Electric Ceiling Heating

kimetan

Hi,
I'm considering buying a property which has electric ceiling heating as well. Did you find out if it is efficient and cost-effective to run?

moonrakerz

macman wrote: »

Will probably do a better job of heating the loft than the first floor then...

.............when I did "O" level Physics about 300 years ago, we were told that heat rises. Perhaps this is some sort of recently discovered "heavy" heat that falls downwards from the ceiling ?

JimK

I know I'm late coming in on this discussion, but we have electric ceiling heating and while it's not ideal, it's not overly expensive. We have a small 2 bedroom house (built circa 1980) but we also have underfloor heating on the ground floor. We run the underfloor on E7 (and the hot water) and then use the ceiling heating to keep the rooms warm. Each room has a electronic thermostat, which really help to maintain warmth. Our yearly electricity bill is around £1000 but we have no gas so I don't think this is too bad.

Ectophile

moonrakerz wrote: »

.............when I did "O" level Physics about 300 years ago, we were told that heat rises. Perhaps this is some sort of recently discovered "heavy" heat that falls downwards from the ceiling ?

If it's radiant heat, then that would be electromagnetic waves in the far-infrared part of the spectrum. They would radiate out in straight lines, just like ordinary light. So it's quite reasonable that a radiant panel could be heating anything below it.

It's hot air that rises, by convection.

PaulF81

Ectophile wrote: »

If it's radiant heat, then that would be electromagnetic waves in the far-infrared part of the spectrum. They would radiate out in straight lines, just like ordinary light. So it's quite reasonable that a radiant panel could be heating anything below it.

It's hot air that rises, by convection.

And to get any meaningful radiant heat your ceiling and joists would be on fire. The percentage of radiant at typical ch temperatures is pitiful. It's why you can paint rads gloss white an it not have a noticeable effect on efficiency when actually the more,efficient colour would be Matt black.

This system would work via conductuion and convection,where air currents will be generated and heat the room.

Not very efficient would be my guess for,the op....

Ectophile

Central heating radiators, despite the name, produce very little heat by radiation. It's mostly by conduction.

On the other hand, a traditional bar-type electric fire produces a lot of radiation, which is why you feel hotter sitting in front of it.

But I don't suppose ceiling heating is going to get hot enough to glow red or orange, so I wouldn't like to guess how much heat is actually produced as radiation.

fishybusiness

And to get any meaningful radiant heat your ceiling and joists would be on fire. The percentage of radiant at typical ch temperatures is pitiful. It's why you can paint rads gloss white an it not have a noticeable effect on efficiency when actually the more,efficient colour would be Matt black.

This system would work via conductuion and convection,where air currents will be generated and heat the room.

Not very efficient would be my guess for,the op....

Mainly radiation, and very little stored energy, very little convection, that is, if the system is indeed far infrared. The air is not heated directly, people and objects are, so the air is heated indirectly.