Infared fleece heating

[Flossy1234]

I'm wondering if anyone has had infrared fleece heating installed in their ceilings? It's been suggested to me as a 'next generation' infrared film (as seen on Danny's house, Grand Designs a few months ago) which can be plastered into walls and/or ceilings (or potentially under floor although the companies I spoke to differed on the suitability of it underfloor). Apparently the film has been around in other countries for years but there have been a few issues, so this has been developed as an alternative. I'm keen to be eco and embrace new products/systems but also wary of going down a less well trodden path. I have the people I need to recommend the layout etc. and install it - the plasterer would then just skim over it as normal. Installation isn't necessarily cheap, but running costs are very low (and we can team it up with solar). I'd be keen to hear from anyone with experience of this. Thanks in advance...

[SteamyTea]

Many people will tell you how wonderful infra red, and far infra red heating is.

I shall say it will be rubbish.

It is just electrical resistance after all.

 

[JohnMo]

Been looking into IR recently. From what I can tell

 

Room or person heating isn't as quick as made out.

 

It's very directional 

 

You are not heating the air, just the room furniture, walls, floor and people, so can be operated at slightly lower temp than radiators.

 

Unless very well insulated it's going to cost a fortune to run. Even at lower room temps, you are are paying 28p per kWh.

 

If you have high blood pressure and a few other conditions - one site was up front and said to look at other heating technology as IR was not suitable for you.

 

I spent my money on a fan coil heater instead.

[saveasteading]

It would have the one advantage of making your head warm, especially when standing. Perhaps the floor too but insulation would be vital.

Also I can see this being useful in a small, occupied area of a large space.

Eg a till operator in a retail shed.

The whole point is that the air is not being heated as much as with other sources, but it is 100% electric so expensive. 

I've stood next to an infra red heater disguised as a framed picture. It would make sense if next to a desk or chair in an otherwise cool room.

I wouldn't consider it for primary domestic heating.

 

[ReedRichards]

All radiative heating follows an inverse square law if the heat source is small, meaning if you move twice as far away from the heat source you will get one quarter of the heat you were getting.  Spreading the heat source over a wide area like a wall should significantly reduce this, although the adjoining bits of wall and floor might get quite hot.  And presumably quite a bit of heat will go to the other side of the wall.

 

As others say, direct electrical heating is expensive to run.

[SteamyTea]

1 hour ago, ReedRichards said:

Spreading the heat source over a wide area like a wall should significantly reduce this

Almost.

Trouble with upping the area covered is that the area you want heated i.e. 1 m² of human facing the radiating surface is a very small fraction of what you are actually heating.  So the efficiency becomes very poor.

 

Add to that, we constantly breath in air, if that air is cold because 'infra red heating does not heat the air' we then have to expend more body energy to keep out core temperature high.

 

I also think that without a decent thickness of insulation behind the IR panel, most of the energy will travel 'backwards' and heat something else.

[ReedRichards]

Maybe it's time to revive my idea of converting a room into a giant microwave oven and then just cooking yourself very gently; it's the perfect solution to warming the person and not anything else.  Pot plants in the room might suffer, however.

[SteamyTea]

13 minutes ago, ReedRichards said:

Pot plants in the room might suffer, however.

And your WiFi