by ericmark »
Tue Apr 02, 2019 5:44 pm
The problem with inferred heating is control. In a church used for one hour, or a workshop with doors opening all the time, it works great, however you can't use mark/space to control it, you need loads of heaters and you deploy more or less heaters as it makes you warm as soon as switched on, but also leaves you cold as soon as switch off, and of course line of sight.
Also inferred will pass through windows, so location is rather important.
As part of an integrated heating system it can work well, you keep the room at 16°C instead of 19°C then use inferred to make it feel like 19°C the secret is to maintain air temperature at 16°C and the panels are on sensors so only work when room in use.
The problem is since inferred does not heat the air, it will not operate a standard wall thermostat, so some one has to work out how much inferred is required so in a room with air at 16°C it feels like 19°C.
I had inferred heating in my home for years, it was called tungsten bulbs, and the room was heated to 18°C and in the evening the bulbs would make it feel like 19°C. It was important to close curtains or heat and light when outside.
Of course the old coal fire gave off inferred heat as well as convected, don't know if you can remember the coal fire? We all sat in high backed chairs with wings on them, to keep you back warm, as inferred does not go around corners, OK there was also the draft caused by the coal fire, but we never got the air warm.
So I would say needs fitting by a heating engineer, not an electrician as he is unlikely to know where to place them, and to heat a room you need a lot of small heaters so when it -5°C outside maybe 10 running and when it's 16°C outside maybe one running.
I would say the bathroom mirror example likely very good as bathroom not used for long, and as you see also has a towel rail so not the only heating, it is a good supplement, but I would not want it as only form of heating, as it so hard to control and without control can work out very expensive.
