Underfloor heating vs. radiators: Which should you choose?

However, modern technology has introduced another way for us to make our homes toasty and warm - underfloor heating (UFH). While previously thought of as a luxury, the system’s popularity has soared in recent years, and more and more people are choosing to have these systems installed as a way of making their home more efficient and comfortable. 

Below, we compare underfloor heating vs. radiators, discussing the pros and cons of each, to help you decide which is the best system for you. 

The pros and cons of underfloor heating

As with every type of heating system, there are pros and cons for underfloor heating. To help you decide between this kind of system or radiators, we’ve listed them for you below.

The pros and cons of radiators

Unlike UFH systems, which work using radiant heat, radiators work via convection, meaning they heat the air around them. This air rises upwards when it’s warm and then sinks again as it cools.

As you can see, there are more cons for radiators than pros, but consider all the options before making your decision.

Below, you can find some more information when it comes to deciding between underfloor heating and radiators, including advice about installation and costs.

Underfloor heating vs. radiators: Installation and costs

When it comes to choosing between underfloor heating and radiators, you’ll need to consider the costs associated with the installation. 

UFH is more expensive to install than simply replacing existing radiators. While some systems can be retrofitted, the installation involves removing your current flooring so that the pipes or wires can be laid and then reapplying your flooring over the top again. For this reason, it’s often easier to install in new builds or if you’re undertaking a renovation/extension. The cost of the system itself is also more than buying new radiators, however, the increased efficiency of UFH could save you money long-term.

Likewise, you’ll also need to consider the cost of maintenance. Should your UFH system break or require fixing, this could be more costly than simply replacing a radiator. If a radiator does need replacing, it’s fairly easy to find one that’s the same size and do a like-for-like swap at a good price with minimal mess. In fact, it’s recommended that you do replace radiators that are very old for more efficient equivalents. 

Underfloor heating vs. radiators: Running temperatures and efficiency

UFH is designed to work at much lower temperatures than your radiators (around 30 to 40 °C, instead of up to 70 °C). In this way, it can spread the heat more efficiently and evenly throughout the room to make it a comfortably warm space without wasting energy unnecessarily. If your flooring got as hot as the surface of a radiator, you’d burn your feet and barely be able to walk on the floor! Not only that, but it would take a huge amount of energy to sustain such heat. 

Radiators, on the other hand, are controlled via TRVs and are designed to blast out heat at a high temperature, so they can heat your home up quite quickly when you feel chilly during the winter. There are a few downsides to this, however. 

TRVs may not be the most accurate way of getting a room to a particular temperature. As a lot of heat is being emitted from a small surface area that then rises to the ceiling, the TRV can take an inaccurate reading. 

As this heat rises and sinks, it creates a circular motion that means only parts of the room are at your desired temperature, resulting in cold spots. When this is the case and you feel a bit chilly, it’s tempting to increase the temperature of the radiator with the thermostatic radiator valve (TRV), using more energy. This reduces the efficiency of your heating system and may not solve your problem, either.

Underfloor heating vs. radiators: Space and looks

Radiators can absolutely make a statement and make a beautiful feature in your home. There are hundreds of designs and colours to choose from to ensure that your radiators look stylish and are in keeping with the rest of your home interiors. For period properties, you can find modern radiators that look old, whereas for contemporary homes, you can have vertical or slim radiators to take up less space.

However, radiators can take up space, particularly as you shouldn’t put furniture in front of them because this reduces their efficiency. If they are obscured, you may just be heating the sofa or sending the heat straight back out the window from behind the curtains. But sometimes, the location of a radiator makes it impossible to not block it, and it may be the only logical place for an armchair or other piece of furniture to go.

When you have UFH installed, you wouldn’t know it was there. All the pipework or cabling (depending on whether you have a wet or dry system) is located underneath the floor, which gives you more wall space for furniture or other household items. 

You should consider that not all flooring is UFH-compatible, so it’s worth checking that your desired flooring can be installed with such a system. For example, some types of flooring, such as ceramic and stone tiling and resin and polished screed, are very good at conducting heat. Vinyl, linoleum and solid and engineered wood flooring are also known to perform well. 

Laminate flooring can also be a good option - however, it should be noted that high temperatures (above 27˚C) are likely to result in damage to the flooring so should be avoided. Carpets and rugs, on the other hand, are less suitable for UFH systems as they don’t transfer heat well. 

Is underfloor heating more efficient than radiators?

It’s hard to say whether underfloor heating is more efficient than radiators, as it’s dependent on a number of factors. These might include the size of your home, the number of radiators you have, how well insulated your home is, the size of the UFH (in m2), etc. However, compared to radiators, it’s thought that UFH uses around 25% less energy, making it the more energy efficient option. 

To get a better idea, let’s look at how much energy both radiators and UFH use. 

How much energy does UFH heating use?

Dry UFH systems use electricity instead of gas, and the average size system in the UK is around 100 W/m2. This means it uses 100 watts per metre square of heating if the system was left on all the time. Should the system be left on for 12 hours instead, it would use around 50 W/m2. As an example, a kitchen that is 24 m2 will use around 1,200 W (or 1.2 kW) of electricity per hour to run underfloor heating. 

To put this into perspective, a fridge uses around 1.2 kWh of electricity per day, and so running a fridge for 24 hours uses around the same amount of energy as putting on the UFH for one hour in a 24 m2 room.

How much energy do radiators use?

Radiators are heated via hot water that is produced by your boiler. Boilers are sized in kW (24 kW, 36 kW, etc.). This means that a 24 kW boiler will use 24 kW of gas per hour that it’s running, and so a boiler that is on for eight hours a day will use approximately 192 kW of gas. This would provide your home with both heat and hot water.

Radiators generally require much more energy to keep them at a consistently hot temperature (about 70 °C) and UFH by comparison can run at much lower temperatures (30 to 40 °C). This could mean that UFH won’t put as much demand on your boiler, and so it could be the more efficient system.

Can underfloor heating replace radiators?

Yes, underfloor heating can replace radiators altogether if you want your entire home to be heated from the floor up. You don’t need both in order to keep your home at a suitable temperature throughout the winter months. However, underfloor heating may not be ideal for very old buildings or for homes with a lack of insulation.

Can you use underfloor heating and radiators together?

You can use underfloor heating and radiators together. In fact, this may be the better option if you don’t want to replace the whole system, or are doing a renovation and only installing UFH in part of the house. 

You may choose, for example, to have UFH downstairs and keep your radiators upstairs. Alternatively, you could have UFH in a room you use the most, such as a kitchen or living space, and radiators everywhere else. You might even choose to just have UFH installed in rooms that have cold floors, such as the kitchen and bathroom - your feet will thank you on a cold morning!

Radiators or underfloor heating: which is better?

The type of heating system you ultimately decide on may depend on your lifestyle and the home you have. 

In a well-insulated, modern home, UFH could be the best option for you. Not only is it more efficient, but you can do away with radiators altogether and spread the heat more evenly throughout your home. You may also have greater control over the temperature in the property and you’ll likely see a reduction in cold spots and draughts. 

Should you have an older property that has less insulation, radiators may still be your best option. They will continue to be around for a long time to come because they do heat a space relatively quickly, despite perhaps not being the most efficient way to do so. Many people prefer them as they’re a system we feel comfortable with, but they’re also easy to replace should the need arise.

Conclusion and Summary

We’ve covered a lot in this guide, but we hope it’s given you a full understanding of the differences between radiators and UFH. In summary: 

• Underfloor heating may be more efficient, but installation can be tricky and may make a lot of mess.

• Radiators will heat a room faster, whereas UFH is designed to be on for longer periods of time to heat a space slowly.

• UFH is easier to control and set to a desired temperature, whereas radiators will blast out a lot of heat that circles around, reducing in cold spots.

• Radiators cost less to replace, but UFH is expensive should something go wrong.

• Radiators come in lots of nice designs, but can take up wall space. You can’t see UFH and can put furniture on top of it.

• Radiators and UFH can be used together.