SPEEDHEAT GETS TOP MARKS IN TOUGH TEST

An electrical underfloor heating system has been through a testing time and come out with a warm glow of satisfaction!

Faced with a growing number of enquiries from customers about heating underneath the increasingly popular natural wood floors, Bruce Hardwood Floors put the system from Speedheat UK through a tough evaluation. It ran the patented electric elements under its own product non-stop for three months at maximum operating temperature to see how it performed.

The Speedheat system emerged with top marks, providing effective and efficient heating with no damage to the wood flooring or to the sub-floor.

Our product range of engineered hardwood strip and plank flooring is ideally suited to under floor heating, said Rick Haynard, technical and training manager for Bruce Hardwood Floors in the UK. We use oak, maple, cherry, birch and beech for the flooring which is engineered to increase dimensional stability, reducing movement and shrinkage.

Water systems have been around a long time, and we knew they worked with our flooring. Electrical systems are a relatively new development which we had not actively researched until now.

After running Speedheat constantly at 29 deg C two degrees above the British Standard maximum and even turning up the heat to 31 deg C at one stage, the test floor was taken apart and examined.

We were looking for any dimensional change and effect on the structural integrity of the boards, which are glued together, and for any discolouration of the wood or signs of splits or splinters, explained Rick.

We also measured the heat transfer through the 10mm thick wood. Wood is a fantastic insulator but the whole purpose of under floor heating is to heat the room! The sub-floor in which the heating elements were immersed was also studied to see how it had deteriorated, if at all.

We found absolutely nothing that caused us any concern.

Managing Director of Speedheat UK, Ian Pentland, said: We are delighted that our system performed so well in this independently-run test. We always knew we had an excellent product but it is always good to have it confirmed.