less energy required to circulate water.

The reliability of copper has been proven over many decades by the millions of European homes using copper tubes in different applications. One of the first radiant floors with copper tube was installed in the Cathedral of Lodi in Italy in mid-sixties and the system still works perfectly.

With a low coefficient of thermal expansion, high corrosion resistance, no ageing or deterioration over time, and being completely impervious to oxygen, copper guarantees the durability of the system. A copper underfloor heating system requires no regular flushing out, no blockage due to missing or depleted anti-oxygen barrier. What’s more, the malleability of the copper facilitates handling and installation of the system.

The life of copper is infinite and has no end phase. It can be recycled over and over with no loss of properties. As such, copper is a sustainable material that is essential to building the circular economy.

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Various systems for all requirements Copper piping satisfies every requirement of underfloor heating and cooling – whether new build or giving an old building an energy efficient heating upgrade.

Classic wet system is the ideal underfloor heating/ cooling solution for a variety of floor structures in new built homes. Plastics covered, copper tubes (12×0,7 or 14×0,8 mm) or thin-walled copper tubes integrated with polyethylene covering 14 x 2 mm (0,3 mm Cu layer) are laid into cement or anhydrite free flowing screeds.

Thin-walled copper tube for wet systems 8

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Video: Wet system

Video: Dry system

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In renovation projects, a dry system without concrete screed, can be used. Copper pipe is laid out, fixed and covered by readymade floor sheets. It is low weight, quick and clean to fit, and can be walked on immediately after installation. Plastics covered, thin-walled or bare copper pipes can be use depending on system requirements.

When a quick, low height installation, with low thermal inertia and good controllability is required, bare copper tube can be laid in a mastic asphalt floor.

Layers of dry system copper underfloor heating

“It’s so simple.”

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Go further!

copperplumbing.org.uk ... your comprehensive source of technical information about copper tube installation in a wide range of applications.

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Contact Copper Initiative 5 Grovelands Business Centre, Boundary Way Hemel Hempstead, Herts HP2 7TE, UK Email: info@copperalliance.org.uk Web: copperplumbing.org.uk 12

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SAVE ENERGY WITH COPPER