Heating Care Homes

BN Thermic has long track record of heating care homes and nursing homes using radiant ceiling panels. Low temperature, radiant ceiling panels are designed to be integrated into a suspended ceiling grid or to be fixed directly to a conventional ceiling. Once installed, they are barely noticeable.

Here are the considerations that make this technology ideal for use in care homes, nursing homes and other establishments that house vulnerable people.

Economy

By their very nature care homes and nursing homes are 24/7 operations that require heating throughout. It therefore follows that running costs are of paramount importance. Energy saving radiant ceiling panels offer a more economic means of heating care homes than conventional heaters for two distinct reasons.

The panel’s gentle radiant effect means that the ‘experienced’ temperature is always somewhat higher than the surrounding air temperature. This feature allows the care home’s thermostats to be set at a lower temperature than would otherwise be the case.
Conventional heating systems produce air temperatures at ceiling level significantly warmer than at floor level. This ‘over-heated’ air is expensive to generate and serves no useful purpose. Radiant ceiling panels do not give rise to a temperature gradient, resulting in real savings in a care home’s energy spend.

Safety

Radiant Ceiling panels can be integrated into a suspended ceiling grid or mounted onto a conventional ceiling using the brackets provided. Either way, their mounting position negates any possibility of a care home’s occupants touching the heaters. In point of fact, the relatively low surface temperature of the radiant ceiling panel means that there is no risk of burns even if there is casual contact with the heat emitting surface.

The spread of dust particles and other pollutants is of special concern in care homes and nursing homes. For this reason radiant heaters are generally preferred to convector heaters or fan heaters which rely on air movement to heat a space. Radiant ceiling panels do not produce air movement and therefore cannot stir up and distribute potentially harmful particles.

Suitability for the Environment

BN Thermic’s radiant ceiling panels have a smooth, wipe clean surface and are visually unobtrusive. Critically, radiant ceiling panels operate silently. This helps to preserve the peaceful environment required in a care homes and nursing homes.

Please click here for full details of BN Thermic’s radiant ceiling panels

FAQs

Is underfloor heating good for care homes?
Yes, underfloor heating is an ideal means of heating a care home. Here are some of the reasons.
1. As the required kW load to heat a room is spread over the entire area, the resulting increase in floor temperature is minimal. This means that the floor does not present a present a burn risk thus avoiding the need for specialist Low Surface Temperature (LST) heaters.
1. Underfloor heating operates silently helping to preserve a peaceful environment.
1. Underfloor heating does not produce convection currents and therefore does not stir up and distribute potentially harmful particles
However,r retro-fitting underfloor heating in a care home is not usually a practical proposition and for this reason, BN Thermic generally recommend radiant ceiling panels. These panel can be integrated into a suspended ceiling grid or mounted directly onto a conventional ceiling. They are visually unobtrusive and operate without air movement or noise output.

Is infrared heating good for care homes?
Yes, infrared heating is ideally suited to care homes. Here we are specifically referring to longwave infrared heating (sometimes referred to a far-infrared). This is the type of infrared heating that operates at a relatively low surface temperatures and with absolutely no light output.

For care homes with normal ceiling heights (2.4m to 3m) we recommend radiant ceiling panels and occasionally, for higher ceilings, we suggest longwave radiant cassettes which operate on the same principal but at a higher temperature.

Here are the key features that make radiant ceiling panels ideal for installation in a care home.
- The high mounting position means that specialist LST radiators are not required.
- The gentle direct heating effect allows thermostats to be set somewhat lower than for conventional convection heaters and thus reducing running costs.
- They operate silently.
- They operate without air movement and therefore do not distribute potentially harmful particles.
- They are visually unobtrusive
- Their wipe-down surface makes cleaning easy.

Do I need special ‘low surface temperature’ radiators for care home?

LST radiators are required if you want to position heaters at low level. This is to negate the risk of burns. Radiant ceiling panels are ceiling mounted and are therefore out of reach and not subject to LST requirements. In point of fact, the relatively low surface temperature of the radiant ceiling panel means that there is no risk of burns even if there is casual contact with the heat emitting surface.

What are the running costs using infrared heaters?

This is a topical and contentious issue. Some experts believe that heaters that rely of air movement and recycle air within a confined space, for example a wall-mounted fan heater, can distribute airborne viruses. We do not feel qualified to enter this debate but we can emphasise that radiant ceiling panels do not give rise to any air movement whatsoever and therefore there is no potential for the distribution of viruses or harmful particles.