Get an Electric Radiant Infrared Heating Unit for That

If you are a builder, contractor, or a do-it-yourself person, you are probably considering options for green energy for heating applications. There are some green systems out there such as geothermal and hot water radiant heating, but they can be quite expensive with a complex installation. They are especially expensive if you only want to add heating to certain areas of a home or business.

electric kettle

Electric radiant infrared heat is a perfect solution for residential and commercial/industrial heating applications. If you want to add heating to an area in a warehouse or workstation to keep employees warm where they stand to do most of their tasks, a spot heating application using such a unit is a perfect choice. The unit would be a quartz tube radiant heater with a 60 degree reflective pattern mounted approximately 8 feet above the work area.

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If you wanted to add heat to a home addition without buying a new larger furnace or inefficient baseboards a perfect solution would be a 1500 watt ceramic coated steel element made in a housing exclusively for residential use. Depending on the square footage of the addition or three-season room these units can be piggy-backed together and/or zoned on a thermostat or other power source. These units are a primary heat source for that space. No need to replace a perfectly good furnace or pay for additional tin work to run ducts between the walls.

What makes these units a green energy solution is that they do not consume natural gas. I understand that coal is consumed at the electric plant to generate the electricity that powers these units in the home. That is true. But that combustion occurs at a coal plant. Coal plants are undergoing constant regulation to be cleaner and more efficient.

There are also green technology power plants delivering clean power to homes and businesses. If those homes and businesses use electric radiant infrared technology you will have green power plants providing green energy to green heating technology.

Much like a furnace or HVAC system, these units are a capital improvement. Once installed the housings can last the lifetime of the structure and the elements can last 5 years, 10 years, even decades. These units are low maintenance; no moving parts, no air flow to kick up dust and dander, nothing to take apart and clean or service, just an occasional wipe down.

This type of heat is efficient in heating people first, objects second, and then the ambient air. Within minutes these units are at full power and anyone near them immediately feels the warmth. At the same time everything in the area of the unit begins to absorb the heat, and then re-radiate that heat which heats the ambient air in the room. And because the furniture, floor, and other objects are giving off absorbed warmth and energy, the recovery time to re-heat the room after a door or window has been opened is very short. This fast recovery saves energy, and energy cost money, so it is as much a money saver as it is a natural resource saver.

Heating Unit applications include:

Need to heat some work spaces to keep employees warm?
Need to melt snow and ice at your loading dock or around your facility?
Need to add illumination to that snow melt application?
Need to heat a foyer or entry way in your business?
Want to greet your employees or customers with great warmth as they enter your business?
Want to heat your deck or patio at your home or business?
Want to add heat to your shed, work space, or garage.
Want to use that three-season room in the winter?
Need to heat an addition?
Know a senior citizen who is always cold and needs more heat?
Need to heat patients and keep them warm in a hospital, nursing home, or medical facility?
Got smokers? Need to heat the designated smoking area?
Do your customers smoke? Want to keep them happy when they smoke outside?
Need a heat barrier to protect from a draft?

These heating units can solve all of these issues without the energy expense of natural gas or oil.

Kevin Owens

radiantheatusaonline.com

Get an Electric Radiant Infrared Heating Unit for That

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Electric Radiant and Floor Coverings

If the decision of what type radiant heating system to use was left to the floor-coverings, it would choose electric radiant. Eliminating the risk of water/glycol
leaks, standard floor-heights, simple retro-fits, almost unlimited choice of carpet
padding, uniform heat flux, easier installations and superior floor or space
temperature control are only a few of the advantages of electric radiant heat. This
isn't to say that there aren't disadvantages of electric radiant, but then I'm a sparky
not a plumber, so I'm here to espouse the benefits and desirable features of electric
radiant heat and its loving relationship with any and all floor-coverings. Oh, wait a
minute, how could I forget, electric systems cost a fraction what hot-water
(hydronic) systems do.

electric scooter

From the simplest of painted concrete to floors to floors that started with linoleum,
added carpet, then converted to imported marble, electric radiant is truly and simply
superior to hydronic radiant and here are the reasons why.

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There is no water or glycol - and spilled electrons don't damage floor-coverings, in
fact, there's no need to even sweep them up. Seriously, the safety standards and
National Electrical Code keep electrical systems safe. Yes, a cable, mesh or mat can
be damaged by an errant nail or screw, but the worst case scenario is the system
doesn't work as compared to a penetrated tube of a hydronic system with 100
gallons of water and glycol pumped out on the top level floor of a three floor
custom home.

Built-up floor height for most electric systems is less than ¼" and some as little 1/
16" thick. Most hydronic systems pour 1 ½" of light-weight concrete over the tubes
increasing construction costs and limiting the types of floor-coverings that can be
installed. If you want traditional hard-wood floors, a complex system of sleepers
must be installed to allow for nailing of the wood to the sub-floor.

Retro-fitting carpet over what used to be tile can't be easily done with hot-water
systems. Changing the R-value (insulating characteristic) of the floor-covering
changes the amount of heat that makes it into the space in hydronic systems, since
they are designed to transfer heat via a temperature difference between the water in
the tube and the floor covering surface, whereas electric systems put out a constant
wattage regardless of the floor-covering insulating characteristics. Floor covering
types can be changed time after time with electric radiant without changing the
heating system.

Hot and Cold Spots or what some-people call spot-heating can be easily
accomplished by installing higher or lower heat-density and adding a simple floor-
sensor to control the temperature. Have you ever noticed how dogs or cats search
for the warmest piece of flooring in a home and sleep there? We added a special tile
floor heated 10° warmer for our house pet that became new sleeping
accommodations for Cairo.

Uniform Heat Flux - The harder the floor covering the more noticeable warm or cold
spots become and the layout of the hot-water tubing and the changing temperature
of the water through the loop result in changing floor-temperatures. This doesn't
happen with electric heat, each foot of cable, or length of mesh or mat generate
exactly the same amount of heat as the next foot making it very easy to maintain a
constant temperature across the floor. If the floor-coverings are going to be
different in one room or one zone, split it into two zones of electric so the desired
temperature can be maintained on each surface. This is easier to do and less costly
for electric than hydronic.

Installation of any product is a concern and any time the cross-trade issues of
installation can be minimized everyone wins. Electric systems don't require any
mechanical room space so long as they are installed before the floor-covering is
installed you don't have to do a lot of coordination with the other trades. If you
want to climatize some exotic hardwood flooring from Brazil within the space it's
unlikely that you'll have gas to operate your boiler, but it's very possible that you
can run your electric radiant heat off of temporary power to assist in stabilizing your
wood before installation. Take that example one step further and you realize that
all the other trades on site will appreciate the temperature inside if it's Leadville,
Colorado in February.

Independent of HVAC - Electric radiant can be the primary heating system, but can
operate very efficiently if you want the bathroom floor 80° in June and your husband
has the air-conditioner running throughout the rest of the house. Try doing this
with your 1,000,000 Btu boiler and you'll regret it when the time comes to pay your
gas or oil bill.

Precise Temperature Control - Adding multiple zones to an electric system costs
only pennies per foot compared to dollars per foot for hot-water. Having as many
zones as you ever anticipate different areas with different floor-coverings is
possible and practical, with the other benefit of precise control of temperature of
every space in the home.

My mother and father used to sit and watch TV (football, basketball, etc.) in a love
seat in their master bedroom and my dad was always cold while my mom was
always hot. I installed a two-zone electric system right underneath the love-seat
split right down the middle with a thermostat for my mom and one for my dad.
Believe it or not, it worked beautifully. My dad's feet sat on a floor that was 85°
while my mom's were on a floor that was 75°.

Cost - Installation costs of electric radiant is almost always less than any hot-water
installation and the smaller the area to heat the bigger the difference. And here's
the kicker, if you save a lot of money on your radiant heating system you can spend
every penny of that savings on Imported Italian Marble in your Entry and Master
Bath.
If you would like more information on radiant heat and it's benefits please visit us at
http://www.warmquest.com

Electric Radiant and Floor Coverings

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Electric Radiant Floor Heating - Pros and Cons

As you may already know, radiant floor heating is a great alternative heating method that is gaining more attention in recent years. Unlike forced air heating systems, radiant floor heating systems give a nice, even, luxurious heat to a room.

electric scooter

There are several types of radiant floor heating, with the two main types being electric and hydronic. We'll be talking about the electric system in this article.

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So, how does this electric radiant heating work? More or less, the system is an electric blanket that sits under your floor. Electric cables run underneath your floor, and generate heat from resistance, just like an electric blanket. Easy enough to understand. Let's talk about the pros and cons of this system.

One obvious issue is that electricity is quite expensive. To save electricity, it is generally more efficient to install the system over a concrete floor base. The concrete will absorb up the heat, and radiate out slowly, giving the radiant heating system its characteristic "glowing warmth". If you install the same system in something like a wood floor base, none of the heat will be absorbed, leading to an inefficient system. In fact, if you can't install the system in some sort of slab, you're better off just getting a hydronic system.

One situation where electric radiant heating does shine, though, is for additions where running the main heating system over is not practical. Since electric radiant heating requires no furnace or boiler, it is very convenient to install. Of course, since it doesn't provide cooling, you may want to run ducts in anyways, or use some other sort of cooling method. For heating in an odd addition, though, electric radiant heating is a great way to go.

You can see that electric radiant floor heating isn't a magic bullet. It can be inefficient for the amount of heat it provides, that is for sure. However, if you have the right setup, or simply have a hard to heat addition, be sure to give electric in floor heating systems a closer look.

Electric Radiant Floor Heating - Pros and Cons

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