Heating the attic of residential and non-residential premises: a comparison of options

Heating of the attic of residential and non-residential premises

Insufficient heating of the attic is often associated with ill-conceived thermal insulation of the roof, inefficient operation of the heating system, or the fact that it was originally laid down in the project as a “cold” room. Over time, the constantly freezing attic makes itself felt:

The thermal insulation characteristics of the roof deteriorate.
Trusses and floor beams are covered with condensate and begin to “cry”.
Excess water flows to the lower floors, forming unaesthetic stains on the ceilings and destroying the finish.

It is damp in the attic: at night the walls and roof freeze through and become cloudy, and with the daily rise in temperature they are saturated with melt water. This accelerates the deterioration of the building and leads to the appearance of mold.
All this raises the question for the owner of a private house: how to heat the attic and protect it from destruction?

Heating methods

Initially, it is necessary to eliminate heat losses (if any): close up cracks, think over thermal insulation. Attention: this will impair the operation of natural ventilation, so consider a mechanical device.
The second step is choosing an autonomous heater. A number of homeowners solve the problem of heating the attic with central heating: connecting the room to the boiler. However, this requires a change in the thermal design (with its approval), an increase in the capacity of the boiler (spending on the purchase of new equipment and pipes), and does not always lead to the goal. The coolant, reaching the attic, gives off a significant part of the heat, and its temperature is not enough to fully warm up the room.

How to heat the attic with autonomous appliances and save money?

Manufacturers of thermal equipment offer many solutions: they differ in power, installation complexity, and efficiency. “Efficiency” refers to the ratio of heating costs (the amount of resources consumed and their expression in monetary terms) and performance. Often, owners of private houses, thinking about attic space heating, focus on the cheapness of the purchased equipment and the ease of installation, forgetting that it must fully cope with its task, meet safety requirements, and be convenient in daily use.
We compared the advantages and disadvantages of the most popular domestic autonomous heaters.

Type of equipment	Oil heater	IR equipment	Air solar collector
Principle of operation	Heat exchange between the coolant (oil) and the environment	Creation of infrared radiation that heats objects in the room	Warming up the air and maintaining its constant circulation throughout the entire volume of the room
Advantages	Low cost. A variety of models of different capacities. Simple connection.	Uniform heating of the room. Ability to choose the model of the desired power. Simple connection.	Uniform heating of a room of any configuration and area. Easy installation without the need to develop project documentation. Work on free solar energy. No fire hazards. Possibility of use without human control: warms up the attic while no one is at home.
disadvantages	Low efficiency: the room warms up only next to the heater. High energy consumption: with constant use, this method of heating the attic is one of the most expensive. Deterioration of the microclimate: the air becomes dry, with a large amount of carbon dioxide.	High cost of equipment. High energy consumption: inefficient solution for permanent use. Impossible to use without human control due to the risk of short circuit.	Reducing the relative humidity of the air.

This comparison shows that the use of electrical equipment for attic heating always has a significant drawback: the higher the power of the device, the greater the consumption of electricity and the more expensive its work. If the heat carrier is gas, then the risk of fire increases. In order to reduce the cost of autonomous space heating and not risk life and health, property owners are switching to safe and inexpensive sources: in particular, solar energy.

Summarizing

Maintaining a comfortable microclimate in the attic is easy to achieve by choosing energy-efficient equipment: for example, an air solar collector. It evenly heats rooms of any size and works even in the absence of the owners, since it does not require an electrical connection and does not create an additional load on power cables.
It is an eco-friendly, cheap and efficient attic heating.

Choose an attic heater