Electric floor heating is an increasingly popular way of heating a house or heating individual rooms. When planning such an installation, it is also worth considering appropriate fuses. They will protect against voltage changes, electric shocks and fires.
Protection of electric floor heating installations
Underfloor heating is one of the methods of heating individual rooms or the entire house. It is powered by electricity, therefore, due to the elimination of the furnace, it does not require an additional room serving as a boiler room. At the same time, it is easy to control - with the help of an appropriate programming device, you can permanently or continuously regulate the temperature in a selected room or the entire house.
Underfloor heating is most often installed, for example, under the floor of the bathroom, kitchen, vestibule or winter garden, but it can be installed on the entire surface of the house and completely eliminate the need to install radiators, which often disturb the aesthetics. This solution gives a pleasant feeling of warmth, for example, in the living room or bathroom, where especially in winter we sometimes have cold feet because of the cold tiles.
Check the circuit breakers at the Onninen wholesaler
Which fuse should I choose for electric floor heating?
Underfloor heating systems differ from each other, mainly due to the surface and heating power, which specialists select for an individual project. It is assumed that in a properly insulated house, with energy-efficient windows, the power of the heating cable cannot exceed 200 W per 1 m2 of floor.
Since electricity flows in the underfloor heating system, it is a potential threat to humans. Therefore, fuses are necessary, the use of which minimizes the risk. Most often, these are overcurrent fuses and differential circuit breakers . Their parameters should be selected for the specific installation.
A circuit breaker is commonly called a fuse. It is essential in every electrical installation in a home. A fuse for underfloor heating is therefore the basic protection against overloading of wires and devices. When a current of too high intensity reaches the fuse, the circuit is disconnected. Among the fuses available on the market, the fuse for underfloor heating should be single-phase.
The differential circuit breaker, in turn, protects against differences in current intensity in two wires - phase and neutral. They are connected in an electromagnetic loop - if the current in both circuits has the same intensity, the installation is working correctly. However, if an imbalance occurs, because, for example, some of the current escapes through grounding, an impulse is generated, which, thanks to the fuse, disconnects the power supply and protects the installation.
Three types of differential circuit breakers are used in heating mats:
- low sensitivity - for current differences above 500 mA
- medium sensitive - for current differences between 500 and 30 mA
- highly sensitive - for current differences up to 30 mA.
Fuse overview at the Onninen wholesaler
In the Onninen electrical wholesaler you will find various types of fuses that, working together with the underfloor heating system, will take care of the safety of the rooms and the people staying in them. Among the overcurrent fuses, it is worth mentioning:
Circuit breaker RX3 1P B 10A 6000A - single-pole fuse recommended for residential buildings, protects against overloads, short circuits and electric shocks
ETIMAT 6 1p B16 circuit breaker - single-pole fuse with a rated current of 16 A
Circuit breaker S 303 3P B 16A 6000A TX3 - three-pole fuse to protect against overload of the installation
Circuit breaker S 301 1P B 16A 6000A TX3 - protects against network overloads and short circuits, is easy and convenient to install
Circuit breaker S 301 1P B 10A 6000A TX3 - protects against the effects of short circuits and overloads, cooperates with auxiliary and signalling contacts, undervoltage and surge releases and remote drives.
In turn, in the group of differential circuit breakers we can choose from, for example:
P304 4P 40A 30ma F-type (HPI) differential circuit breaker DX3 series - fuse recommended for protecting installations and devices against electric shock and fire
P304 4P 63A 30ma differential circuit breaker type F (HPI) DX3 series - serves to protect against voltage surges, electric shocks and fires.