heating woodshop with radiant heat panel
Raimo
| Posted in Energy, Heating & Insulation on
A search on this forum failed to find items relating to solid state radiant heating panels by a US firm called Enerjoy which promotes them for woodworking shops amongst other applications. Their claims sound very good on their web site http://www.enerjoy.com Anyone out there with actual experience in heating a woodworking shop with their ceiling panels? I live in a cold region of Canada and woodheat is out due to insurance problems and even propane boosts my insurance up . Thanks.
Replies
I don't know the manufacturer of the radiant heat panels we use in a commercial office building,but....
We use them for perimeter heat only, to knock the chill off of walls with large expanses if windows. The ones we install are 277v, 1500 to 2500 watt panels designed to lay in drop ceiling grid (2 x 4'). They are not our primary heat, since this is a commercial building. They are effective in our environment, because we ussually have excess heat to get rid of most of the time.
I know they make them in other voltage and wattage combinations, but I suspect that operating cost is pretty much the same--- expensive. In high use areas we only get about 2 to 3 years life out of them, so that is another cost. On the plus side they are easy to change out in the drop ceiling grid. Takes less than 1 man hour total.
The higher the ceiling the longer they have to crank out the btu s to satify the line voltage stats. in a few areas.
Bottom line is, yes they will heat your shop if you are willing to pay the piper for operating and replacement cost.
Dave
ray.. we've used radiant electric heat as our backup heat for solar since the early '80's..
i've installed some of the ceiling panels in kitchens that had no room for baseboard..
one thing you might like are Electric radiant cove heaters... they mount about 3 inches below the ceiling... come in lengths from 4' to 12 '... very effective at heating specific areas.. and are easier to "aim" than the ceiling panels
WW Grainger is a good source...
as far as maintenace goes... there is none... the ones we've installed in the early '80's are still cooking away.. the electric bills are high.. but good insulation can offset that..
Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
Edited 2/12/2004 9:38:37 PM ET by Mike Smith
Another question I have about these radiant panels is if the radiation would harmfully affect wood that I was working on..heating and drying out one side of it during a project causing cupping etc or is that a feature of the infrared heaters that heat by a glowing red bar of a heating element.
Any luck finding someone using Enerjoy cwiling RADIANT HEATERS?
An architech that I used to do work for regularly, designed a series of dialysis centers in which we placed 2x4 electric radiant panels over each station. These panels are made by Marley Engineered Products and sold under several different brands. For 240-1-60, 24x48 panels come in 500, 625 & 750 watts, list costs about $380 ea., plus whatever accessories required.
Check out http://www.marleymep.com/ and click on either QMark or Berko, heaters. Berko models start with "CP".