Types of electrical heating systems

[edit] From the whole house to just part

Whilst I am an advocate for heat pumps and an avid supporter of the holistic passivhaus approach, I have heard some some unfortunate stories of the former, though thankfully less so for the latter. I see the sense in improving the entire envelope of a building to such an extent that with heat recovery, the whole of its interior can be treated in the same way. Though there have always seemed other advantages to this in particular where triple glazing is concerned the internal surface temperatures between wall and window don't vary as much as in a standard home. To my mind it levelling off those temperature differences, by reducing radiant coolth from windows that also help improve comfort.

However there is no doubt that this approach comes as a whole package, you cant just stick an MVHR unit in and hope it for the best, performance, so closely linked to to the all the rest of the construction. Whilst it seems increasingly that there is more sense attached to heat pumps installations that go hand in hand with fabric upgrades. However it still surprises me the number of people who see heat pumps as simply a replacement for a gas boiler, one in one out points are being missed. The danger is that the technology gets a bad reputation from instances where it fails, or is perceived to have failed. There are two elements to this...

[edit] Introduction and background

Electrical heating systems, since the introduction of cheaper gas, have generally been considered as being a more expensive option when it comes to both space and water heating. Gas was first used in the UK as early as the 1800s for gas stoves and lighting, but it wasn't until the 1970s and 1980s, driven by the discovery of North Sea gas and government-led programs that gas for heating, and central heating became widespread. It could be argued that central heating changed the mindset around heating, offering a single solution that provided full whole house heating which in turn negated previous considerations for background heating, or localised room by room heating used on a needs basis.

Homes, often in remote locations, that were not on the gas grid have continued to to use electricity for space and water heating. In general typical homes in these areas used night storage heaters for space heating and immersion heaters for water heating, but not only have many of these technologies improved with efficiency over time, they have also been joined by a variety of other technologies that use electrical means to heat a medium. It is perhaps useful to include not only systems that provide full electrical heating but to also include systems that provide local or background heating and thus reduce over all heating demand.

This article will look at the wide variety of options, that use electricity to create heat, with a broad view going beyond direct heating but to also include indirect heating, heat transfer, heat storage, heat pumping and heat conversion such as with heat pumps, but also for example solar solutions that rely on electricity to pump solar heated mediums. The article includes both water and space heating solutions, as well as solutions that, whilst not always providing a total heating solution provide a means to reduce heating demands through recycling heat such as MVHR.

[edit] Types of electrically driven heating systems

• Air source heat pumps
• Band heaters ceramic
• Band heaters mineral-insulated
• Band heaters mica
• Baseboard heaters
• Ceramic heaters
• Convection heaters
• Electric heat pumps
• Electric Panel heaters
• Electric radiators
• Electric underfloor heating
• High heat retention storage heaters
• Hot water heat pumps
• Immersion heaters: Immersion heaters are electric water heaters that heat water in hot-water cylinders in a similar way to a kettle. They can provide a building’s hot water and can also be used as a back-up for combi boilers.
• Infrared Bar Heaters.
• Infrared heating panels
• Inline water heaters.
• Kickspace heaters.
• Fan heaters
• Flexible Heaters
• Floor heating
• Ground source heat pumps
• Infrared heaters
• Mechanical Ventilation Heat Recovery. Dual flow.
• Mechanical Ventilation Heat Recovery. Single sided.
• Mechanical Ventilation Heat Recovery. Whole house.
• Mica heaters
• Phase-Change Heat Batteries
• Skirting heaters
• Smart Heat Batteries
• Smart Hot Water Cylinders.
• Solar thermal water heating
• Solar electric water heating
• Storage heaters: The most common type of electric heating system is a storage heater. This involves individual electric heaters that heat up internal ceramic bricks overnight using off-peak electricity and store it for use during the day. The same system can be used to heat a hot water tank. For more information see: Storage heaters.
• Tankless waterheaters.
• Thermostatic tubular heaters
• Undersink water heaters.
• Water source heat pumps