Underfloor Heating Intelligence Singapore

[MCTherm]

Hello fellow Expats,

I'm currently producing underfloor heating and cooling products in Europe for water-based systems.

I was wondering if those products are suitable for the Singapore market. How do Singaporeans heat and cool their buildings? Is heating necessary or is it mainly AC cooling your apartments and houses?

Thank you!

[abbby]

Totally unnecessary and waste of money. We don't have 4 seasons so its useless to us.

[MCTherm]

Hi Abbby, are you telling me you get a good night's sleep at 30°C? A former colleague of mine is an Expat in Singapore and he told me that the heat and humidity are ridiculous. He spends most of his time inside buildings (malls, offices, subway) where proper AC is installed. So respectively, I assume that you cool down buildings mainly with AC. I understand that underfloor cooling is not a well-known method of cooling buildings. Albeit higher installation costs, it provides you with more comfortable and energy-efficient cooling in the long run. And given your extremely high price level for the majority of goods, the initial investment seems like it wouldn't hurt investors. I'm just trying to get a feel for the market

[Strong Eagle]

So... I'm of half a mind that this is really a search engine post... to get a link into this forum.

I'm going to assume that you're talking about residential housing. There is no need for heat in Singapore. It allegedly got to 66 degrees in 1989. But more realistically, it's always at least 72, much warmer during the day.

Residential cooling is another matter. There may be some application for in floor cooling but I don't see it as a popular alternative. Why? Because the Singapore climate is such that most people use a combination of air conditioning and natural ventilation.

Example: I get up in the morning. I open all windows and doors because the temperature is very pleasant... no need for air conditioning. I eat breakfast on the patio. I work in my office without AC until about 2 PM when the western sun begins to heat the room up. Then I turn on the aircon. It stays on for a couple of hours until I'm done.

For dinner, we may or may not use the aircon... depends upon the heat of the day and how much heat was absorbed by the house. But again, if I do use aircon, I want a quick cool down.

I always slept with aircon at night. So, at 10:30 or so, I'd turn on the bedroom AC, retire at 11.

Bottom line: If you use aircon all the time, as in office buildings, then in floor cooling can make sense. But for many Singaporeans, aircon is only used sometimes. When it is turned on the expectation is that I'm going to get some cool air now.

You know that underfloor systems take a while to react to temperature changes... it takes a long time for a concrete slab to heat up or cool down. This is not going to work when the aircon is only used for a few hours per day. I haven't mentioned the fact that in floor cooling is much more expensive than a split unit.

Commercial buildings are another matter and beyond the scope of this forum.

[MCTherm]

Hello Strong Eagle,

I appreciate the reply. The fun fact about the temperature dropping to 66 degrees is actually hilarious and underpins the fact that you do not need heating - understood. The fact that you use Fahrenheit tells me that you are a US citizen. I used to live in the beautiful PNW.

The thing is that using AC to cool a building is an absolute waste of energy. In fact, I was reading about the usage of AC eating up 30% of the entire electricity cost in Singapore. Underfloor or ceiling cooling in a water-based system would be way more efficient than ac cooling, because the temperature of the water only needs to cool down to about 26-28 degrees celsius (hold up that's roughly 80,6 F) for you to feel comfortable in a room, whereas AC needs to cool down to about 71F.

I do agree that concrete slabs need some time to cool down. However, this problem may be mitigated in 2 ways. First of all, you do not use concrete slabs and rather use a dry-system installation for faster cooling times and or make use of technological advancements such as smart thermostats, which monitor weather data to adjust the temperature in advance - hell I love technology. Btw: are Singaporean houses mainly built out of concrete or wood?

Anyways, I appreciate your input.

FYI: one of my favorite actors Leslie Nielsen is the main character of the 1998 movie: "Wrongfully Accused"

[PNGMK]

Basically condos and apartments here are built as cheap as possible. Junk windows doors finishings.

[jalanjalan]

BCA studied alternative cooling systems years ago including under floor. Not for residential as far as I know (you can google it, perhaps there are some studies online). Most large commercial buildings also use aircon, but maybe data centres use other options.
Many people here live in HDB, and the only cooling experimentation in the news recently is the centralised cooling at Tengah estate, which had some hiccups. I live in HDB and my cooling system is:
1. open window
2. turn on ceiling fan

[Max Headroom]

Warm air rises and cold air sinks. This makes underfloor heating a good idea and, conversely, underfloor cooling not so much.

I can corroborate that with my own experience, because our living room tiles get freezing cold during the northeast months. The result: feet that feel as cold as ice, whilst the rest of me could still do with some cooling.

Until the next ice age, I doubt Singapore will be market for you. (Yes, unless you do the entire building, which obviously will require a huge shift in mindset and won't go down well with the air-con industry here.)

[sundaymorningstaple]

I was born and raised in the mid east coast of the US MD/VA/DC area. Winters down to -15F in the winter and +42C in Baltimore/DC quite often during the dog days of August (coupled with smog as well) Had heating but as young adult I only used box fans in the windows in summer (in fact, I've lived here in Singapore over 42 years now and have never had more than ceiling fans in my residences. Granted I have marble floors throughout my current home of 25 years and it is more efficient in cooling the house that the aircons are and a heck of a lot less maintenance. Oh, and I've never been sick in all those years except for covid lite and dengue (also lite). I'm 77 and I reckon doing without aircon is what has kept me so healthy all these years.