Radiant Heat Takes the Chill Off

QUESTION: Several rooms in my home are too chilly. Will electric radiant heaters be effective? Are they less expensive to operate than baseboard heating and other types of electric heaters?

ANSWER: Electric radiant heat is an excellent method for heating and increasing your comfort in a chilly room. It has been used in Europe for many years to heat rooms and entire houses.

Electric radiant heat can be very energy-efficient and, with no moving parts, it is practically maintenance-free. There are many different types of such heaters available for different applications in your home.

One company even makes a thin radiant heater panel with a picture on it. When you hang it on your wall, it looks like a decorative picture in a frame. Since a radiant heater doesn’t have to heat the room air in order for you to feel warm, you feel heat quickly after turning it on. This makes it ideal for bathrooms and bedrooms.

Although most electric resistance heating is expensive to operate, radiant heating is more efficient for several reasons. First, you can set your thermostat lower and still be very comfortable. That can save up to 3% of your heating costs for each degree you lower your thermostat.

Radiant energy heats objects and people in your rooms, not the room air itself. The effect is similar to standing in the warm sun on a cold day. The air temperature stays fairly constant from floor to ceiling, and you don’t get the cool feeling you do with air blowing out from a heat pump.

With electric radiant heat in several rooms in your home, you can easily “zone heat” your house. Since each room has its own temperature control, you can easily set it back in rooms you aren’t using.

For new construction, electric radiant heaters can be used in several ways. There are thin flexible sheets that are stapled under the ceiling joists. The standard gypsum board is then nailed under it.

There are also thin, lightweight radiant panels that mount under the ceiling for use in existing rooms. You can easily hang them and they can be painted to match your room.

You can also purchase gypsum board with heating elements embedded inside. You install these on the ceiling joists just like standard drywall. They are available with either 110- or 220-volt heating elements.

You can write to me for Utility Bills Update No. 044 showing a buyer’s guide and list of manufacturers of various types of electric radiant heaters for existing rooms and new construction. Please include $1 and a self-addressed business-sized envelope. Send your requests to James Dulley, care of the Los Angeles Times, 6906 Royalgreen Drive, Cincinnati, Ohio, 45244.