Room Heating - Far Infra Red Panels

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Hipper
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Room Heating - Far Infra Red Panels

Post by Hipper » Fri May 07, 2021 10:12 am

I currently have a gas fire in a fire place in my living room and am very happy with it. It heats up the room speedily and effectively and has extra capacity if it gets really cold.

I live in a first floor flat that I own in a block of three floors, twenty-one flats. Recently we've been told by our freeholder (he's a good freeholder) that fire safety regulations mean that there need to access panels in the flue (chimney) every three metres. Rather then do this for the only three users of the chimneys the freeholder has offered to remove my gas fire, close off the chimney and install a reasonably good electric fire, or give me £500 to do something similar. I don't have central heating and am just interested in heating my living room, which is 20m2, or 48m3.

I've looked at electric fires but all seem to come with fancy images of flames to make them look like real fires. I don't want this. All I want is controllable heat. I could also get a couple of electric radiators. With the latter, I know they take a while to heat up a room but I suppose I will never get the same speed of heating as a gas fire. Fan heaters are too noisy, halogen heaters are too bright and their heat is not nice.

Another option is 'far infra red' panels. These are considerably more expensive then most other heaters. What I'm most concerned about is positioning and of course effect.

Has anyone any domestic experience of these please?

Sutton-Claret
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Re: Room Heating - Far Infra Red Panels

Post by Sutton-Claret » Fri May 07, 2021 10:20 am

We have a couple of Rointe Electric radiators which convect the heat around the room - they have a built in thermostat and timer and do a very good job.
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IanMcL
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Re: Room Heating - Far Infra Red Panels

Post by IanMcL » Fri May 07, 2021 10:40 am

Can you get a green grant for something?
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Jel
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Re: Room Heating - Far Infra Red Panels

Post by Jel » Fri May 07, 2021 11:13 am

Another option and by far the most efficient is a flueless gas fire. We have one and it's very effective.
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Hipper
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Re: Room Heating - Far Infra Red Panels

Post by Hipper » Fri May 07, 2021 12:13 pm

Jel wrote:
Fri May 07, 2021 11:13 am
Another option and by far the most efficient is a flueless gas fire. We have one and it's very effective.
Never heard of them! Thanks for the suggestion. I've found this source of info:

https://www.simonturnergas.co.uk/genera ... installed/

and it leads to two questions:

1. Ventilation. It seems some sort of wall (or window) ventilation is required. What form does this take? Mine isn't a modern sealed property and although I'd shut the door to the room air probably comes in underneath it (even though I have a 'snake' there.

2. 'Flueless fires are designed to supplement central heating and should be used as a secondary heat source only'. Is this true? My flat never goes below 9 Celsius with no heating.

Hipper
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Re: Room Heating - Far Infra Red Panels

Post by Hipper » Fri May 07, 2021 12:15 pm

IanMcL wrote:
Fri May 07, 2021 10:40 am
Can you get a green grant for something?
I'm not sure anything is applicable. The Government's 'Green Homes Grant' scheme has collapsed.

bfcjg
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Re: Room Heating - Far Infra Red Panels

Post by bfcjg » Fri May 07, 2021 12:51 pm

Have you spoken with neighbors regarding how they heat their flats ? Also how do you heat your water and other rooms ?

Overthehill
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Re: Room Heating - Far Infra Red Panels

Post by Overthehill » Fri May 07, 2021 1:01 pm

and it leads to two questions:

1. Ventilation. It seems some sort of wall (or window) ventilation is required. What form does this take? Mine isn't a modern sealed property and although I'd shut the door to the room air probably comes in underneath it (even though I have a 'snake' there.

2. 'Flueless fires are designed to supplement central heating and should be used as a secondary heat source only. Is this true? My flat never goes below 9 Celsius with no heating.
[/quote]

Firstly, consult a Gas Safe Engineer prior to purchasing any gas appliance.
The appliance manufacturer’s instruction would give ventilation requirements on their specific appliances based on their design / KW output of the gas fire. British Standard 5440: Part 2; A free vent area of at least 100cm2 and a minimum room size of 33m3.

As for the meaning of ventilation, This means a fixed ventilation area, a door opening is not considered fixed. It should be a dedicated none closable vent.
All buildings regardless of age/design have “Adventitious Air” which is natural ventilation coming into the room from outside through cracks in floorboards, windows, and doors, etc.

Just bear in mind, the ventilation and KW output for flueless appliances differs from an open flue appliance such as the gas fire you use now.
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Leyland Claret
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Re: Room Heating - Far Infra Red Panels

Post by Leyland Claret » Fri May 07, 2021 2:16 pm

Another option is a bio ethanol fire. Don’t need a flue and is smokeless. This gives you a real flame and heats up the room quickly. It is a little more expensive than electric and gas but you will still have a proper flame rather than the, IMO, naff artificial ones on an electric. I have a bio ethanol fire in my front room and I love it.
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Jel
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Re: Room Heating - Far Infra Red Panels

Post by Jel » Fri May 07, 2021 2:19 pm

I put an air brick in an outside wall.
Because none of the heat goes up the chimney, these are about 100% efficient so don't need to be very big in terms of output. I think ours is about 3.5kw. When it's on the room heats up enough to turn off the central heating
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Jel
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Re: Room Heating - Far Infra Red Panels

Post by Jel » Fri May 07, 2021 2:26 pm

Leyland Claret wrote:
Fri May 07, 2021 2:16 pm
Another option is a bio ethanol fire. Don’t need a flue and is smokeless. This gives you a real flame and heats up the room quickly. It is a little more expensive than electric and gas but you will still have a proper flame rather than the, IMO, naff artificial ones on an electric. I have a bio ethanol fire in my front room and I love it.
My girlfriends mum badly burned herself and nearly set the house on fire using a Bio ethanol burner. She had allowed fumes to build up before lighting it and it exploded.
Be careful with it, Bio ethanol is highly volatile

Socrates
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Re: Room Heating - Far Infra Red Panels

Post by Socrates » Fri May 07, 2021 2:27 pm

Wasn’t Room Heating that striker we signed from Germany?

Leyland Claret
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Re: Room Heating - Far Infra Red Panels

Post by Leyland Claret » Fri May 07, 2021 2:40 pm

I’m not disputing your statement and I hope your girlfriend’s mum has made a full recovery but if used correctly it is a safe way of heating a room and I would say no riskier than using a gas fire. Like a gas fire I would leave a little bit of ventilation i.e. leave the door/window slightly ajar whilst using it and keep a flow of air in the room. Everything has pros and cons and the biggest con for bio ethanol is the cost compared to gas and electric. For me though it’s an excellent solution for the likes of the OP’s quandary

Jel wrote:
Fri May 07, 2021 2:26 pm
My girlfriends mum badly burned herself and nearly set the house on fire using a Bio ethanol burner. She had allowed fumes to build up before lighting it and it exploded.
Be careful with it, Bio ethanol is highly volatile

Hipper
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Re: Room Heating - Far Infra Red Panels

Post by Hipper » Fri May 07, 2021 4:09 pm

Overthehill wrote:
Fri May 07, 2021 1:01 pm
Firstly, consult a Gas Safe Engineer prior to purchasing any gas appliance.
Of course that is what I will do if I do go down this route. I don' think I will though.

Like changing anything these days there are so many options and so many reasons for choosing them that I'm trying to form an overall picture of what is practical and useful for my circumstances. I like the idea of 'greening up' my circumstances in the process. I don't like the idea of biofuels though. Nor to I want a display of fire. The ideal would be some sort of quiet electric heater (with no images of fire) that could be placed in my fireplace, just a heat source that is quite quick at heating up the room and controllable via a thermostat. I can't find anything like this so I'm resorting to other solutions.

At the moment I'm thinking on some sort of wall attached radiators, removing not only the gas fire but the whole fireplace. I like the idea of the Far Infra Red Panels (including putting photos/artwork on them) but the good ones seem relatively expensive and their effect is unknown to me and I don't know anyone who has them.

Nearly all if not all the flats apart from mine have Combi boilers and central heating. I still have an immersion heater but I never use it. I have an electric shower (that heats the water from the mains) and boil a kettle to do the washing up and shave.

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Re: Room Heating - Far Infra Red Panels

Post by Devils_Advocate » Fri May 07, 2021 4:24 pm

Im in the process of getting the old storage heaters ripped out of a flat i've just bought so in the process of looking for some decent electric radiators / panel heaters.

I'll keep my eye on this thread and share anything im looking at but as I wont be leaving in it myself I might be looking for something a bit more basic than you

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Re: Room Heating - Far Infra Red Panels

Post by Shadeyclaret » Fri May 07, 2021 6:28 pm

High heat retention storage heaters might be an option?

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Re: Room Heating - Far Infra Red Panels

Post by JohnMac » Fri May 07, 2021 6:39 pm

In our previous house we were all electric and used Storage Heaters with a boost function on Economy 7. They were excellent and economical.

CharlieinNewMexico
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Re: Room Heating - Far Infra Red Panels

Post by CharlieinNewMexico » Fri May 07, 2021 6:49 pm

What’s a heater? 🤣🤣🤣

Whitgord
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Re: Room Heating - Far Infra Red Panels

Post by Whitgord » Fri May 07, 2021 9:05 pm

^^^^ What’s a cactus? 😀

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