OMNIE, the award-winning UK underfloor heating specialist, has launched a new, low profile, overlay panel, LowBoard 2, the latest upgrade to its industry-leading LowBoard panel which transformed the overlay market when it was launched in 2012.
LowBoard 2 consists of routed lower and upper panels with a combined profile of just 18mm, making it the thinnest overlay system on the market.
Its predecessor, LowBoard, had a lower panel profile of 15mm but, like other overlays, LowBoard also required a ply upper layer which can add at least 6 mm to its overall depth.
LowBoard 2 is quick and easy to install and offers outstanding heat performance thanks to its innovative design. It has a 15 per cent higher heat output than its predecessor and a 40 per cent higher heat output than other unfoiled low build-up systems or alternative overlay solutions.Its lower and ‘over’ panels have pipe channels that tightly sandwich and encapsulate the warm water pipe.
The routing follows OMNIE’s patented multi-directional pipe channel pattern, eliminating the need for separate straight and loop panels while also ensuring the warm water pipe can be easily laid around any planned room layouts. The channels are spaced 150mm apart for optimal heat output and transfer.
The upper ‘over’ panel is 6mm thick wood fibre (or 12mm plywood for tiled applications) and the proportional pipe channel pattern places the encapsulated warm water pipe within 3mm of the floor surface. Bonded to the over panel is a layer of patented aluminium AL HEX© foil diffuser with its distinctive hexagonal perforated design. This unique diffuser technology significantly improves the in-channel, foiled surface area that is in contact with the warm water pipe.
The result is greater heat output, better heat transfer and a more even heat distribution that avoids the risk of damage due to heat ‘striping’. The higher efficiency of heat transference for LowBoard 2 is expected to deliver significant cost savings for end-users whilst also providing a very effective retrofit solution. Optimising the performance of the warm water pipe means that LowBoard 2 delivers an outstanding performance at lower water temperatures making it ideally suited both to heat pumps and/or lower boiler temperatures.
“We’re very excited by how LowBoard 2 could help transform home heating and the requirement for low-carbon energy systems in the future,” says Brendan Hourican, Managing Director at OMNIE. It’s important that heat pump performance is optimised if we’re to see its widespread uptake across the UK. This will help ensure that running costs are kept low and that homes are comfortably warm in winter. LowBoard 2 is low-temperature, retrofit ready and designed with heat pumps in mind. It can reduce heating bills by up to 20 per cent compared to aluminium spreader plate systems which also use heat pump as the heat source.”
On the top surface of the upper panel is a printed warning exactly matching the pipe pattern to ensure that other trades do not inadvertently pierce the pipes, either when room fixtures and fittings are being installed (such as kitchen cupboards or bathroom fixtures) or at a future date. At the panel’s edge, the channels are fluted to allow for any small deviations between panels when they are laid that may otherwise result in the pipe being inadvertently pinched. Installers are also provided with a detailed design plan for the pipework, created by the OMNIE team, showing both where the pipes should be laid and which pipe coil length to use for each circuit. This eliminates the time usually spent measuring up the floor before ordering the pipes, and it avoids any risk of having to join lengths of pipework under the floor covering.
Once laid during first fix, LowBoard 2 can safely be walked on by other trades before being covered by the final floor finish. Meanwhile, installers can access on-going support throughout the course of a project from their dedicated OMNIE Project Manager. AL HEX is manufactured by OMNIE’s parent company Ridgespear and used under licence by OMNIE.