Silent heating

Panel heaters

Panel heaters really are terrific for bedrooms because they are slim and unobtrusive and have no moving parts. Therefore they don’t create a draft and don’t make a noise. They come in many different shapes and sizes to suit the layout of your room. Ratings also vary from 1000 watts up to a huge output of 2.8kW which is big enough to warm the biggest bedroom.

Most brands of panel heaters also have the capacity to be networked together. It’s as simple as allocating one of your panels as the master and the others its slaves. For example, the panel heater you choose to be the master may be in your bedroom or kitchen. The other heaters – ‘the slaves’ – may be in children’s bedrooms, a study, bathroom or hallway.

You can then control all heaters from the one heater with a master control. It sounds big but the control devices are actually quite small and simply click into a pre-allocated space in the back of the heater. With some brands this control device doesn’t even need wiring – the instructional signals are sent via an inbuilt radio transmitter (which we think is pretty clever). For a small capital outlay you can effectively create an intelligent, centralised heating system for the rest of your home. 

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Panel heaters pros & cons

Pros

• Come in various shapes and sizes to suit all situations.
• Slim and stylish and don’t take up much space.
• Totally silent.
• Draught free.
• No dust, therefore good for allergy and asthma sufferers.
• Programmable thermostat/timer options.
• Can be linked up with other panels.
• Can be portable or wall mounted.

Cons

• Because panel heaters are totally silent, unless they are run on a timer you can forget to turn them off.

For more information on panel heaters click here.

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Ceiling heating

Radiant ceiling heating is another ‘still-air’ heating system, which does not produce any artificially heated air via the use of fans. Consequently, comfort can be achieved at lower temperatures than when utilising more conventional fan-forced heating systems. That is, without the need to offset a draught, thermostats can be set at lower temperatures. For bedrooms you would only need a setting of 16°C. The other appeal of ceiling heating is that each room that utilises the system has its own thermostat.  The temperature can be set specifically to the use of each room.  For example, living areas may be set at higher temperatures than bedrooms or background areas of around 18°C.  Once the thermostat setting has been reached, the system is automatically turned off, maintaining comfort levels and subsequently reducing running costs.

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Ceiling heating pros & cons

Pros

• Totally safe, with no exposed or hot surfaces.
• Years of maintenance-free operation saves ongoing costs.
• Completely hidden system, frees up all wall and floor space.
• Totally silent.
• Draught free.
• No dust, therefore good for allergy and asthma sufferers.
• Provides an even distribution of heat to every corner of the room.
• Programmable thermostat/timer options.

Cons

• Can be tricky to install in older homes without plasterboard ceilings

For more information on ceiling heating click here.

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