I was planning on using Enerjoy ceiling mounted radiant panels in an exercise room (14′ x 29′) over a garage addition. Electric in my area runs $.10/kwh. Obviuosly much more expensive per unit of energy than propane @$1.25/gal. But I was thinking they might be a good choice because: it would be used on average only 2 hrs per day, and the quick response (due to low mass) would allow them to be used only when occupying the space. I have not been able to get much feedback on peoples experince with these and searches here have been fruitless. I am not a big fan of baked air systems.
The rafters will get 12″ of DP cells, the walls 5 1/2″ of cells and the floor packed with 9 1/2″ of cellulose. No skylites, Hurd Heat Mirror glazings on windows.
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Did you ever find anyone using Enerjoy?
What was their recommendation?
Feeb
I have radiant heat panels installed in the ceiling of my 35 year old house. It was built at a time, according to the builder that the electric companies were telling contractors that electricity would be so cheap due to nuclear reactors being used to generate it, that they probably wouldn't even meter its usage. We should all be so lucky.
Nevertheless, until I retrofitted in oil fired baseboard on the first floor (we still use the radiant panels on the second floor -- mostly at night), it was our primary source of heat. And it was GREAT! Nice even comfortable heat. No warm spots, no cool spots, no drafts, no noise, no fumes, no service required, nothing to see, trip over, or dust. The whole ceiling of 5/8" wallboard becomes a giant heat mass. The heating panels are laid on top of the ceiling betwen the rafters.
Granted they are 35 years old and I don't know how efficient they are compared to current day designs, but they still crank out the heat without a problem.
If money were no object, that's how I'd choose to heat a new house. Except, I'd add A/C from the start.
Another thing you might look into is the Karo system sold at naturalcooling.com. It's a capillary PEX system that is ceiling mounted, low-mass, but that can use your existing hot-water source.
Do you have any experience with those systems. They do look interesting.Tom
Douglasville, GA
I was very close to using them for the entire inside of my home (gut job). Trouble is, no one in the area had installed one and I didn't want to be the guinea pig. That said, your application seems a bit more straightforward (i.e. I doubt you expect the system to do AC for you) and hence less risky. Plus, I'm willing to bet an ice cream that your pre-existing hydronic heating system is oversized enough to handle the added load of this space w/o problems.However, as with all radiant systems, good temperature control is one key to good performance. That means a lot of insulation behind the panels and a water mixing system to keep the temperatures in the ceiling optimal regardless of what the rest of the house is doing. Whether it's a pre-set manual valve (which can work well when the rest of the house is on outdoor reset) or its own zone is up to you. The former is KISS and less expensive to boot.