What is ceiling heating? Went to see a bungalow for sale last week in a...

[lardhelmet]

...village that has no mains gas and this bungalow has ceiling heating. No radiators or anything. Anybody know how this works, whether it's expensive, efficient etc please?

[boxtops]

read this, lardy :-( http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=3114154

[joggerjayne]

Ceiling heating? As heat rises, don't you just end up with all the heat at the top of the room?

[The Builder]

I think this was another of those ideas that was tried here in the 60s and 70s, although it's been in existence longer.
It relies on radiant heat, supposedly similar to the way the sun works ;o) Elements were in the ceiling, floor or even both. Not difficult to see why it never took off ;o)

[lardhelmet]

Thanks boxy. Sounds like I'd have to live in the loft!

[heathfield]

There were council houses built in my area that had ceiling heating installed. It's now been many years since that heating system was removed by the council over residents complaints about the unaffordably high cost uf use. The system was replaced with council-supplied storage heaters.

[jomifl]

We had ceiling heaters where I worked, they were nicknamed 'head bakers'.

[lardhelmet]

I've never heard of it, but it did sound like a bizarre idea. Would oil fired/solid fuel heating be prohibitively expensive to install?

[woofgang]

I have visited houses where they had it.....most unpleasant.

[jomifl]

The simplest way of heating if you don't have mains gas is to have tank of liquid propane and run a gas central heating system off it. It isn't cheap as you have to rent the tank but it is convenient. Expect a small bungalow to cost £2,000 per year.

[ChuckFickens]

Nice toasty loft though (I'd guess)

[Prudie]

Not so easy to dry your knickers on

[boxtops]

Dries your hair quickly, though

[lardhelmet]

Dont think I want my hair to look like a bloomer loaf. So that's it then - propane gas or pick another village!

[Toureman]

Propane gas is one of the dearest fuels to use!

[lardhelmet]

OK - so that narrows it down to a choice of one - a different village it is then

[ubasses]

I have found oil quite reasonable, but you would have up front costs of the oil tank, the feed to the new boiler that you would need. Then radiaitors put in all the rooms.
I heat a 5 bed house and our last oil bill was just over £600 but we had not filled up for 18 months. You can shop around for the best prices each time, and try never to need to fill in the depth of winter.

[lardhelmet]

Thank you all for your input. I have a lot to consider.

[buildersmate]

If you want the property and like the village, you should treat the negotiation on the basis that you regard the current heating method as unacceptable (for the reasons stated by others above) and you will have to factor-in the price of a new CH system based on oil.
Not impossible to do - just hassle factor plus you need the selling price adjusted.

[jomifl]

As above, get an estimate for installing a heating sytem of your choice (oil looks like the best choice) and use it as bargaining point on the price of the property.

[bazwillrun]

Have you thought of UFH (underfloor heating) theres various ways of powering it?

but the heat rises uniformly from the floor, I have had it in a property before and theres nothing to touch it.