There seems to be very little mention of radiant wall heaters on this forum (or am I just failing to use the Search facility properly?)
I'd be very interested to hear from anyone who's had any experience with them. We're just about to make the final decision on a new heating system for our 1960's bungalow. At present the main contender is a wood pellet boiler but I still have a few nagging doubts about burning wood and also the ongoing supply of wood pellets.
The only other option I can think of is ground source heat pump. However, it's not practical for us to put underfloor heating in so I wondered whether radiant wall heaters would be just as effective. The blurb on the Construction Services website would suggest so but I'd prefer some input from someone who's not focused on flogging them.
We are planning to generate about 2.5kw of our own electricity through PVs and are also signed up to Ecotricity. We'll also have a couple of SHW panels too. We do also have double-glazing and cavity wall and loft insulation.
It's becoming increasingly obvious that there's no such thing as a perfect solution; at this stage I think what we're aiming for is just being clear in our own minds about why we chose the options we did.
Tony
posted on 15-12-06
The problem is if you do it on an external wall then you are maximising your heat losses but you will be comfortable. Internal walls could be ok but my advice is to forget the whole idea. Heat pump is good but I cant see you generating anything enough juice to run it but buying electricity is not so bad if it is powering for a heat pump.
Colin
posted on 16-12-06
Thanks for this Tony.
Our problem is that, as much as we'd like to use GSHPs, there doesn't seem to be an effective way of utilising the heat for space heating other than underfloor heating, which would be extremely difficult to instal here. As far as I understand it, using GSHP with our existing radiators would require a lot more electrical input and would, therefore, be counter-productive.
There doesn't seem to be much info around on effective alternatives to underfloor heating with GSHPs.
Tony
posted on 16-12-06
You can use bigger radiators and lower water temperatures.
Although they all throw their hands up in horror and say that radiators won't work with gshp. It is not true, of course they will and they will heat your home for most of the heating season too. They will start to struggle when outside temperatures fall below 3 degrees or it is very windy. However were you to upgrade your insulation and do good draught proofing it could well work ok all the time.
How about try it and see you could always put bigger rads in afterwards after all.
Colin
posted on 03-01-07
OK - we are on the verge of making a 'final' decision about our new heating system and definitely would like to do GSHP but would still like to clear up a couple of things.
Firstly, does anyone actually have any experience of using radiators with GSHPs? If so, what radiators do you use (e.g. low temp, low water, oversize) why, and where did you get them?
Secondly, we understand the importance of insulation and are trying to get our 60's bungalow as insulated as possible. But we don't understand why a heating system would struggle in windy weather. This is pretty crucial for us as we do live in quite a windy spot.
Sorry to keep going on about this but we obviously don't want to dole out a lot of cash only to find the system doesn't work. Can't find any objective source of info on the subject and we're even getting conflicting advice on radiators from different GSHP suppliers! It would be nice to draw upon someone's real life experience.
Thanks
Paul in Montreal
posted on 03-01-07
I have 2 GSHP systems, but they use forced air. If designed properly, it should give you a very economical and comfortable system, plus the benefit of air conditioning. If you're fixated on radiators, you can get fan-coil units that have a similar footprint to old rads and can be coerced into air conditioning too. I don't understand Tony's comment about GSHPs only working down to 3C - I'm in Montreal and our system works happily down to -15c before any auxilliary heat is required. The system should be sized (in the UK at least - if no air conditioning is required) for the typical worst-case heat load. Then the thermostat will take care of everything above that. Wind is only a problem if you have air leakage issues. You certainly have other options besides radiant floors. Seems to me, though, equipment in the UK is optimized for 35C rather than the 55C we have over here.
