Something I haven’t seen before

[Charlie_]

Any ideas what this is?
And how it works?

 

[Octopus]

Ceiling heating ........... beware where you drill holes putting up lights or adding downlights

 

[Charlie_]

It has long been decommissioned..
All controls have been removed.
What voltage did it run at?
It is made from some kind of black cloth with those copper strips along the edges.. Did the black cloth heat up?

 

[Octopus]

voltage would have been 230v .........

How old is the property?

 

[Dustydazzler]

Ceiling heating mats , 240v

still see Load of flats still have and use this in my area

think it was a fad thing back in the 1980s

 

[PEG]

Ceiling heating mats , 240v

still see Load of flats still have and use this in my area

think it was a fad thing back in the 1980s

....Like giant mobiles,and ecstasy....just not a good idea

 

[Charlie_]

Yes I think the property was built in the 80s
So all those exposed terminals are 240v?
Possibly fed through an isolating transformer?

 

[Deleted member 9648]

They were straight 230v, the black material heats up and is sandwiched between plastic sheet. Back in the day there used to be about 1" of insulation over the top. Not surprisingly the 'fad' didn't last long. Probably one of the worst ideas of all time. Similar mats are still used for vivarium heaters etc.

 

[rapparee]

Well we all know that hot air sinks and cold air rises.

So a great idea.

 

[Charlie_]

Probably a good money spinning gimmick back in the day..
Similar to say those voltage optimisers a few years ago.

 

[freddo]

There are quite a few around this area, never seen any still in use. Certainly seems like a terrible design.

 

[Charlie_]

There are quite a few around this area, never seen any still in use. Certainly seems like a terrible design.

And possibly also very inefficient..
Any ideas of their power ratings?

 

[freddo]

No idea on power ratings, 2 systems had 15A thermostats to control them, one in each room.

I would expect plasterboard to be quite thermally insulating?

 

[Charlie_]

Yes I also thought that about the plasterboard goving a poor heat transfer..
One of my theories was that it was some sort of mesh system created by a techno geek haha

 

[Rpa07]

It would play havoc with your WiFi signal, if still used today.

 

[Charlie_]

Would also play havoc with anybody crawling through the loft with all those bare terminals..
Lovely snug environment for the mice though

 

[tudore]

These were a really bad idea, but the same tech is found in electric blankets, and heating mats for seed germination and home brewing, all of which I've used in the past. They'd probably still be good as heating mats: have you thought about selling them on eBay or Gumtree for greenhouses?

 

[mattg4321]

I stayed in a ski chalet in France earlier this year that had ceiling heating installed on the top floor. Vaulted ceiling too.

What an absolutely idiotic idea! What possible benefit would it have had over a very similar underfloor heating system!?

 

[Charlie_]

I don’t think selling them would be worth my while as I would have to strip it all out from the loft.. Shame though as it seems a waste just sat there.

 

[Charlie_]

I stayed in a ski chalet in France earlier this year that had ceiling heating installed on the top floor. Vaulted ceiling too.

What an absolutely idiotic idea! What possible benefit would it have had over a very similar underfloor heating system!?

The only benefit I could see there is keeping snow off the roof.
Unless there was a means of circulating the warm air.
UFH would seem to be the obvious choice..