Hydronic Cove heater

Simply Rad

I am dreaming up a heat emitter....maybe it exists. I have a contractor with a garage/caretaker unit and he want a hydronic system. We had a meeting yesterday and he liked the idea of the "Cove" electric radiant heaters. Has anyone seen or used a hydronic radiant ceiling heater. Not a forced air unit or a stand alone gas unit a radiant hydronic? He doesnt want to use a radiator because of the lack of wall space. Probably end up install radiant ceiling but thought I would ask. Thanks for your thoughts

Jamie Hall

There is a simple tradeoff in radiant heating: the area of the surface emitting the heat vs. the temperature of the emitting surface. On the one hand, you have various gas or electric fired radiant heaters, running at an emitter temperature around 800 to 1200 F. You can get a lot of BTUs out of those with a small area -- such as the little electric radiants. On the other hand, you have a hot water radiant panel running at -- at most, safely -- around 200 F. You need a lot more surface emitting area to get the same heat output.

Simply Rad

I understand surface area vs supply temps vs output. I have used alot of different heat emitters over the years. One option would be panel radiators which are much smaller surface area than the floor but when sized correctly, even a medium temps 140F design, can heat the space. Just trying to find a heat emitter that could be mount high and radiate down. I have learned the hard way the fan coil unit heat do not work very well, even when over sized for low supply temps to handle load. The unit blow cool air and cycle a lot....load fan noise because it was oversized.

kcopp

http://www.radiantsystemsinc.com/

Mark Eatherton

Jeffrey, Yes, I have done it with extruded aluminum heat transfer plates snapped onto 1/2" copper, painted (pick a color) and controlled with TRV's. Works OK for "maintenance" heating, but (obviously) has limitations as it pertains to acceleration and recovery. Call me if you'd like.

ME