Why put heat in the ceiling if hot air rises?
The short answer
Hot air rises, but radiant heat doesn’t. Like sunlight, it travels in straight lines until it reaches the floor, furniture and people, and warms them directly. Those warmed surfaces then help heat the room.
Radiant heat isn’t hot air
Most people grew up with forced air or baseboard heat, so heat in the ceiling sounds backwards. It’s true that hot air rises. But a radiant ceiling doesn’t heat the air. Like the sun, it sends out radiant energy that travels in straight lines until something absorbs it: the floor, the walls, the furniture and, most importantly, the people in the room.
You’ve felt this stepping from the shade into the sun on a cool day. The air temperature is the same, but you’re warmer. A rock left in direct sunlight works the same way: it absorbs the rays, then warms the air and anything around it.
The room becomes part of the heating system
Everything the panels warm, including the floor, walls and furniture, stores that heat and gives it back to the room as it cools. That stored heat is called thermal mass, and it’s a big part of why radiant ceilings are comfortable and efficient. A radiant ceiling warms the floor too.
Where the panels go
ThermaRay ceiling panels go above almost any ceiling: drywall, OSB, steel or wood. With nothing on the walls or floor, you can furnish the room however you like.
Answer drawn from Premier Energy USA’s blog. Read the original post 1 · original post 2.
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Radiant Basics
How does a radiant ceiling compare with baseboard heat?
Baseboards are cheap to buy but cost about three times as much to run in a cold climate. They heat a room from one wall and need 10 to 12 watts per square foot. A radiant ceiling spreads the heat across the whole room, usually at 6 to 8. -
Radiant Basics
What is the ideal heating curve?
People are most comfortable with 65–68°F at head height and warmer air at the floor. Forced air does the opposite, piling heat at the ceiling. Radiant floors come closest to the ideal, and radiant ceilings come close too. -
Costs and Efficiency
How efficient is radiant heat, really?
Efficiency percentages are mostly marketing. Real operating costs are a better test: ThermaRay systems typically cost 30% to 60% less to run than forced air, baseboard, hydronic or infrared heat, with no maintenance or replacement.
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