Electric warm skirting board: how and when to use it?
Lany heating system must quickly and evenly heat the volume of the room. Conventional radiators cope with this task worst of all, so they are replaced by alternative options for the location of the heating elements. The most economical and easiest in terms of installation is an electric warm skirting board. It is more convenient than a warm floor, warm walls and ceiling, since its installation can be carried out without affecting or destroying the existing finish. The principles of operation, advantages and disadvantages of baseboard heating are described in this material.
Electric warm skirting board
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Video: warm skirting board
Types of electric skirting boards
A warm skirting board is a kind of compact radiator that is very small in size and is located around the perimeter of the room. Just like classic radiators, skirting boards can be heated using electricity and ordinary water. There are serious limitations for water systems: the length of the circuit is no more than 15 meters, the absence of hydraulic shocks and the need for complex preliminary calculations.
Construction of water warm skirting board
All existing types of electric heaters have no restrictions on the area and volume of the room, are easy to install and take up very little space with high efficiency. The most widespread are two types of heaters - cable and infrared.
Heating elements around the perimeter of the attic, which will be covered with decorative panels
Infrared skirting board
Compact and economical infrared electric warm skirting board is a small-sized structure consisting of a body, reflector and heating element. An infrared heater is a device that converts electrical energy into heat. The current from the mains with a voltage of 220 volts is supplied to contacts made of copper and silver-plated plates. These bimetallic electrodes transmit current to carbon (made from carbon paste) strips, which convert alternating electric current into infrared radiation.
Heating tape for skirting boards
IR rays, passing through the film into which the contacts are sealed, heat it and the objects with which it comes into contact. Thus, the film serves as a kind of heat exchanger. The melting temperature of the film is at least 210 degrees, and the carbon contacts are heated by no more than 50 degrees, so the IR systems are absolutely safe from the point of view of fire protection.
Infrared heating film device
To infrared heating was more efficient, foil-clad insulating materials are used as a substrate for the film, which reflect heat in the desired direction. IR heating is the most economical in terms of energy consumption, safe and easy to install. Among the disadvantages is the high price of the film itself and the need to use thermostat.
Infrared warm skirting board requires a thermostat
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Cable heater
The main requirement for systems used in skirting structures is small size. Electric heating cable, which is used in most heating systems, is an excellent solution in this case. The basis of such a system is a heating cable - a flexible wire in a multi-layer polymer braid.
Heating cable
The current passing through such a wire heats the outer layer to a predetermined temperature. The maximum value is set by the manufacturer and depends on the chemical composition of the polymer from which the cable is made. The thermostat can be set to a lower value.
The use of a heating cable in baseboard heating
The heating cable can be used alone or in combination with metal plates for better heat transfer. The first option is much simpler and cheaper, but its efficiency is lower due to the small surface area of the cable. The use of an aluminum or copper heat exchanger is more expensive at the installation stage, however, already in the first heating season, the costs are paid off due to significant savings in electricity.
Radiator heated by a bundle of cables
How skirting heating works
Calculations show that the most efficient heaters are located on the floor, since the main role in any system is played by vertical convection currents.
Comparison of baseboard heating and conventional radiators
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For use skirting boards three important conditions must be met as heat sources:
- lack of bulky items furniturestanding close to the wall and plinth, since because of them the configuration of the ascending warm flow is disturbed;
- high-quality wall insulation, without which baseboard heating, in principle, cannot work effectively;
- installation of heating elements around the entire perimeter of the room.
Distribution of heat in the volume of the room when using warm skirting boards
An electric floor warm skirting board heats the air that passes through it. There is a heater inside the box, and there are gaps at the bottom and top. Cold air enters the lower slot, heats up and then goes upward along the walls, warming them up. The entire volume of the room is evenly warmed up from the surface of the walls.
How warm skirting works
Since the heat transfer surface area of any skirting system is small, it is important to provide reflectors that are mounted on the wall behind the heating element, thereby minimizing heat loss.
Foil reflector
Installation technology
Installing a warm electric skirting board with your own hands is much easier than a classic radiator or systems warm floor... Before installing the plinth system, it is necessary to measure the perimeter of the room and determine the power of the devices.
Measurement of the perimeter of the room
For work you will need screwdriver, construction knife, tape measure, pliers and scissors for metal or jigsaw. Installation is carried out after finishing and is reduced to the following five stages:
- installation of the lower guide profile along the entire perimeter;
We mount the lower guide profile along the perimeter of the room
- fixing the insulating foil material;
We attach a strip of heat-reflecting material to the wall
- installation of the upper profile with fasteners;
Attaching brackets to the top profile
Recommended distance between brackets 50 cm
Mounting the top profile to the wall
We fasten the brackets with self-tapping screws
We use special gaskets
Complete mounting system
- installation of a heating device - infrared films, cables, heating elements and their connection to the network;
Installation of heating elements
- installation of an external decorative panel.
Installation of the decorative panel
Areas of use
Skirting heating is very effective in apartment buildings where the walls are well insulated, as well as in large public buildings. While radiators create uncontrolled convection currents and underfloor heating is prohibitively expensive, baseboard heating is the best option. Such systems are ineffective in those houses where there is no necessary wall insulation, since warm updrafts cool down before they have time to heat the room.
Video: installation of a plinth electric heating system
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