Understanding Running Costs
Understanding how much your floor heating costs to run is a popular question, understandably, and with most of us becoming more aware of our electric consumption, we advise all our customers to understand your usage so you can use it to your best advantage.
Calculating you electric underfloor heating costs
FIND YOUR HEAT LOAD
The heat load of your floor is noted on all documentation from Comfort Heat. The load is measured in watts and for a typical bathroom will range from around 500 watts to 1200 watts.
If you are unsure of the heat load of your heated area you can call our office or calculate an estimate based on 175 watts per m2.
FIND THE PRICE YOU PAY FOR ELECTRICITY
The price you pay for electricity is on the back of your electricity bill. The unit of measure for your bill is listed in kilowatt hours. If kilowatt hours mean nothing to you then then think of it like this.
OPTION 1: FLAT RATE
- Electricity pricing is a flat rate of 26 cents per kWh (kilowatt hour)
- Run your 1000 W [or 1 kW], vacuum cleaner for 1 hour will cost you 26 cents.
OPTION 2: TIME OF USE
- Run your 1000 W vacuum cleaner for 1 hour will between 2pm-8pm Monday – Friday it will cost you 52 cents.
- Run your 1000 W, vacuum cleaner for 1 hour will between 10pm-7am Monday – Sunday it will cost you 13 cents.
- Run your 1000 W, vacuum cleaner for 1 hour at all other times it will cost you 22 cents.
See below chart
CALCULATE YOUR ELECTRIC COST PER HOUR
Use the below formula to calculate your cost per hour.
[[heat load] ÷ 1000] x [price you pay for electricity]] x 0.65
Please note that the above formula is an estimate only. We estimate that the floor will be on 65% of the time after the floor hits temperature, as it will begin to turn on and off maintaining the set temperature. Keeping the heat within the room i.e. door closed will help this percentage stay low.
Calculating you hydronic underfloor heating costs
Hydronic heating systems can operate via a range of heat sources but the two most popular are gas and heat pump [electricity]. Similar to electric heating systems, you can estimate your gas and electricity consumption via a simple formula.
FIND YOUR HEAT LOAD
The heat load of your area is noted on all documentation from Comfort Heat. The load is measured in watts and if you are unsure of the heat load of your area you can call our office or calculate an estimate based on 100 watts per m2.
FIND THE PRICE YOU PAY FOR GAS
The price you pay for gas is on the back of your gas bill. The unit of measure for gas is megajoules (MJ).
Block 1: 3 cents /MJ
Block 2: 2 cents /MJ
CALCULATE YOUR GAS COST PER HOUR
[[price you pay for gas x 3.6] x [heat load ÷ 1000]] x 0.65
Please note that the above formula is an estimate only. We estimate that the floor will be on 65% of the time after the floor hits temperature, as it will begin to turn on and off maintaining the set temperature. Insulation will play a large factor in keeping this percentage low.
[HEAT PUMP] - CALCULATE YOUR ELECTRIC COST PER HOUR
[[[heat load ÷ 1000] x [price you pay for electricity]] x 0.65] ÷ 3.45
Reference the above information for electricity pricing.
Due to the COP (co-efficiency performance) of heat pumps the total price for electricity is divided by 3.45