The Best Way to Run Your Floor-Heating System

If you’ve opted to use electric floor heating to add warmth to rooms that get more traffic than others — or are generally colder than the rest for whatever reason — you probably want to know the most energy efficient way to operate your system. After all, the more energy you save, the more money you save.

So what’s the best way to operate them in order to keep the room warm and comfortable without overspending for energy you don’t need?

Unless you’re heating a bedroom, you probably don’t need your floor-heating system on at night. Therefore, you can turn your system off at night to save energy, but you’ll have to remember to turn it on first thing in the morning. And, you should know that it will take some time for your system to reach the temperature you want it to. If you have the opportunity to ease into your morning routine and you don’t need heated floors in your bathroom (or any other room) first thing in the morning, then turning your system off at night is a great way to save energy.

However, an option that’s nearly as energy efficient is programming your thermostat according to your schedule. The nSpiration Series of programmable thermostats includes the nSpire Touch WiFi, nSpire Touch and nHance models. These thermostats allow you to set “temperature events” according to your schedule. For example, you can set your floor temperature to turn up to 82 degrees Fahrenheit at 6 a.m. every morning. The thermostat has a feature that allows it to anticipate how long it will take the system to reach the scheduled temperature in the morning, so the floor will be ready to go at the specified time even if you have it turned down low at night. If you’re away between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. during the day, you can program your thermostat to turn the floor temperature down to 62 degrees. When you set it this low, you’re essentially turning the system off, because the floor temperature will generally remain higher than that just from the ambient temperature of the room. Then, you can set it to reach 82 degrees again when you return home. You can follow this same programming schedule overnight to minimize your energy consumption.

• 6:00 a.m.: Temperature set to 82 degrees.
• 8:00 a.m.: Temperature drops to 62 degrees.
• 6:00 p.m.: Temperature rises to 82 degrees.
• 10:00 p.m.: Temperature drops back to 62 degrees.

The nSpire Touch WiFi, nSpire Touch and nHance programmable thermostats allow for six different “events” for each day of the week. This allows homeowners with even the most complicated schedules the chance to optimize their energy usage.

To see how to set a schedule on the nSpire Touch WiFi and nSpire Touch thermostats, check out the video below.

By programming your floor-heating system, you can ensure that the heating process is as convenient and energy efficient as possible. Plus, if you have multiple floor-heating systems in different rooms, you can customize each system according to your schedule and how often you use the room. You can’t get any more convenient than that!
For more information on WarmlyYours’s programmable thermostats and to purchase one online, visit www.warmlyyours.com/products/line/floor-heating-control.