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GeezerViz · 01-13-2015, 01:53 PM

I tried this post elsewhere with limited results, so now I'll try in this forum.
I have heard horror stories about problems with electric heated floors and having to rip up the floor to correct problems. Any issues with the Aqua Hot floors? Are they a pain or worth it?

Cruzer · 01-13-2015, 02:35 PM

The Aqua-Hot and electric heated floors are different. Each has pros and cons but I prefer the Aqua-Hot myself.

The electric grids are glued beneath the tile so any work on them does require tearing up tile to get to it. The Aqua-Hot loop beneath the wooden floor and accessible from the basement if need be so no tile work would be required.

The electric grids come up to temperature faster than the Aqua-Hot floor but once there they both work good.

Electric floors take a fair amount of amperage. You can forget about them while driving (unless running the generator) or when on 30 amp shore power. Aqua-Hot floors will run anytime, including boondocking in a truck stop.

As long as the antifreeze loop is installed correctly and no one drills a hole or sticks a screw into the loop it isn't a problem area.

Once an owner has had a heated tile floor they seem to never want to give them up so they must be worth it.

bcp · 01-13-2015, 02:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WAscubaDude

I tried this post elsewhere with limited results, so now I'll try in this forum.
I have heard horror stories about problems with electric heated floors and having to rip up the floor to correct problems. Any issues with the Aqua Hot floors? Are they a pain or worth it?

Worth it especially on cold mornings. I think the AquaHot hot water tubes are more reliable and less prone to breaking than wires in an application where flexing is a possibility.

JohnFreyja · 01-13-2015, 03:05 PM

Ditto on the "Once an owner has had a heated tile floor they seem to never want to give them up so they must be worth it."
I have the electric and I am not the first owner of our 08 Country Coach but to my knowledge there have never been any issues. I have not confirmed the amp draw because the SilverLeaf shows no change when I turn it on, but the floors get warm, so I think it was not wired through the SilverLeaf System.

brobox · 01-13-2015, 04:00 PM

Have spent a week in our coach with temps in the 20-30's. We experienced no problems with the AH heated floor. We normally do not spend much time in cold weather, but it was nice to have the heated floor when we needed it. In those temps our coach was comfortable with just the floor heat and fireplace.

drosten · 01-15-2015, 06:20 AM

We wouldn't do without them, we have had -18 temps in Colorado this winter and we stayed nice and warm, very impressed.

motorhomeguy · 01-15-2015, 07:59 AM

When I was researching heated floors several years ago (American Coach, Newmar, Entegra) the biggest negative that I discovered with the electric was the manufacturer of the electric heating elements recommended that nothing be placed on top of the heated floor, i.e. area rugs, etc. as this would cause an unbalanced buildup of heat under that section and could cause a problem. Like I said, that was maybe three years ago. Don't know if that is still the case. It was not a deal breaker as one could work around the rug thing, but should stay conscious of it...

JohnFreyja · 01-16-2015, 08:32 PM

I was told "no rugs with rubber backing" for same reason.

Cruzer · 01-17-2015, 06:07 AM

I don't see how the heat could start a fire or anything although I can see how it would dry out a rug, especially rubber backed, over time.

I can see how all that trapped heat could negatively impact an electric heating grid. As the heat builds up, so does the resistance in the wires. When the resistance builds up, so does the amperage and that's when failures can occur in the grid.

That's just one of the benefits of the Aqua-Hot in-floor heating. It may take a bit longer to warm up initially but that antifreeze loop is much more fault tolerant than an electric grid and I wouldn't have any concerns about placing a rug on an Entegra floor.

DebbieMH · 01-17-2015, 06:47 AM

If you couldn't have a rug on the aqua hot heated floor ... then why would Entegra include several matching rugs? Waking up this morning in about 38 degrees .... a warm floor was very nice. We have the rugs on the floor, I don't think it is going to be a problem.

MRUSA14 · 01-18-2015, 10:19 AM

I have the Aqua Hot floor heating, and I think I would prefer electric. My floor has warm and cold spots, in other words the heat is not uniform. Also, when in use the floor heat requires a circulation pump to run, and you can hear the pump. It's not terribly loud, but slightly annoying. Cruzer's comment that you can use the AH floor heat when dry camping is correct, but the flip side is that when at a campground you must sometimes run the floor heat with your diesel ($$) vs the campground's electricity.