Conscious Choice: Radiant Heating

January 2002 | Sensible Home

Radiant Heating

by James Dulley

Dear Jim: You recently wrote about electric radiant floor heating for comfort and silent operation, but I prefer wall or ceiling radiant heating instead. Is it as efficient as floor heating for just one or two rooms? — Don R.

Dear Don: Electric wall and ceiling radiant heating systems are ideal for just one room or your entire house. Installation is fairly simple in an existing room without the extensive work often required when adding a floor radiant system.

Radiant heat from the walls or ceilings is very efficient. People often do not realize that heat energy (like from the sun) travels equally well in all directions: up, down, and sideways. It is heated air — not heat energy — that naturally moves upward because it is less dense than cooler room air.

In addition to being energy efficient, the comfort from a radiant heating system cannot be beat. It warms the room without overheating and drying out the air. With radiant ceiling or wall heating panels, furniture does not block the direct heat path to your body.

These systems are particularly popular with people who have allergies. With very little air movement, as compared to a typical ducted forced-air heating system, there is less airborne dust and animal dander, as well as fewer mold spores.

You have quite a few options for installing electric ceiling or wall radiant heating. Attaching a long (three to eleven feet), narrow radiant cove heater on the wall near the ceiling is effective. The front radiant surface gets warm to heat you like the sun does while it heats the air just a little from natural convection.

Another option is simply attaching electric radiant panels to the wall or ceiling. Radiant panels with three heat settings (500, 625, and 750 watts) are two feet by four feet long and only one inch thick. Since the panel surface does not get extremely hot, it can be painted to match any room.

These same types of panels are sized to fit into a standard dropped-ceiling grid. With their shallow depth, you don’t lose much ceiling height. (This might also be a good time to add some efficient fluorescent light fixtures.)

If you are doing a major remodeling job, a low-heat density carbon film can be stapled between the floor joists or wall studs. The soft heat will radiate through the drywall. Drywall panels, with the radiant heating wiring already embedded in them, are also available for installation on ceilings or walls.

For spot heating a small area, use an efficient 170-watt freestanding mini-under-desk radiant heater. There are special ceiling radiant panels for bathrooms designed for simple installation of the vent fan and light. To heat a small room, consider a tall quartz radiant heater with three heat settings.

Write for (or instantly download) Update Bulletin No. 778, buyer’s guide of eleven electric radiant panel, film, cove, and quartz heater manufacturers listing sizes, heat outputs, comfort controls, features, and a cost-of-use chart. Please include $3.00 and a business-size SASE. James Dulley, Conscious Choice, 6906 Royalgreen Drive, Cincinnati, OH 45244.

Recommend this page to a friend

Top Ten pages recommended to friends: