Underfloor Heating – Forced Air Systems

Forced air underfloor heating systems use conduits beneath the floor to pump or funnel warm air to heat the floor above, sometimes with vents to allow the warm air to enter the room directly. This is the method that the Roman civilisation was so famous for however it is possible that Korean cultures uses this form of heating, passing warm air through flues, even before Roman times. The Romans regularly used stone pillars to support a floor up to a meter off the ground and it was into this air gap beneath the floor that they vented the warm air, heating the floor above. One of the best examples of this system on show in the UK is at Housesteads Roman Fort on Hadrian’s Wall, probably the most complete Roman Fort in the UK.