1. Concept and Function of Floor Heating Insulation
The floor heating insulation layer improves the insulation performance of the entire floor heating system, achieving certain energy savings. Located above the structural layer (the original floor) and beneath the floor heating pipes, it's an essential component of the four floor heating systems.
After floor heating is installed, it maintains a consistent room temperature. How does this happen? What role does the insulation layer play in floor heating installations?
Let's explore:
The heat dissipated by a floor heating installation consists of two components: upward heat dissipation and downward heat dissipation. Upward heat dissipation is effective heat dissipation, meaning energy that is effectively utilized. Downward heat dissipation is heat loss. System heating commissioning is a crucial step in ensuring and further evaluating the quality of the project design and construction, and must be conducted meticulously.
During the trial run, the heat from air radiation to the entire space takes a significant amount of time. The initial heating water temperature must be strictly controlled, and the temperature rise must be steady and slow to ensure that building components gradually adapt to the rising temperature. Without insulation, a significant amount of heat will be lost to the ground through conduction. This is clearly inefficient and energy-saving.
During the initial heating phase, the hot water temperature should rise gradually. The thermostat is the central control for the room under floor heating, and the temperature should rise and fall slowly. The water supply temperature should be approximately 10 degrees Celsius above the ambient temperature and should not exceed 32 degrees Celsius. The system should operate continuously for 48 hours, and then increase the water temperature by 3 degrees Celsius every 24 hours until the designed water supply temperature is reached. At this temperature, the heating pipes connected to each manifold and manifold set should be individually adjusted until the design requirements are met. Therefore, floor heating installation insulation is essential.
2. What does floor heating insulation layer generally refer to?
In a broad sense, floor heating insulation layer refers to some materials that can play a direct role in insulation during floor construction, or assist in insulation, namely insulation boards, reflective films, boundary insulation strips, aluminum foil tapes and other floor heating auxiliary materials. In a narrow sense, floor heating insulation layer generally refers to insulation boards that play the main role in insulation.
3. Types and characteristics of insulation materials commonly used in floor heating
(1) EPS (expanded polystyrene)
EPS foam plastic board is a thermoplastic material. Its production process requires volatile polystyrene particles, which are produced through several steps such as high-temperature steam pre-expansion, curing, molding, aging, and cutting. EPS has excellent comprehensive properties such as thermal insulation coefficient, moisture permeability coefficient, and anti-flexing. Therefore, it is widely used in the construction field for external wall insulation, internal wall insulation and floor heating insulation projects.
However, during the aging process, EPS will release the internal water vapor accumulated during foaming. The longer the aging time, the greater the density loss and the lower the compressive strength. This requires that high-density EPS floor heating insulation board must be used in floor heating construction to overcome the problem of reduced compressive strength caused by the density loss of EPS.
(2) XPS (Extruded Polystyrene)
XPS is a closed-cell, organic insulation material that is directly extruded into a mold after polystyrene particles are mixed with additives and melted, mixed with a foaming agent, and directly extruded into a mold.
During the XPS manufacturing process, the polystyrene particles are heated from room temperature to 200 degrees Celsius, and the particles change from solid to liquid. After adding additives, they are mixed and pushed forward in the screw. When extruded at the mold, the pressure is directly reduced from the original 10MPA to the standard indoor air pressure. The polystyrene solution is converted from liquid to solid again, and the high-pressure liquid foaming agent becomes gaseous, thereby forming a honeycomb closed-cell structure inside the board, achieving excellent insulation effect.
2. Selection of floor heating insulation materials: Which is better, XPS or EPS?
1. Concept, Raw Materials, and Process
1) What is XPS? What is EPS?
Extruded board, also known as XPS board, extruded polystyrene board, or extruded polystyrene foam board, is one of the most mature insulation materials on the market. Polystyrene board, also known as EPS board, benzene board, foam board, or expandable polystyrene foam board.
2) Are the raw materials the same?
The raw materials are actually the same, but the production processes differ, resulting in different physical properties. Polystyrene foam is divided into expandable EPS and continuously extruded XPS. In other words, both extruded board and polystyrene board are produced using polystyrene resin as the raw material. Due to differences in molecular chains, the raw materials exhibit different physical properties.
3) Different Production Processes
Extruded board is formed by continuous extrusion. During the extrusion process, various catalysts are added, which HVAC companies refer to as blowing agents. This concerns environmental issues. Substandard boards typically use coal gas, methane, freon, or denatured alcohol as the blowing agent, which can be harmful. High-quality boards use carbon dioxide as the blowing agent, but this requires extremely high production equipment and processes. Polystyrene boards are molded, using water vapor as the foaming agent. They require subsequent drying, ensuring environmental friendliness.
2. Differences in Thermal Insulation Performance
1) XPS has a perfect closed-cell honeycomb structure, with a closed-cell ratio exceeding 99%, resulting in extremely low water absorption (almost zero) and thermal conductivity.
2) EPS insulation boards lack the closed-cell structure of XPS, resulting in relatively poor water absorption. For floor heating insulation, they require waterproofing with a film or self-skinning. The two materials are highly similar, with minimal differences in compressive strength, thermal conductivity, flame retardancy, temperature and weather resistance, specific heat capacity, linear expansion coefficient, impact strength, dimensional stability, and apparent density.
3. Applications
XPS extruded board and EPS polystyrene board are essentially siblings, sharing the same raw material but different production processes. Therefore, they offer a degree of interchangeability in many applications. Specifically:
1) EPS polystyrene boards are widely used in construction, insulation, packaging, refrigeration, daily necessities, industrial casting, and other fields. In building energy conservation, XPS extruded boards are primarily used for exterior wall insulation, interior wall insulation, and floor heating.
2) XPS extruded boards are widely used in building roof insulation, floor heating, steel structure roofs, building wall insulation, building floor moisture retention, plaza floors, airport runway insulation, and high-speed railway subgrades.
The quality and construction of insulation materials are crucial factors in determining the quality of floor heating. Improper use of materials can also cause harmful emissions that could affect your family's health. If you're concerned about unreliable material quality or poor craftsmanship, choose EPS modules.
800.webp)
659.webp)
210.webp)
328.webp)
294.webp)
476.webp)
420.webp)
146.webp)
