GripStrips™ Floor Heating Cable Fixing Strips, Approx. 1’

When installing electric floor heating over a concrete slab, an insulating underlayment like ThermalSheet is highly recommended to ensure efficient operation, faster heating times and warmer floor temperatures.

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When WarmlyYours electric floor heating systems are being installed on a concrete slab, we strongly recommend adding a layer of insulation over the slab prior to installing the system. While our electric floor heating provides up to 25% more heating power per square foot than many of our competitors, the slab will always act as a "heat sink." Some of the heat that would otherwise be transferred to the flooring surface will remain in the slab, causing the floor’s surface temperature to be considerably lower. This is true with any electric radiant floor heating system.

When installed on top of a concrete slab without insulation, it is generally accepted that electric floor heating will take the chill away from the floor and provide a small amount of warmth. Adding insulation on top of the slab and beneath any electric radiant floor heating system will allow a greater percentage of the heat generated to transfer to the flooring surface. This results in greater efficiency and therefore faster warm up times, higher expected surface temperatures and lower energy usage. The floor will have the capacity to warm to a comfortable temperature, and in some cases can be employed as the primary heat source for that room.

The recommended types of insulation are natural cork, insulated tile backer boards and insulated underlayment, such as ThermalSheet™ synthetic cork.

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Single Conductor vs. Twin Conductor Identification

• A single conductor floor heating system is a loop of one core wire, it starts at the thermostat and ends at the thermostat - this is the original method of manufacturing heating cable. Most single conductor floor heating systems have the same color cold lead wire connected to both load terminals/pigtails of the thermostat. Some early single conductor floor heating systems were produced with a white and a yellow cold lead wire.
• A twin conductor floor heating system terminates two core wires at the end, both wires start at the thermostat - this is the current method of manufacturing heating cable. Most twin conductor floor heating systems will have two different colored cold lead wires, and one of these is black. The other wire in a WarmlyYours floor heating system is either yellow (120V system) or red (240V system).  A few early Environ systems had two black cold lead wires.

Note:

- Not all heating cables are wired directly to the thermostat. It may have been necessary during installation to terminate the heating cable in a junction box, and then run a separate (contractor-supplied) wire from the junction box to the thermostat.

- WarmlyYours single conductor cold leads were produced with a 13‘ length at the start of the loop, and a 26‘ length at the end.  The 120V floor heating systems had a yellow and a white label attached to the cold leads, and the 240V floor heating systems had a red and a white label attached. 

- If you have a single conductor floor heating system and notice that one cold lead is thicker or feels hotter than the other, please contact technical support at +1 (800) 875-5285 

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