Underfloor heating throughout history has been used as a luxurious heating source throughout time right until up to the modern day. Although modern innovations have made underfloor heating more accessible to a wide range of homeowners, they were certainly luxurious additions to properties in the past.
In this article, we take a look at some of the civilisations that invented, innovated and produced underfloor heating systems as well as how this has been adapted to the modernised underfloor heating systems that exist on the market today. If you are looking to find out more about underfloor heating systems then enquire with Easyflow using an online contact form on our website or telephone now on: 01743 298001
Who Invented the Underfloor Heating System?
The earliest underfloor heating system was discovered in modern-day North Korea. These systems were thought to have been invented in 5,000BC! These floors were either heated or baked which would later be coined as an ‘ondol’ or ‘warm stone’ around the end of the 19th century. Evidence suggests that early ondols initiated as gudeul which was essentially a cooking and heating system in the home. When a fire was lit inside the furnace to cook, the flame would extend horizontally due to the fact that the flue entry was situated beside the furnace. If the smoke was to travel upwards then the fire would extinguish too quickly and would not be able to cook food for long enough. Then a series of passages would guide the flame with the smoke with entire rooms being built on the furnace flue to create rooms that could enjoy underfloor heating!
By 3,000 BC, the Koreans were using a fire hearth system which was used as a form of heating system as well as an early iteration of an oven. It has also been thought that a double hearth system was being used in 900 BC with one hearth being used for cooking and another as a heating system. The Ancient Romans & Greeks are well documented as having used underfloor heating systems in the form of hypocausts. These systems raised the floor with pillars while hot air passed through the space beneath to heat the flooring.
The Movement Towards More Advanced Underfloor Heating Methods
By 500 AD, there was a noticeable difference in comparison to Asian and European underfloor heating systems. Europeans’ heating system of choice was the open fire system whereas the ondol was being developed even further in Asia. The homes of the upper class and palaces utilised a more sophisticated form of the gudeul by around 700 AD. Hypocausts were used extensively in both public baths and private homes in countries around the Mediterranean. When we observe underfloor heating systems in 1400 AD, we see extensive and sophisticated hypocausts such as the Turkish Baths built by the Ottoman Empire.
Visit the Easyflow Ltd website for more information on History of Underfloor Heating