What to replace ceiling heating with?

Hansodeon wrote: »

We are taking on a project. 1970s house in a village with no gas supply. The house currently has ceiling heating panels which are incredibly energy inefficient and which will need replacing with some other type of system. Most houses in the village have either oil-fired boiler and radiators or storage heaters. I really feel the cold so want a properly warm house but would like something eco-friendly if possible. I am not sure the oil-fired boiler is the beat long term option. I would be very grateful for any thoughts.

What power source do the "incredibly energy inefficient" ceiling heating panels consume?

Afaik, almost all types of electrical heater are at least 100% efficient (almost)

As suggested above, only the likes of air or ground source heat pumps will be more efficient
(i.e. they produce more heat than the electrical energy they consume, as they extract/pump existing heat from elsewhere)

As heat rises having the heat source on a ceiling is plain daft.

When renovating: Insulate. Insulate. Insulate. and draught proof.

You will need to overhaul wiring for storage heaters and maybe go to E7 if it's not there already. You will need to install tanks for LPG or oil plus radiators or UFH (if the floors can be insulated etc.,.). Not all homes have space for a LPG or oil storage tank that meet the restrictive buildings regulations, or extra costs are incurred for fire walls and the like.

WET heat pump systems can get subsidies and can work well if designed in from scratch with lots of insulation. Will need UFH and/or larger radiators to cope with lower circulating water temps, plus a Legionella regime for the HW tank via an immersion heater. Poorly designed and they can be as useless as the existing ceiling panel heaters!

Air to air heat pumps (air con in summer, fan heater in winter) may be another option worth looking at and pricing up for some rooms if not all.

You'll need to get costs (or do estimates yourself) for all the alternatives and the 'payback' period for any investment; compared to an all electric panel heater install.

Rodders53 wrote: »

As heat rises having the heat source on a ceiling is plain daft....

With respect, it would appear you do not fully understand how such ceiling heating panels are designed to operate.

Most heaters, and indeed incorrectly termed radiators in a typical central heating system, operate primarily on the basis of convection.

That is the heat is transferred to the air, and hot air as you say rises... and so circulates in a closed room.

However, ceiling heaters work on a different basis, called radiation,

That is the heat is transferred via infrared waves. These can travel in all directions. Some of the large sheds, such as B&Q, often use such type of heating in winter to supplement their usual fan heating ... probably because the ceilings are high and as said, hot air rises.

The sun is perhaps the biggest radiator of heat we know ... and you know how hot that can be on a summers day, and that is coming from almost 100 million miles above us!

Actually the sun is fighting a constant battle when it heats the earth via radiation. Because as the earth's surface temperature rises due to the radation, then the air above it rises due to convection, allowing cooler air to rush in. That's why you often get to enjoy a cool coastal breeze whilst you are soaking up the hot sun's rays at the beach.

Mister_G wrote: »

Those trying to get rid of LPG are probably paying the likes of Calor and Flogas an exorbitant 50-60ppl. At 30-35ppl (which a number of people on here have achieved) it is very cost effective compared with oil and produces less CO2.

I have seen your other posts on costs of LPG and at 35p a litre which is approx 5pence a kWh it is competitive with CH oil. Currently with Boilerjuice this costs approx 46p a ltre so approx 4.5pkWh





However I have been trying to find current quoted prices for LPG and can't find any approaching 35p/litre, and people in the LPG thread, to which you contribute, are also finding it difficult.


The reliable Nottingham Energy link you gave lists prices for March 2019 as CH oil at 5.62p/kWh and LPG at 6.86p/kWh. so LPG is 22% more expensive than oil.