ᐅ Looking for a heating system for underfloor heating – considering radiant ceiling heating?

Hello everyone,

We bought an old two-family miner’s house, and we are living in the ground floor apartment of 60m² (645 sq ft). We completely renovated the ground floor, and since I didn’t like the wooden floor, we decided to use screed instead. We installed underfloor heating from the company Selfio.

Because we have district heating, we had to buy an additional control unit. However, it has now turned out that we have direct district heating. So, a complete unit with a heat exchanger needs to be purchased. This is offered directly by the district heating provider in Moers or Dinslaken and costs €1200 plus installation.

Now my question: I would like to keep the district heating system for the upper floor apartment and look for an alternative for the ground floor. I basically need a new heating system just for the underfloor heating on the ground floor.

I did some research and keep seeing that heat pumps are the best option for underfloor heating. But I have no idea which one to choose or how large the buffer tank would need to be. Can a heat pump heat the house throughout the entire year? I read that they operate reliably down to minus 15°C (5°F).

Can anyone help me with tips and more information?

Greetings from Moers

With a heat pump, the underfloor heating acts as the buffer tank. An additional storage tank is inefficient (that’s how I was explained it). The challenge will be finding a unit with the appropriate capacity. Also, the investment per floor is proportionally higher than for both, since fixed costs remain the same (installation, for example). Why have a separate heating system for the ground floor?

Regarding the underfloor heating: did you pressure test it? We also want to buy from Selfio, but we don’t feel confident doing the pressure test ourselves — there’s no information about it in the installation manual. They do offer installation, but only from 100 m² (1076 sq ft) upwards. It will be difficult for us to clear that much space at once. How did you manage it?

Underfloor heating systems come in various installation methods. Typically, underfloor heating is designed based on the expected water temperature and the required heat load. So, if you planned for 50 degrees Celsius (122°F) and now connect a heat pump, your apartment might not warm up sufficiently. If you designed for 35 degrees Celsius (95°F), then a heat pump can handle this.

Do you want to generate hot water in addition to heating? Or do you source it differently?