UFH mat in bathroom

[SSE]

Was at a job yesterday & whilst running cables for lighting in a side attic space I came across something I’ve not see before (not surprisingly). The couple had a new bathroom installed last year & by the looks of it whoever installed the underfloor heat mat, they never measured the UFH mat correctly for the size of the bathroom. So from what I can see what they’ve done is when they got to the last tiled part of floor they’ve drilled a hole in the floor & stuck the heat mat wire under the floor & run the heat wire free in the void for about 300mm into the attic space & then have fitted a thick length of ply to joists, ran the excess cable out on top of the ply & then fitted another bit of ply on top of this. Doesn’t seem safe to me, should I notify the customer? I’ve been reading heat mat cable in air is a no no.

 

[SSE]

Was at a job yesterday & whilst running cables for lighting in a side attic space I came across something I’ve not see before (not surprisingly). The couple had a new bathroom installed last year & by the looks of it whoever installed the underfloor heat mat, they never measured the UFH mat correctly for the size of the bathroom. So from what I can see what they’ve done is when they got to the last tiled part of floor they’ve drilled a hole in the floor & stuck the heat mat wire under the floor & run the heat wire free in the void for about 300mm into the attic space & then have fitted a thick length of ply to joists, ran the excess cable out on top of the ply & then fitted another bit of ply on top of this. Doesn’t seem safe to me, should I notify the customer? I’ve been reading heat mat cable in air is a no no.

Sorry should have said excess is probably a good 5-6 metres on top of ply in attic.

 

[littlespark]

I bet the customer knows about it, as the fitters would have convinced them it’ll stop pipes from freezing in the attic.


If MI says it’s not to be run in free air, then it’s likely, sometime in the future, the wire will overheat and melt through…

Is it really toasty in the attic? Too hot to near it, I imagine.

 

[SSE]

I bet the customer knows about it, as the fitters would have convinced them it’ll stop pipes from freezing in the attic.


If MI says it’s not to be run in free air, then it’s likely, sometime in the future, the wire will overheat and melt through…

Is it really toasty in the attic? Too hot to near it, I imagine.

Was in a quick look this afternoon & asked them. They weren’t aware of it. Was actually 5 years ago it was done, I’ve picked them up wrong re it being 1 year ago. I wasn’t back in the attic space today but will inspect the wire that’s in free air when I’m there next time. It’s turned off for now. I did wonder why they’re not meant to be in free air, I assumed it was so nobody got burnt but didn’t realise that the cable would melt.

 

[littlespark]

im just assuming that they are designed to be surrounded by material, and would heat to a certain amount, spreading the heat into the material...

In free air, the heat might be too much, as its not being absorbed....

I might be wrong.... but think of an old kettle. You have to use it with water covering the element.... without water, the element can burn out