Can I Cut Underfloor Heating Mat
What is a heating mat and how does it differ from a heating cable? In fact, this is the same cable that is laid out on the nylon mesh. The mesh has a sticky base that adheres to a previously prepared base.
The main criterion for choosing a mat rather than a heating cable as the warm floor is the condition for filling the screed. That is, the level of raising the floor above the heating element.
If your conditions allow you to raise it by 10-15 mm, then you can successfully mount the heating cable. If the level of raising the floor is minimal, just a few millimeters, then your choice should look only towards the mat.
Here, much will depend on which manufacturer you choose. Devi, Electrolux, Ensto, Rehau or some others.
You can get acquainted with the current for various brands of underfloor heating and their components here.
But before carrying out installation and connection, it is necessary to carry out preparatory construction work. First, glide the walls for laying the power supply cable from the shield to the distribution box in which the thermostat will be mounted.
Provided that the underfloor heating is installed in the bathroom or the bathroom, according to the rules, the thermostat must be in the next room, where there is no moisture and dampness. The height of the regulator is not lower than 30 cm from the floor.
After that, shatter the wall down from the distribution box, and drill a through hole into the bathroom. A cold end and a temperature sensor will be laid through it for connection to a temperature regulator.
Keep in mind that if you made a sand screed recently, then you need to give it time to stand and grasp for 72 hours.
In addition, it is necessary to take into account the indents from the walls (at least 5 cm) and heating pipes or radiators (20 cm). In these places there will also be no underfloor heating.
Before direct installation, determine the serviceability and integrity of all elements and the heating cable. For this, it is necessary to measure its resistance with a multimeter.See the options in ohms on the package or label. It is usually attached to the cold end.
The measured resistance should correspond, well, or at least not differ much (up to 10%) from the data indicated there.
However, remember that with the help of a tester, you actually check the integrity of the heating core, but not the insulation resistance. Most electricians, it is he who is considered the most important parameter, on the basis of which you can give a reliable guarantee of the efficiency of underfloor heating.
It often happens that the multimeter showed “all is well”, and for some reason the diffavomat in the shield knocks out. This indicates poor insulation and leakage current. For measurements of insulation resistance, it is necessary to use a megger with a voltage of at least 500 volts.
The insulation is called between the 220V working wires and the ground wire (if any) or shielding braid. Indications for the new cable, as electricians say, should “tend to infinity” or be as possible as possible for the measuring device.
It is necessary to begin the installation of the grid from the point where the cable exits to the thermostat box. Unwind the roll and lay it out on the surface. In this case, it is necessary to bypass the zones previously marked with a marker tape.
During installation, you can walk on the heated floor (wires), if you have shoes with soft soles. Some, in this way, even press the mesh to the base of the screed, but you should not overdo it with this.
When unwinding the roll, it is advisable to hide the end of the cable inward so that when laying it does not twist and does not touch foreign objects.
Can I Cut Underfloor Heating Mat
In the place where it is necessary to rotate the heating element, a section is cut.
In this case, do not try to cut the heating cable itself.
It is enough to free it from the grid. Glue the tail, which will turn out when turning, to the floor with aluminum tape. In addition to fasteners, it also helps to distribute heat on this surface area.
If you have a section-resistive mat, where there are independent sections connected to the power cable passing along the edges, then when cornering it is allowed to cut one of the outer wires.
But just not a heating element! Do not try to cut it.
After laying, it is necessary to connect these cut veins. To do this, you will need a PuGV copper mounting wire with a cross-section of 1.5 mm2.
Measure the required length and strip the ends. After which, heat shrink through them. The core of the PuGV and the extreme core of the power supply of the mat are interconnected by the pressed sleeve of the GSI.
Select the sleeve according to the cross-section of the wires.
Next, shift the heat shrink to the place of crimping and heat it, reliably isolating this place.
After which, you do the same with the second end.
In this way, the single-core power wires on the mats are connected to independent sections.
If you did not have a few centimeters of the grid to the end of the mark, then you can do the following. On most mats, it’s painless for them, you can cut the base mesh and push it through one loop to increase the total length of all sections.
And if too much remains, is it possible to cut off an unnecessary piece?
As a result, the temperature at the elements will be more than the calculated one and the mat will overheat. Which will ultimately lead to its failure.
At the same time, it is not recommended to start sections for the bath itself or a washing machine. This will significantly reduce the service life of both underfloor heating and household appliances. With a large excess, they can be put on the wall.
The second option is to partially or completely remove the cable from the base of the grid and independently shift it with a smaller step than the factory one. Or make additional bends in several places.
After laying all sections, the supply cores at the very end of the mat should be damped and insulated. It all depends on your cable.
For example, if you have a two-core, in which at the beginning there is one cold end and an end sleeve, then in it the wires are connected to each other at the very end.
And if a single-core heating mat has two cold ends on each side, then here both of these ends must be connected and connected to the thermostat.
The third option is independent sections connected to power wires laid along the edges of the grid. Here it is already necessary to isolate each end individually with a thermotube, without connecting them together.
Next, proceed to connecting the cold end of the heating mat to the thermostat. To do this, take a copper power cable KGVVng. Measure and lay it in the next room to the installation site of the thermostat.
Then connect it to the power wires. To do this, strip the veins, put on heat shrink and connect the ends using a connecting sleeve.
After crimping, shift the heat shrink and heat it with a building hairdryer.
It is recommended that the cold end connecting sleeve be placed in close proximity to the end coupling. That is, the place where the heating cable ends.
If you encounter any problems, and they most often occur precisely at the junction points, it will be enough for you to open only one tile and do not have to disassemble a couple of square meters at different ends of the room.