A wasp tests the adhesive on the ePan Slim heating panel

What makes a panel come away, two years later

A heating panel that lets go of the ceiling does not fall on the day it is fitted. It falls after a few heating cycles, once the bond has worked, or after a summer in which the plenum has run hot. By then it is no longer a fitting error, it is a job to do again.

Why the adhesive decides performance, not only hold

The heating film passes its heat to the insulating board by contact. If the bond loosens locally, an air gap forms between the two and conduction stops at that point. The panel draws the same current and heats less. A partial debonding shows on a thermal camera long before it shows to the eye.

The pull-off test

It consists in pulling on the assembly until it breaks, and looking at where the break happens. A break within the material, rather than at the bonded interface, tells you the bond is stronger than the substrate itself.

The wasp that appears in the video came to no harm and still lives in our workshop. The panel itself is described on the heated radiant stretch ceiling page, and its installation filmed in our installation tutorial.

The build-up that makes the adhesive almost unnecessary

On a stretch ceiling, the panel does not rest on its bond alone. It is also held mechanically, and the air gap kept above it stops it working against the original substrate. The bond provides conduction between the film and the insulation, not the panel's hold on the ceiling. The two functions are separate, and that is what makes the assembly last.