Underfloor heating with silicone flooring

[Erina]

I am trying to understand if heat transfer from an electric or water underfloor heating system through silicone flooring can be done efficiently, given it's heat resistant properties?

There will likely have to be the usual insulation layer(s) between the heating system and the silicone surface, and I don't expect the silicone (think cooking utensils) to be more than 300mm thick.

 

Thanks in advance !

Edited November 6, 2018 by Erina

[John Cuthber]

A foot thick layer of silicone will be expensive.

[Erina]

I meant 30mm

[Erina]

Irregardless of the cost, what about heat transfer through 30mm of silicone please?

[Strange]

Maybe try a DIY forum?

[DrP]

I think it depends on the silicone (functional groups, MW etc... ).    But I think it has a pretty low thermal conductivity compared to other building materials. The value will vary though depending on the product and the supplier.  I had a quick look and the silicones from Wacker, say, range in thermal conductivity from 0.3 to 4.3 W/mK according to one brochure I looked at...  it suggested that the figures were normally below 0.8 W/mK but have been improved with 'modern advancements'  - which I assume means more optimised cell structure and porosity, functional group selectivity and so on.

 

[Erina]

Thanks for the information, I just wanted to know about the science of heat transfer, not the practicality of fitting it.

[John Cuthber]

On 11/8/2018 at 2:55 PM, Erina said:

Irregardless of the cost,

Why do people think that "irregardless" is a good word to use?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irregardless

Anyway, regardless of that, silicones are used as heat transfer fluids, and heat-sink compounds. They can't conduct all that badly.
I wonder if some of the lower values found are for foamed products.

Edited November 13, 2018 by John Cuthber

[DrP]

10 hours ago, John Cuthber said:

I wonder if some of the lower values found are for foamed products.

Would make sense - the foaming would give a porus cell like structure internally that would trap air and probably improve the thermal insulation of the bulk material.