Evening star., 1939-01-28
Panel Heating Held
Ideal Of Future
In America
Instu!Iution Cost
InstolIotion Cost
Cited as Barrier to
Type Of Comfort

tioning are discussed by DR.. Charles
r. Downs, New York chemist, in
Industrial and Engineering Chem
istry, publication of the American
Chemical Society.
= "When a new house is planned,
1t Is assumed that it will be an
example of all that is MODERN" DR..
Downs says. There are countless
engineering items to be considered,
distinct from architectural features.
The body comfort rt-dispensing plant
is OF prime Importance. The peTen-
NAL argument concerning winter
heating methods still continues.
Shall the house be heated by
direct hot air; by indirect warm
air: by standing radiation using
hot water (thermally circulated or
pumped) or steam (pressure or
vacuum; or a combination of
standing radiation and indirect
warm air the split and auxiliary
systems in which the bathrooms,
servants quarters, kitchen and
garage are heated by standing radia-
ton and the rest of the house by
warm air, alone or supplemented by
standing radiation?
Direct Radiation Held Best.
There are variations of each of
the above methods and each has its
proponents. Regardless of cost from
the standpoint of heat alone, direct
radiation seems to have the edge in
the argument. The body gains or
loses heat by radiation to a very
important degree.
The air temperature may be we'll
within the so-called comfort zone,
but this does not take into account
the loss of body heat to cold walls
or the gain from heated surfaces.
Ordinary standing radiation, how
ever. is highly heated and widely
separated in the form of room
radiators which are also convectors.
The most ideal solution appears
to be loW-temperature panel heat
Ing, which is rare in this country,
but increasingly common abroad.
There, factories, schools and homes
have been equipped in this way,
and apartment buildings containing
several hundred apartments are not
uncommon. Excavations of Roman
cities show that rather crude panel
heating was practiced before the
%Christian era
THE installation cost of panel
heating in this country has been
almost prohibitive, but its operat-
ing cost is stated to be about half
that of ordinary convection heat
ing. Many European installations
employ the ceilings as heating pam
els, thereby utilizing large unob-
structed areas per room. Iron pipe
coils heated by warm circulating
water at about 120 degrees Fahren-
-feit are embedded in the material
forming the ceiling. The air tenn
perature need not exceed so de-
greeS Fahrenheit in winter. The
greater severity of our winter CHI
vision for this appears to be we'll
understood.
Summer Cooling Envisioned.
"A still further view of the future
indicates the perfection of panel
cooling. We may speculate that
water at around SIS degrees Fahren-
heit passed through the coils and
distributed throughout the ceiling
1of the room will be cool enough to
provide summer comfort, especially
if combined with air drying. 1t
seems to present an ideal solution
to the problem as compared to the
present attempts to cool occupied
spaces by conveying enormous VOL
umes of cold air, a poor heat car
rier at best, for the purpose.
whether or not low-temperature
Nrect radiation is used for heat
ing and cooling the body, it is of in
terest to note that white human
skin is a 95 per cent perfect black
body surface The amount of heat
transferred is proportional to the
difference in temperature between
the surface of the skin and the OBJ
ject from which it is absorbing heat
or to which 1t is losing heat. The
amount of heat gained or lost is also
affected by the area of the surface
exposed.
Hence IN winter, WIN proper
correction for customary clothing,
heat is lost to lesser extent per
unit area to internal partitions, a
greater amount to external walls and
the largest amount to unprotected
window glass, and heat is gained by
radiation from a radiator.
Path to Comfort Conditioning.
"In summer heat is gained from
surfaces warmer than the body and,
even if there is no heat gain from
these sources, the closer they ap-
s~proach clothed-body temperatures
the lesser amount of heat is re-
moved. Heat loss or gain by this
means takes place irrespective of
the surrounding air temperatures,