Control Systems

Air Temperature Control
A thermostat is positioned in the room which is being heated, and set to the required temperature. Once that room gets up to temperature, the thermostat will send a signal to the wiring centre, which will close the actuator fitted on the manifold. This stops the flow of water around the underfloor heating circuit until there is a further heat demand from the thermostat.  To offer ultimate comfort, Maincor advises the use of a separate circuit and thermostat for each room or occupied area, since the heat demands and losses will differ throughout the property depending on usage and external conditions.

Maincor Premium Controls

For optimum control it is possible to use the Maincor 12V Premium Controls. There are a range of thermostats available including optimising programmable thermostats, touch screen thermostats and a thermostat which controls the domestic hot water as well as the heating.  It is possible to have a combination of UFH and radiators and these can be controlled via the central Touch Pad Control or even remotely by using the Netmonitor control.

Water Temperature Control
A range of factors will determine the water temperature required for your Underfloor Heating system, these will include

• The floor construction
• The heat requirement of the space
• The floor coverings
• The pipe diameter and pipe centres that are used.

Generally, underfloor heating systems will run at temperatures ranging from 35^oC – 50^oC. If the boiler or heat source cannot supply the water at the required temperature, either thermostatic or actuated blending controls can be supplied.  Typically, a secondary circulating pump would also be required where there are blending controls on the system.

Underfloor heating requires a low flow temperature, at design conditions there will be approximately a 7^oC temperature drop through the underfloor heating circuits.  Maincor supplies 3-port thermostatic blending valves to blend the primary flow from the boiler to mix with the underfloor heating return water to maintain the required temperature for the underfloor heating system.  Maincor can supply a pre-assembled thermostatic mixing valve and pumping unit which fits directly onto the Maincor underfloor heating manifold.

An alternative method of blending the water is to use an actuated blending valve and weather compensation controller. This is generally a slightly more expensive way of controlling an underfloor heating system, however, it does offer a more efficient way of controlling the water temperature.  As the outside temperature decreases, the heating requirement of the building will increase, hence the amount of energy we have to put back into the building will also increase if comfort conditions are to be maintained.