The Types of Radiant Heat
- Radiation, convection and conduction are the means by which heat gets transferred from a source to its surroundings. Space heating for homes or businesses generally involves either radiation or convection. Conduction heating could occur if you sit on a radiator.
One type of radiant heating system supplies power to panels in the wall or ceiling or directly to the floor of a house, delivering heat directly to the people and objects in the room via electromagnetic radiation. Radiant heating has the advantage of being more efficient than electric baseboard heating and is also more efficient than convection heating because no heat is lost through draft or ductwork. - Just as the sun warms your face without warming the space between itself and your location on the earth, radiant home heating relies on the projection of long-wave infrared radiation which strikes a solid object nearby, and converts that radiation into heat.
- Radiant heating systems for the ceiling or interior walls involve supplying heat directly to panels located in the ceiling or in the walls of a house. The majority of these radiant panels are electrically heated. It is possible, with the use of these panels, to divide any area of the home into separate smaller heating zones and maintain a different comfort level within each zone.
- Radiant floor heating systems rely on buried cables to heat the floor material. Unlike ceiling and wall units, there is an element of convective heat that occurs with floor heaters as warm air rises in currents.
- If you only need heat in a small section of a room, a portable radiant heater is quiet and uses very little power. Space heater capacities generally range between 2,500 and 5,000 Btu per hour. To determine the BTU output of the heater, multiply the number of watts by 3.41. For example, 1,500 watts X 3.41 = 5,115 BTUs. In general, radiant space heaters are energy-efficient, have no moving parts to wear out, heat very quickly, and are unaffected by drafts.
- Radiant panels and space heaters warm up faster than any other type of heating technology. Within minutes of entering a room, the occupant can increase the temperature setting and reach a comfortable level. Because radiant panels can be individually controlled for each room, or even zones within a room, the quick-response temperature increase can potentially result in cost and energy savings compared to other systems, particularly when rooms are infrequently occupied.