A perfect solution to adding heat to a home during a construction or addition project is using radiant ceramic flat panel electric infrared heaters. They are cost effective, efficient, eco-friendly, and a primary heat source of comfortable absorbing heat. They even warm the floor! This solution is applicable whether building an addition on a home, adding a three season glass enclosure or patio enclosure, remodeling a home, or refurbishing an older home. These units are the perfect solution for homes that have that one room that never stays warm enough.
So the question is how does this apply to the construction and refurbishing industry of older homes, home with additions being built, or green home construction? Using electric radiant infrared flat ceramic panels offers a dual benefit. The first is to bring heat to additions being built without running new tin and without the worry of the current furnace being powerful enough to handle the additional square footage. The second is to add a more effective and efficient primary heat source to the home or addition. Particularly a heat source that utilizes green technology that operates at a savings of up to 50% over the cost to heat the same space with natural gas.
Heating electrically has historically been less expensive than heating with natural gas or oil. That is because using 1000 watts of electricity costs about 10-12 cents per hour to run. But more than that heating with electric infrared technology reduces the recovery time of heating a room. This means the heating unit does not have to operate as frequently to keep the room warm or to re-heat the room after a door or window was opened.
A quick explanation and review of the efficiency and cost savings of infrared radiant heating follows in the next two paragraphs, then I will explain the benefit of ceramic flat panel infrared radiant heaters in the construction and refurbishing industry of older homes, home with additions being built, adding heat to patio enclosures or green home construction.
The reason why electric radiant infrared flat panel heaters are efficient and cost effective to operate can be explained this way; forced heated air systems only blow warm air into the room. The room must be filled with enough warm air to make a person feel warm. But at that point the only thing that is warm is the air, but hot air rises. There is usually a difference in temperature between the air at the ceiling and the air at the floor. The space at floor level and a few inches above the floor is never comfortably warm and is usually drafty. To fill a room with heated air takes time and, the air is warmed before the person is warmed. The room cools rapidly due to cold air infiltration, and takes longer to recover. But the biggest disadvantage is that the forced air system must run longer and work hard to heat the air in the room and then reheat the room which costs the consumer more energy dollars.
Conversely, infrared radiant heating heats people and objects first by utilizing the technology of long wave electromagnetic energy. After the people and objects are warmed they release the warmth into the air which then heats the ambient air. Even if a door is opened that lets a rush of cold air into the room, radiant heating has a faster recovery time due to all the objects in the room being warmed and releasing that warmth back into the room. Even though the unit operates continuously until the thermostat turns it off, it operates at an inexpensive rate. And that cost is only incurred when the unit is running whereas a gas system is always burning a pilot light and trying to overcome drafty cold air infiltration.
The electric radiant infrared flat ceramic panels are manufactured by Radiant Electric Heat (REH) in Wisconsin. These units are made in the USA. That is important to a lot of consumers and I am happy to point that out. The REH brand is called CeramiCircuit ™.
The CeramiCircuit ™ brand is constructed of ceramic coated 18 gauge steel plates with an energizing circuit on the internal face of the heating element. The heater body is a 20 gauge galvanized steel construct with ventilation slots at perimeter. The unit is made with a junction box of approximately 135 cubic inches running the width of the heater on the back side of the heater body. Three 7/8″ standard knockouts located left, right, and center, are built onto the rear surface of the junction box to allow entry of power feed. Actual power connections to the element and heater grounding connection are located at the left end of the heater. The heater elements have a wattage density of approximately 2.5 – 3.0 watts/square inch of emissive surface area. The popular residential ceiling cove units are rated at 825 watts (Model 645) or 1000 watts (Model 945) in appropriate voltages of 120 volts, 208 volts, 240 volts, or 277 volts. REH also makes CeramiCircuit ™ brand units in the following configurations: wall mounts, baseboards, large portable units (on casters or wall mount), and small under desk space heaters. More information can be found at http://www.radiantheatusaonline.com/shop/category.aspx?catid=3. The products at this page each have a link to the product brochure for more information. Some of the above detail of the unit construction came from those brochures.
During new and/or green construction, the building of an addition, any type of patio enclosure or three season room, or just a drafty, chilly room, the CeramiCircuit ™ brand of flat ceramic electric radiant infrared heating units offer perfect, efficient primary heat. They mount on two brackets that install like hanging a picture frame, they come with lead wire for behind the wall wiring offering a clean finished look, and the units can be zoned or operate on individual thermostats.
Instead of replacing or using a weak furnace or running extra duct work consider flat panel heating technology; the warmth of the sun in a box. No emission, no forced air, no combustion, hypoallergenic, no maintenance, solid and durable, American made, and less expensive operating costs than other heating systems, the CeramiCircuit ™ line is tailor made for residential use.