ᐅ Is the electricity consumption and procedure for screed drying typical?
Created on: 21 May 2025 11:59
M
medow1982
Hi everyone,
I’m building with solid construction, and according to the site manager, a construction dryer is needed for the screed drying. So, for the past week, a 15 kW (kilowatt) heater has been running continuously, heating about 270 sqm (2,900 sq ft) at a supply temperature of 35°C (95°F). According to the protocol, you should start at 25°C (77°F), but nobody seems to care.
There is dripping from the walls, and the windows are always wet, like in a sauna.
Will this get better? At some point, all the moisture has to come out, right?
I ventilate twice a day, sometimes even three times, and always remove visible drops.
At 35°C (95°F), the energy consumption is 200 kWh per day. I calculated that over the planned 3 weeks, this will be over 4,000 kWh.
Does this sound about right, or could there be something wrong with the heater?
Moisture is also coming down from above through the precast ceilings—is this normal?
Unfortunately, my site manager is not very proactive, so I’m looking for advice here.
Best regards,
Felix
I’m building with solid construction, and according to the site manager, a construction dryer is needed for the screed drying. So, for the past week, a 15 kW (kilowatt) heater has been running continuously, heating about 270 sqm (2,900 sq ft) at a supply temperature of 35°C (95°F). According to the protocol, you should start at 25°C (77°F), but nobody seems to care.
There is dripping from the walls, and the windows are always wet, like in a sauna.
Will this get better? At some point, all the moisture has to come out, right?
I ventilate twice a day, sometimes even three times, and always remove visible drops.
At 35°C (95°F), the energy consumption is 200 kWh per day. I calculated that over the planned 3 weeks, this will be over 4,000 kWh.
Does this sound about right, or could there be something wrong with the heater?
Moisture is also coming down from above through the precast ceilings—is this normal?
Unfortunately, my site manager is not very proactive, so I’m looking for advice here.
Best regards,
Felix
N
nordanney23 May 2025 19:27MachsSelbst schrieb:
There’s nothing against going up to 40 or 50°C (104 or 122°F). Let’s look at it the other way. There is currently no reason to do so. On the contrary, it increases costs and subjects the heat pump to unnecessary continuous operation at maximum capacity.
P.S. The state of the art in new builds is currently a maximum of 35°C (95°F). Anything higher would be considered poor planning under the building energy regulations.
MachsSelbst schrieb:
Higher temperature means more water comes out. Maybe even too fast? Is that good for the screed that was installed? Formally, you should stick to the heating protocol (although now there are protocols limiting up to only 35°C (95°F)).
MachsSelbst schrieb:
Oh, putting the heat pump on the screed? I’ve never seen that. You have to look carefully.
With lightweight units, they are placed directly on the screed or mounted on the wall; only heavier units are installed on a composite screed – but that is still screed.
MachsSelbst schrieb:
The unit weighs over half a ton including a 300–500 liter (80–130 gallon) tank. Don’t exaggerate. First of all, standard heat pumps don’t have such large tanks, if any at all—and if one is installed, it’s usually external.
The indoor unit of a heat pump starts at around 50 kg (110 lbs), depending on the model (e.g., a wall-mounted Daikin without a tank weighs 42 kg (93 lbs)). Hardly any unit weighs more than 200 kg (440 lbs) unless you have already filled the tank.
MachsSelbst schrieb:
The unit weighs over half a ton, including a 300–500 liter (80–130 gallons) storage tank.And why would you need a filled hot water storage tank for screed heating?T
Teimo198823 May 2025 22:41MachsSelbst schrieb:
Oh, placing a heat pump directly on the screed – I’ve never seen that. The unit, including a 300-500 L (79-132 gallons) tank, weighs more than half a ton.Even 500 kg (1100 lbs) shouldn’t be a problem for screed. I also have an indoor unit with a 500 L (132 gallons) tank and was concerned for that reason. So I installed XPS insulation instead of EPS beneath the screed and made the screed one centimeter (0.4 inches) thicker.
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