Best way to heat rooms?

[chico83]

Hi guys,

I'm, currently doing a research project, and I am to design the heating and ventilation system of a new museum. Having never done anything like this before I'm a bit unsure of how to approach it.

What is the best way to heat rooms in such a building? Rooms like offices, cafe, art galleries?

I was looking at heating the rooms using purely space heating, with heating coils in air handling units providing hot air for every room.

However, I've heard underfloor heating could be more effective?

Any info on the above would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

 

[Steve]

If its a new building you can install whatever system you want and have it built into the fabric of the building. Underfloor heating is good for homes where people will be barefoot. You don't experience the same comfort factor in a commercial property.

I would recommend some kind of electric heat pump system. Whether that be air source or ground source, it will give you cooling in summer (depending on the internal configuration) and heating in winter.

Any config can heat with a heat pump, either use radiators, fan coil units or air con units. To achieve cooling as well, you must use air con units internally. These can be either built into the ceiling or wall hung, but ceiling units look best and are less intrusive. My shop is heated and cooled by 4 air con units connected to heat pumps on the roof (and a building management system to ensure efficiency), and it is lovely and warm in winter.

DO NOT be swayed by these "super efficient electric panel heaters" - ALL pure electric panel heaters/fan heaters/oil radiators use the SAME energy to heat a room. This is a fundamental rule of physics.

If you have gas, you could instead use this with a super efficient boiler system - I have seen a small supermarket with 3 boilers linked to provide heat to fan coil units around the shop. Though this was not the most efficient way to heat a supermarket (one would normally use a heat exchanger to derive heat from the fridge plant to pump back into the shop and top up the heat with a boiler or 2, but this place wanted a cheap quick fix and it still cost them £60k).

 

[xr4x4]

If you listen to QVC then buy a super efficient aluminium £900 heater for each room you use and turn of your gas central heating to save your bills...!

...oh and you might need to buy two for each room as one might not be enough but don't worry, they are super efficient!

 

[OwainDIYer]

for a museum you should also look at humidity control, air cleaning, and fire separation between compartments.

 

[chico83]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

I was planning on using a water source heat pump as a means of heating and cooling, based on the site location next to a river.

In terms of humidity control, I would need that in the galleries themselves, so I was looking at using air handlers that can control the humidity and at the same time provide heating for these rooms.

I was going to use underfloor heating in the other rooms (don't really want to use radiators), such as offices, cafe and retail.

Is there any advantage from doing this, or would I be better just using air handling units to provide heat to every room?

 

[s60tsy]

a guy i know works at a company that make heated skirting boards, they have the water running through them

 

[ChristianoRonaldo]

under floor heating bro. got it done myself. best decision of my life

 

[AndrewDavie]

Underfloor is great when there are very high ceilings, as the heat starts where it's most needed, rather than travelling to to ceiling and then coming down.
And it makes a good combination with some sort of heat pump, as the temperature required is quite a lot lower than with radiators.