Feeling Comfortable
Everyone has a different personal level of comfort. But there are some key things that enable some heating systems to make a home extremely comfortable.
The best comfort comes from an even spread of heat throughout a room and a home rather than a single heat source in one area trying to spread the heat out to the furthest parts of the room.
Combating the Cold
The coldest part of any room is the external walls where the windows are because the cold outside air affects these walls and windows. If heat is placed near the outside walls in a room, this combats the cold at its source and ensures there are no ‘cold spots’ in the room. Repeat this through each room in the house and you have even comfort that is the nicest for the human body and is the most efficient use of energy. Instead of having a powerful heat pump or fire pumping out the heat in one or two areas, you have small amounts of heat situated correctly for maximum effect and efficiency.
Many so-called experts are not aware of this and situate heat centrally in a house or room. This creates a hot side of a person facing the heat, but the back is cold as that is facing the external walls and windows where the cold comes from. Another example is situating a heat pump or night store heater in a hallway. The heat from these can never travel through doorways to heat the rooms, and the rooms off the hallway are the ones that have external walls that are cold.
Mother and son enjoying radiator warmth
Heating a Home Evenly
Uneven heating is not comfortable and is very common in New Zealand.
A warm-water central heating system using radiator panels situated throughout a house is one of the most comfortable and efficient means of heating a dwelling. Another method is a warm water underfloor heating system. Both these systems provide the greatest level of comfort to occupants due to the even spread of radiant heat.
The reason water is used to transfer the energy is that this also is the most efficient way to move heat around a home, there is no noise and no drafts.
When there is a well-designed heating system that is providing even heat throughout a home, it is almost imperceptible to tell where the comfort is coming from. This is the goal of the premium heating system designer.
