Undesired Local Cooling Phenomenon and Its Effect on Energy Consumption in Floor Heating Systems

In cold season, draught or undesired local cooling sensation in ankle and neck region is one of the most frequent cases of complaint of the occupants. A person who are subjected to draughts in winter, tend to elevate the room temperature to counteract the cooling sensation, thereby increasing the energy consumption. In naturally ventilated buildings, draught is due to windows and other cold surfaces in the room. Draught is dependent on the air speed and on the magnitude of turbulence intensity. Serious draught complaints can often occur at mean speeds lower than those recommended by standards when turbulence intensity is high. So investigation of undesired local cooling in floor heating systems is very important, although in these systems the mean air speed is not significant. In this paper, the effects of size of window on draught are investigated in floor heating systems. Results demonstrated that, undesired thermal discomfort caused by local cooling phenomenon in floor heating systems is negligible. At the end, the probability of occurrence of local cooling phenomenon in floor heating systems is compared to vertical heating panels. Thereby the floor heating systems are more effective than the vertical heating panels in aspect of thermal comfort and energy consumption.