Radiant Drywall thermostat

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1793

Senior Member
Location
Louisville, Kentucky
Occupation
Inspector
I looked at a job today and part of the project is to replace 7 wall mounted thermostats that control the radiant heat in the drywall on the ceiling. I would like to know if anyone has dealt with this and where I may find the appropriate thermostats?
IMG_4252.jpg IMG_4250.jpg
 

GoldDigger

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Placerville, CA, USA
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I looked at a job today and part of the project is to replace 7 wall mounted thermostats that control the radiant heat in the drywall on the ceiling. I would like to know if anyone has dealt with this and where I may find the appropriate thermostats?
View attachment 9182 View attachment 9183

This is line voltage (120 or possibly 240) thermostat, as was commonly used with radiant heat at one time. You cannot use a simple bimetal thermostat which is designed for low current and low voltage applications.
Start by Googling "line voltage thermostat". You will see a wide variety of appearances and costs.
What you will probably not find are any programmable units or any of the other fancy amenities folks look for now.
For radiant heat, any programmable thermostat would have to be set up to turn on early and turn off early because of the delay time in most radiant heat setups.

There may be issues with the response time of the simple mechanical thermostats too, so you may want to check with an HVAC specialist who understands radiant heating to see whether there is currently anything better available than a simple like-kind replacement of what was in use here.

While you are at, take a good look at the wiring from the stats to the heating units.
 

StarCat

Industrial Engineering Tech
Location
Moab, UT USA
Occupation
Imdustrial Engineering Technician - HVACR Electrical and Mechanical Systems

edlee

Senior Member
I am looking at a job involving the exact same thing. Also my background is HVACR.
Many available today are not near as rugged as the old ones.
This is a modern line voltage stat with decent quality if you are interested:

http://www.pexsupply.com/Honeywell-...mostat-for-Electric-Baseboard-Heat-10495000-p


All the best

I just bought some programmable Aube (owned by Honeywell) t-stats for electric baseboard heat and while I was checking specs I noticed that some of the Aube's come with remote sensor capability for radiant, in addition to room temp.

I bought mine from pexsupply.com but EFI.org also sells them.

BTW last year I had a customer who wanted electric radiant in his bath ceiling. The only place I could find to buy it new was Nuheat, based in Canada, with US sales somewhere in Pennsylvania. They were helpful and easy to deal with.
 

1793

Senior Member
Location
Louisville, Kentucky
Occupation
Inspector

I am looking at a job involving the exact same thing. Also my background is HVACR.
Many available today are not near as rugged as the old ones.
This is a modern line voltage stat with decent quality if you are interested:

http://www.pexsupply.com/Honeywell-...mostat-for-Electric-Baseboard-Heat-10495000-p


All the best

Thanks to both of you. I do appreciate the info, this is what I was looking for.
This is a great site with fantastic membership.
Again, Thank you
 

StarCat

Industrial Engineering Tech
Location
Moab, UT USA
Occupation
Imdustrial Engineering Technician - HVACR Electrical and Mechanical Systems
Radiants and Cove Heat

Radiants and Cove Heat

I work with a local Master Electrician who has installed some Cove units from this outfit and gotten good customer feedback.
They are high wall installs.

http://www.radiantsystemsinc.com/

I have recently gotten into a house that unfortunately has sheetrock radiant. Looking at retrofit options the cove heaters were first mentioned, and then I found a comparable type unit which is ceramic plate based and which is said to be a bit more efficient. 10 year warranty on the plates.
This is looking interesting to me along with the old wood stove which works well.

http://www.electricheat.com/OurProducts/Cove.aspx

If anyone has experience with this type, your feedback would be helpful.

Good luck on the jobs
 
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