Baseboard Heating????

[Michael Peterson]

Hi I did a home inspection today and found four thermostats each in a different room. There is not a single vent in the home which is a condo, and there are no base board heaters either. What am I missing????
Thanks
Mark
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[jwisecup]

Radient floor heat with a commen boiler, maybe. they also make electric type radient floor heat-thou I haven't seen any installed-just available for purchase.
Jamie

[Michael Peterson]

Thats what I was thinking but the condos only have one garage and it belonged to my client. All the condos shared a hot water heater which was in the garage but no boiler that I could find. I did turn on all of the thermostats let them run for over an hour and the floors all felt the same as before I turned them on. I am going to get in touch with the property manager and see what the deal is. I cant ask the seller as it is a probate sale by the state the original owner died so no dice there.
Thanks for your help
Mark

[jwisecup]

hmmm, that is odd. Let us know what you find.
Jamie

[wforsyth]

Controls for a secret room where he houses his "prisoners".

[whandley]

Hey Jamie,

You're in California, chances are it's electric radiant ceiling heat. Should have found individual breakers at the panel for same. It's normally a low amp feed and can take 30 minutes or longer before you can detect a ceiling temperature change.

[jwisecup]

Thanks Will, That sounds like California not here in Colorado, I used to live in South Laguna many years ago I'm in Colorado now-Mark was the one that found this -I was just guessing-but wouldn't have guessed ceiling heat.
jamie

[wforsyth]

ONLY in California would they devise "Ceiling Heat". What ever happened to "heat rises"???

[Michael Peterson]

In the panel there were two 20 amp breakers labeled heater. another clue to the mystery! I am going to see if it has ceiling radiant heating. Although there is no attic to access I will get the info from the home owners association. I am going with the secret room for prisoners for now though.
Thanks Again
Mark

[Roy D. Cooke, Sr]

Originally Posted by mpeterson

Hi I did a home inspection today and found four thermostats each in a different room. There is not a single vent in the home which is a condo, and there are no base board heaters either. What am I missing????
Thanks
Mark
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I have to inspect a home with Radiant heating tomorrow and this is some of the info I have found . Google ( Ceiling Radiant Heating )
http://dulley.com/docs/f778.htm

http://oikos.com/esb/37/radiant.html

http://www.radiantpanelassociation.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=97

http://www.clarkpublicutilities.com/...s2005/05_02_20

The only negitive information I have found is from people who have no idea what it is . I have received many emails and not one said any thing bad .
Will Post my thoughts soon .
Roy Cooke ,... RHI.... Royshomeinspection.com.. CAHPI-ON...

[David P. Valley]

I would have utilized my infrared thermometer and scanned the entire room (with the switch ON).

[Roy D. Cooke, Sr]

Originally Posted by mpeterson

Hi I did a home inspection today and found four thermostats each in a different room. There is not a single vent in the home which is a condo, and there are no base board heaters either. What am I missing????
Thanks
Mark
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Adding for Base board heaters one thing to try and never miss is the curtains should never go down to the heaters increased chance of fire and the efficiency drops if all the heat goes to the windows first then the room .
Roy Cooke
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[tdutt]

Originally Posted by mpeterson

In the panel there were two 20 amp breakers labeled heater. another clue to the mystery! I am going to see if it has ceiling radiant heating. Although there is no attic to access I will get the info from the home owners association. I am going with the secret room for prisoners for now though.
Thanks Again
Mark

You will not see the ceiling heat system from the attic. The ones that I've seen run small electrical wires after the drywall has been installed over the top of the drywall, then the drywall finishers apply their sprayed on brocades (whatever finish) over the top of the wires. Your client should know that if they are purchasing a home with this kind of installation, that if any of those wires are cut or damaged after putting holes in the ceiling, they will lose the heat to that room. If you had to replace a small patch because of water damage, say from a roof leak, replacing the drywall would damage the heat system to that room, and the heat system would have to be replaced.

I have been a drywall finisher and contractor for 20 years, and have only seen this kind of an installation a couple of times, and they are a real pain to work with. If you had to put 5 screws or nails in a ceiling, chances are 1 of them would hit one of those wires as they are spaced so closely together.

[Russel Ray]

Originally Posted by whandley

You're in California, chances are it's electric radiant ceiling heat. Should have found individual breakers at the panel for same. It's normally a low amp feed and can take 30 minutes or longer before you can detect a ceiling temperature change.

Not only is Mark in California, he's in Ramona, and he was in a condo, so I'm 99.9999999999% certain he found radiant ceiling heat.

[Russel Ray]

Originally Posted by wforsyth

ONLY in California would they devise "Ceiling Heat". What ever happened to "heat rises"???

It's certainly no worse than the central forced air system where the registers are only a couple of inches below the ceiling. Heat also rises in those cases. The only logical heating systems are floor systems, but yet we all know that the standard forced air system with the registers up high do work, as do the radiant ceiling heating systems.