Infrared Heat Panels - an alternative to storage heating in apartments?

Luan58

I am currently considering changing the heating system in my apartment from storage heating operating on a electrical night rate tariff. I like the idea and promise of IF heating, but an not convinced that it will deliver. I plan to put the panels on the ceiling - 2 in the main living/dining/kitchen area and also in the bedrooms. Has anyone tried this and are you satisfied that your apartment is warm? Are the touted electrical savings real if the night rate is no longer utilised? I also want to move my washing machine/condenser drier into the bathroom. So far I dry my clothes on a clothes horse sitting on a Dimplex airer with no element, but using the ambient warm air to dry them. Am wondering if it will work as effectively in an interior bathroom with only a ceiling fan for extraction and a IF panel to warm the clothes as objects - not 'drying' the air as such. I would really appreciate any advice that anyone has to offer on this - cannot find any non-industrial articles on IF and drying on the internet - only articles selling various IF heating products.

They can’t be anymore of efficient. It literally doesn’t make sense in terms of the laws or of physics.

If you put in 1kWh of energy into any electrical heater you get 1kWh of heat back out again. The design doesn’t and cannot change that. The energy has to go somewhere. It can’t just disappear, so it’s output as heat.

The efficiency calculations for a gas boiler or other fuel burning appliance are completely different as you’re trying to maximise the heat exchange efficiency to capture your energy from a burning flame. So flue, burner and heat exchanger designs make enormous differences to energy efficiency. That simply does not apply for a electrical heaters.

Storage heating is using energy at approx 50% the cost of peak rate to heat storage bricks overnight. That energy is then output during the day, thus saving cost.

It you change to radiant panels and use full rate priced power, you’ll pay significantly more as you will be paying for each kWh at day time rates.

The only type of electric heating that genuinely saves money is a heat pump. They are moving and concentrating thermal energy from the outside environment (a fridge in reverse) rather than producing it directly with electricity and resistance elements like a heater. So I it’s heat pump you’re putting in 1kWh to drive the compressor and it’s moving many times more kWh of energy by collecting it from the air outside, pipes under your garden or a bore well for geothermal, concentrating it and moving it back into your house.

As for installing your laundry appliances in the bathroom; sockets (other than isolated 2 pin shaver power supplies) and appliances aren’t legal in bathrooms in Ireland. Installing those machines in your bathroom is in most contexts a breach of the wiring regulations, an electrician won’t install them and accidents involving them may not even be insured.

Luan58

Hey, thanks so much for that response. Very informative! So in your opinion, am I better off replacing the old storage heaters with new ones. Feels like my only option!

If electric heating is your only option, yes.

You can get nicer looking storage heaters, such as some of the high end Dimplex models and they often have more sophisticated and easier to use controls.

Learning how to use storage heating is essential and ensuring the timers are set correctly so it is actually charging at the radiators at off peak rate. If they are running at peak rate you can easily double your bills.

A lot of those systems have dampers and input / output dials that need to be understood, or they can discharge all the heat too rapidly.

Some good tutorials / guides on YouTube if you search around. There’s a bit of knowledge involved in getting the maximum use of the off peak rates.

ainsyjnr

this logic is correct:

Quote "If you put in 1kWh of energy into any electrical heater you get 1kWh of heat back out again. The design doesn’t and cannot change that. The energy has to go somewhere. It can’t just disappear, so it’s output as heat."

But as storage heaters heat the air in the entire room and Infrared heaters heat objects in the room then each 1kwh is not equal. Placement of the IR panels is key and celiing seems to be the best way to go. I have not yet purchased an IR panel and am currently researching but for rooms where you are in one place, such as sitting at a desk or watching TV they seem to be a good idea. Moving around in a kitchen or general big open plan area, maybe not so much.

Luan58

My question is more about the night saver rate that is hard to get specific information on. It seems to me as a non-professional in this area, the benefit of storage heating is that it uses the lower cost night rate while the IR panels have to be be activated only when living in the apartment - ie. after work in the evenings and maybe throughout the night. Am wondering if the benefits of IR are negated in night-saver conditions and what is the energy bill experience of other apartment dwellers using IR?

Luan58

Any apartment dwellers out there that have switched to IR - love to hear your experience - not just with heating but drying laundry and living in general

meercat

https://www.atc.ie/lifestyle-electric-thermal-radiator/

these are a better replacement option

Luan58

Hey thanks for that - much appreciated