Underfloor heating: electric, gas…
or cow’s milk?

In an unusual twist to normal underfloor heating systems, a group of farmers in Austria are using cow’s milk to warm their farm buildings

When designing an underfloor heating system, most people are faced with a choice between an electric system and one which uses warm water. But a group of Austrian dairy farmers chose a different option entirely: cow’s milk. 

Three farms in Berdetschlag, a remote village in the Austrian Alps where temperatures regularly fall below minus 18 degrees Celsius, are using freshly produced milk from their dairy cows to heat the water used in their underfloor heating systems. The Daily Telegraph called the system “a striking example of lateral thinking”. 

The farmers’ logic was clear: milk comes out of a cow at body temperature – around 35 degrees Celcius – and they were spending hundreds of euros a month on cooling it down. At the same time, they were spending hundreds more heating water to power their underfloor heating system. 

“A reverse refrigerator”

The Telegraph described the equipment they use as “a complex heat-exchange system, like a reverse refrigerator”. Fresh milk is piped from the udders of a combined herd of around 140 cows and used to heat a 120-gallon water tank. The water reaches a temperature of around 57 degrees Celsius – hot enough for underfloor heating – in less than an hour. 

Because the three farmers planned the underfloor heating system together they were able to achieve remarkable economies of scale and installed the entire system for around £2,400. There are almost no running costs, meaning they are saving around £300 each a month (at 2003 energy prices) using the milk to power their underfloor heating. 

Underfloor heating and hot water

Klaus Fuchs-Eisner, one of the farmers, said, "It's a way of storing the thermal energy before we use it to heat the buildings – including the office, bathroom and corridors.” 

And it isn’t just the underfloor heating that works from the milk’s heat. Mr Fuchs-Eisner said, “In the summer, it means we have a constant supply of hot water." 

That really is milking a cow for all its worth. 

Choose your underfloor heating with Robbens Systems

Robbens Systems is a company with many years of expertise in underfloor heating. With more than 15 years in the business, the company is ideally placed to help you plan and install underfloor heating in a wide range of buildings – from care showrooms to renovated buildings. 

Our expertise can help you get the underfloor heating system you’ve always wanted, and our trained technicians are there to help you every step of the way. For more information, call us today on 01424 851111 or email robbens@underfloorheating.co.uk.