Heating in the wall: how to do it right
The heating system inside the wall or “warm walls” is mounted behind the decorative coating of the wall or under the plaster layer. At the same time, indoor comfort is greatly enhanced. This is due to the fact that heat goes to a person at the level of his body or the most energy-consuming part of the body. The article will tell you how to make heating in the apartment inside the walls.
The content of the article
Features of "warm walls"
Water heating in the walls of houses gives the maximum effect in cases where:
- Indoors a small amount of furniture and equipment installed near the walls. It can be:
- Offices
- audience
- bedrooms;
- corridors.
- Premises in which there is no free floor space so that it is possible to arrange water heating systems for the floor:
- Bathrooms
- workshops;
- pools;
- garages.
- Rooms where there is a high humidity of the floor, when it is inefficient to use a warm water floor due to the high energy consumption required to evaporate moisture. It:
- bathrooms (see How to insulate the end wall of a bathroom);
- Laundries
- car washes;
- pools.
- Premises with insufficient capacity of one separate system.
- Warm walls are used as an addition to a warm floor to compensate for heat loss through windows.
Panel wall heating in comparison with other heating systems has undeniable advantages:
- From warm walls, heat transfer is carried out due to radiant heat transfer by about 85%.
- Minimizing convective fluxes with wall heating reduces, and most often completely eliminates, dust moving around the room, which improves the microclimate and facilitates human breathing.
- Compensation is provided for heat losses from 150 to 180 W / m², which is significantly higher than that possible with the “warm floor” system, where this indicator is from 100 to 120 W / m². This is due to the fact that the temperature supplied to the fluid heating system can be increased to 70 ° C. In this case, the temperature difference between the supply and return lines in the system of warm walls is reached up to 15 ° C, and with a warm floor this indicator is limited to 10 ° C.
- In systems of warm walls, circulation pumps with lower performance can be used, which is explained by the increased temperature difference that arises between the return and direct pipelines.
- When using wall heating, any piping placement step is selected. This is due to the presence of temperature differences that occur on the surface of the walls between adjacent sections. Such differences do not affect the feelings of people in the room.
- Using a variable pitch when laying pipelines in the walls, it is possible to achieve a heat distribution in the room close to ideal. In this case, if from the floor:
- in areas of 1-1.2 meters, pipes are laid in increments of 10-15 centimeters;
- on a plot of 1.2-1.8 meters, the step is selected 20-25 centimeters;
- above 1.8 meters - the pipe pitch reaches up to 40 centimeters.
This indicator depends on the calculated values for heat loss. The direction of movement of the coolant should be taken from the floor to the ceiling.
Tip: The design of the warm water wall system belongs to radiant heat transfer systems. The structure should not be placed on wall sections covered by furniture during operation.
- The use of a warm wall system allows heating adjacent rooms with one loop. At the same time, hinges are laid on internal partitions made of materials with a sufficiently low resistance to heat transfer. It can be:
- brick;
- reinforced concrete.
- Constantly dry walls do not allow fungus and mold to appear on them, which is often experienced by the walls of a house with stove heating.
- There is the possibility of creating an interesting and comfortable interior of the room, due to the lack of wall radiators.
Disadvantages of a wall heating system:
- When installed along a heated wall of furniture, the efficiency of heating a room decreases, and the furniture itself, due to the strong influence of heat on it, will begin to lose moisture and quickly dry out, which will reduce its life.
- Modern TVs, paintings, carpets cannot be hung on such a wall. Installing fasteners can damage heating elements.
- Large heat loss. Due to the heating of the wall, part of the heat will evaporate outward.
- Heat losses contribute to the dew point displacement inside the wall. Because of this, in winter, condensation will form on the verge of heat and cold. In this case:
- where it is warmer, molds begin to develop;
- and where it is very cold, a wall will freeze in winter. As a result of cycles of freezing and thawing - the destruction of the walls.
- The specific location of the heating system in the wall creates inconvenience during maintenance and repair.
How to install heating in the walls
The technology of wall heating can be carried out using three types of heating elements:
- Watermarks, as in the photo. The device of such a system is the best solution if there is an individual water heating system in the apartment or house.
- Electric (see Electric warm walls: what are the benefits). Devices consisting of cables or prefabricated mats having a fairly high power consumption.
- Film. Include infrared or electrical elements. This is the optimal solution, but when installing the system simultaneously on:
- floors;
- walls;
- ceiling.
Tip: Regardless of the heating elements - the technology of building warm walls does not change. The difference between the processes lies only in the subtleties of fixing the heater.
Instructions for installing warm walls with your own hands when plastering surfaces:
- Preparing the wall:
- cleansed;
- wiring is placed;
- electrical boxes are stacked.
- A heat mixing unit is installed.
- Expanded polystyrene plates are glued to the walls, and a vapor barrier is placed on top or a foil insulation is used.
- Mounting rails are mounted to secure the pipeline.
Tip: When installing warm walls in the bathroom, the heating system should be located on the surface and use pipes as a heated towel rail.
- A serpentine pipeline is placed along the wall, excluding areas of furniture.
- Pipes through the collectors are connected to the heat mixing unit.
- Pipe pressing is carried out.
- Fastens reinforcing mesh.
- The wall is covered with a thin layer of plaster, preferably gypsum.
- Under its upper layer, a thermal sensor is fixed.
- After the first layer of plaster has dried, the second is applied.
Tip: To avoid cracking the layer, and it did not interfere with heat transfer, a lime-cement mortar should be used, its thickness above the pipes should reach three centimeters.
- A thin mesh is laid on the plaster layer, which will avoid the formation of cracks when heated.
- The operation of the entire system is checked.
Features of infrared heating
Infrared or solar heating of the walls is very popular and is considered the most progressive method for heating a room. Film and core mats are easily, simply and mounted with high speed.
Mats with graphite rods are fixed on the wall in the same way as other heating systems, under:
- Stucco (see How is mechanized wall plastering done?).
- Sheathing from the frame.
It is easier to fix film canvases - they are simply glued with special glue directly onto the wall surface previously coated with thermal insulation.
On a film infrared coating it is impossible to apply a plaster layer or tile adhesive, apply heat or vapor barrier, which has an aluminum coating. This type of wall covering is installed only by the “dry” method.The installation of infrared equipment on the walls and its connection is carried out in accordance with the instructions attached to the equipment.
How to properly equip any system of warm walls, choose the distance from the wall to heating and install radiators in the room, and other recommendations for maintaining heat in the home, offers a video in this article.
It is clearly difficult to determine the effectiveness and convenience of installing heating pipes in the walls. It all depends on the preferences of the person himself. Some people like to bring heating pipes into the room, others like to wall them in.
Tip: When converting risers in an apartment building, you should first discuss all the nuances with the relevant services. With unauthorized interference in the design scheme, you can get in big trouble, and the price of heating will increase significantly due to large fines.
