How to choose your form of heating

Five questions, in this order

The type of building and its current insulation. How the rooms are actually used, hour by hour. The height available and the fitting constraints. The energy available on site. And only last, the budget. Reversing that order, starting with the budget, amounts to choosing a solution before stating the problem.

Why insulation comes before the generator

The power needed depends on the losses. In a poorly insulated home every system is expensive to run, including those said to be economical. Sizing done before insulation work leads to an oversized installation, which will be paid for twice.

Actual use, not assumed use

A room occupied two hours a day does not call for the same answer as a room occupied continuously. A high inertia system suits the second and penalises the first: it takes hours to come up, so it runs permanently.

The fitting constraint, often decisive

In renovation, the height available and the access decide more often than theoretical performance does. An excellent system that needs twenty centimetres at the ceiling is not an option in a home with 2.40 m.

What the budget really covers

The purchase price, the installation cost, the consumption, the servicing and the service life. A system with no servicing and no annual inspection, whose life exceeds fifty years, does not compare to the purchase price alone of a unit that will need a visit every year.

The advantages of heating from the ceiling are set out on the why heat from the ceiling page, and the comparison with underfloor heating on the page that puts them side by side.