Electric heated floors?

[MuayThaiGuy]

Has anyone installed the electric heating pads under tile?
We need to redo the bathroom tile and this winter has us thinking that heated floors would be awesome!

Thanks for your,
Derek

 

[BehindBlueI's]

We have them, we never use them. They *are* nice, but they were adding about $30/month to our electric bill. This was in the part of the house that's over a slab, not the part over the basement, so it was probably more thermal mass to overcome.

 

[rockhopper46038]

I absolutely LOVE ours. If you've got the ability to do it using hydronic (water) I think it's cheaper in the long run, but the NuHeat mats we used in our bathroom redo have worked just fine for us.

 

[MuayThaiGuy]

We plan on doing a small bathroom so I don't think the hydronic system would be a good fit for us.
We were hoping to get a programmable thermostat to have it just running in the morning and the evening. Even without it $30 for 3 or 4 months a year would make my wife happy

 

[Dirtebiker]

We have them, we never use them. They *are* nice, but they were adding about $30/month to our electric bill. This was in the part of the house that's over a slab, not the part over the basement, so it was probably more thermal mass to overcome.

Seems high. Does yours cover a big area? You must have let it run constantly.
I think they are very reasonable for bathroom floors. Not so much for whole house.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Seems high. Does yours cover a big area? You must have let it run constantly.
I think they are very reasonable for bathroom floors. Not so much for whole house.

Its a large area, but it was on a timer. I'd guess around 125 square feet, but like I said its over a slab so its constantly fighting the thermal mass of the concrete underneath of it. If it was in the main part of the house, which is over a basement, the wooden subfloor wouldn't suck so much heat out.

 

[IndyUSMC]

Love mine. It was easy to install.

I poured a thin layer of self leveling concrete over the grid before installing the tile. This is not a necessary step but makes it easier to lay the tile and prevents possible damage to the wires while laying the tile.

Ours is also on a timer, it is great to wake up to a warm floor! I have no idea how much my electrical bill goes up, but it is no where near $30. You can research how much of a draw it is, if I recall it was very low.

Here is a pic of my install in progress.

 

[Outlaw]

I don't have it myself but I've installed several of the warm wire kits under tile floors and all of my customers love it. I don't see it making your bill go up that much because it only requires a 15 amp breaker.