Hskidmore07 try calling a home inspector a local realtor can give you a referral.. The inspector can tell you who the manufacturer was - we just went through a home inspection when we purchased our house with radiant ceiling heating.

UPDATE 1/21/2017 -- they are now saying (they = insurance and restoration professionals working with them) that is was the bathroom light fixture, not the ceiling heat, and it makes sense. We are pleased with this answer and still looking into how to do a safety inspection.

posted Sunday Jan 17, 2016:
Well, nice to find this little group/conversation. Our friends' home just had a pretty bad fire and it was almost certainly this ceiling heat where it started. My daughter (33) was house-sitting and they were away. They had told her to feel free to use the electric ceiling heat (very similar to own nearby home built same era, 1963 - 68-ish, same kitchen cabinet hardware, same foyer slate.... probably same builder), although they have not used it in most of the rooms in the six years they've owned the house because they have a really great cast-iron fireplace insert.

Anyway it's fortunate nobody was hurt, and fortunate the firefighter response was so fast, and fortunate they have good homeowners' insurance. And as soon as I get through reading all the info here I will be looking for somebody to inspect ours.

Great to see posts about homes built in the late 60's - 70's that used radiant ceiling heat. My home in OHIO was built in 1971 and has such heating. I have lived here for 24 years and I absolutely LOVE this heating!! It has been efficient, reliable and clean! I also love the individual thermostats in each room. Seven years or so ago we had a remodel done and our kitchen and bath wires were inadvertently cut. Never did much to try and repair the cuts knowing how difficult it would be to find them. We ended up placing simple electric floor heaters in those rooms. Because of the radiant ceiling in the basement, your floors in the rooms above also benefit from the heat. Therefore, the bedrooms upstairs benefit from the heat on the first floor. Bedrooms are so comfortable at times it is not even necessary to turn on heat in those rooms unless temperatures become extremely frigid. Floors are comfortable due to that heat from the ceilings below. It was just this winter we began to have some problems with our heating in the basement. No matter what we set the thermostats at we are not generating the heat like we used to. Trying to get anyone here in OHIO to troubleshoot this issue has not gone well. I hate forced heat which I feel is very inefficient, dirty, and noisy. If you are sitting under a vent when the heat comes on, you know what I mean. (We have this type of heat in another home we have and I am always cold there. Forced air heating is a very uneven heat in my opinion vs. our radiant ceiling heat.) Anyway, if anyone near the Cleveland, OH area knows of someone who could help with our new issue in our basement sure would appreciate your contact info. Good luck to everyone and stay warm!!

Our home was built in 1957 and has radiant heat in the ceiling. It's an older system and I'll describe what I learned about it. There is a 3-wire cable for each room that runs 2 hot wires and an unshielded ground from the breaker box to each room for 220v. One wire is connected to the thermostat. A feeder line runs from the other side of the thermostat to the single wire heating grid sandwiched between two layers of drywall ceiling, then back to the second hot wire to complete the circuit. It uses a Switch Action Open thermostat. There is also a Switch Action Closed thermostat and of course I got the wrong one the first time. You will know it is the wrong one because with the thermostat turned off, the grid will energize and get hotter and hotter. Reversing the wires doesn't do anything. If you turn the thermostat above the current room temperature, the system will de-energize...exactly the opposite of what you want.

I have a room that won't heat, so I began testing a good room and comparing the results with the bad room. At the thermostat, with power to the system and the thermostat turned off, you should have 220v across the thermostat. When you turn the thermostat up to energize the system, voltage should drop to zero. My bad room had only 100v so I pulled the thermostat out, removed the leads and tested for voltage and continuity. The lines leading to and from the grid had no continuity, so I began to suspect a broken wire somewhere in the grid. Voltage from each hot wire to one of the grid leads showed 85v, same as my good room. However, there was no voltage on the other grid lead.

Just after we bought the house, a friend wired in a light/fan fixture, so I started there and removed the fixture and base. Sure enough, the wire was cut from above and you couldn't see the break from below. I turned the breaker off and ran a jumper wire across the break and tested the grid leads again...there was now continuity. Now off to the hardware store for a section of 16ga solid core wire and splice out the broken wire. Still have continuity and 30 minutes later the room is nice and warm.

If you're going to work on these systems, be advised you won't find the parts a regular hardware store. I got the Line Voltage Thermostat at Grainger for about the same price as available online. I found the wire at an Ace Hardware store.

If you're going to work on your system, be careful, you're playing with 220v. Turn the breaker off before fooling with anything!

Our house was built in 1977. It has the ceiling tape heat in every room. In the bedrooms we have dark streaks on the ceiling where the tape is. It is darkest where the ceiling and wall meet. It has been like this for several years. Should we be concerned?

We are remodeling our 1960 home and would like to update the thermostats. Can anyone suggest a thermostat that works with the in ceiling closed loop radiant heat? I am unsure how to even begin figuring out what kind of system I have, I just know we love the heat and want to keep it.

Also We need to repair one wire that the electrician cut into. Is that a problem to repair and secure back into the ceiling?

First you need to determine what KIND of thermostat you have. Google the old one. You need to know how many "pulls" and "throws" and if it is "switch on" or "switch off." Mine are SPST switch on. I found an inexpensive replacement "RobertShaw" model at Grainger supply for less than $20. I did the work myself, because this is a very simple circuit. If you use an electrician, let him know you've done the research so you don't get screwed on the replacement switch. Some will try to convince you that the old switches are impossible (expensive) to find. They are NOT hard to find.

Thank you. I will figure out the type and go from there. I appreciate your input!

Question for the people smarter than me: I'm repairing a corner of the ceiling with radiant heat installed. Mine is wire embedded in the drywall, NOT between two layers.

I managed to remove the drywall from around the wires, so they are intact, but now I have a loop of wire that I'm not going to be able to re-embed. I don't want to just lay it up on top of the patch I put in (attic is above). From some work I've done on another area, it seems that each panel is powered individually from the rooms thermostat. Would it by fine to just clip this wire, and lose heat to the one panel? Do I need to do anything with the wire if I do clip it, beside insulating the end?

Thanks to haulbrookdf for your comment as well. I need to replace my thermostats, as they don't really seem to shut off the heat. If the breaker's on, the heats on, even if the thermostat is turned all the way down.

bought a house from the sixties last year. When i gutted the bathroom i discovered radiant heat in the ceiling. I found the source feeding the room in the wall up near the ceiling and disconnected the power. Our hydro bills have been through the roof compared to other houses in my area. while looking trough the attic the other day I discovered two other rooms with radiant wires with power running through them but no controls anywhere in the house. I snipped the wires in two and maretted the ends. To my surprise there was power in all the wires even after i cut them. there must be power coming from another part of the room. I would have thought that there would only be one source for each room. Any one run into that before

Just wanted to add an important warning to this post. Be cautious around the Thermalux ceiling heat system. These panels contain asbestos and should only be removed by proper asbestos remediation contractors. Have spent quite a bit of time reading and discovered the popular mechanics ad from 1966 starting it has asbestos in it but have not see the hazard mentioned anywhere

We have radiant heat in our ceiings. We would like to put a ceiling can in our livingroom. Is there anything we can use to see for sure where it is so we could make a hold for the box?

We have electric radiant heat in our ceilings in a ranch house built in the late 1960s by my uncle. It works fabulously. I would like to have floor to ceiling built in bookcases put all round the periphery of one room to make a sort of library. My cabinet contractor is concerned that this might "burn out" the heating system. Is this actually a concern? Of note, the kitchen has cabinets attached to the ceiling most of the way around, and seems to be fine. If I can't go all the way up with the bookcases, then how much room must I leave between their tops and the ceiling?

I have a new home and it has radiant heat in ceiling that goes back to the 1950's and has black pipe as coils. The ceiling had to be replaced and it originally had a cement board on it. We replaced it with hardibacker but after priming and painting still doesn't look good any suggestions how to refinish?

I am currently having my kitchen renovated in my 1965 home. every room of the house has radiant heating and yes it does dry out the joints and will crack it over and over as heat will remove moisture. the ceiling was torn down with new insulation and pour barrier installed. To replace the old ceiling heat I had the Ditra floor heating system installed under my new tiles. I have had people swear by this system, winter will tell.

Check into a company out of Wareham, MA. The name is Calorique. I believe the floor and ceiling heat is Perfectly warm and their deicing is Perfectly clear. I have all their products in my home and LOVE them. Actually , the ceiling heat is my favorite with the radiant floor heat second. It is a film type heat and my installers said it was easy to do. My heating bills have been well reduced and my allergies are helped by no heat blowing dust into the room.

I live in central Ohio and live in a home that was built in 1974 and has radiant ceiling heat.

One of the rooms heating has gone out. Can you give me the name of someone who could repair this?

Try calling 800-922-9276. Channel manager at Calorique. They do do work in Ohio.

I found this forum trying to see if it was safe. To still use my ceiling heat. We built our house in 1969. Ceiled heat was the way to go. Heat source was not an eye sore as baseboard heaters. Use HAV system now. We liked to have our bedroom cold and the rest of house warm. We had zan oil stove downstairs that helped keep electricity cost down.

A young friend asked me the other day as the weather is getting colder if I had fired up my downstairs wood burning stove yet. I told her it would be too hot as the day warms up. I told her I turned on my ceiling heat in the morning. She is a fire fighter and a paramedic. She was concerned because houses the age of mine that is have caught fire in th ceiling. It was determined to be from ceiling heat.

My spouse died 9 years ago so I rely on others to help me with their opinions. I want to feel safe. The licensed electrictoon is retired but is still alive. I'm going to look him up and call him to ask his opinion. I notice there has not been any activity on this forum since January 2019.

Ill post when i talk with electrician. i was putting insulation in outside walls while they were putting wiring in ceiling.

Radiant ceiling heat, 1969 home, Trying to find ceiling joist with a stud finder.. it seems to be picking up radiant heat as well.. I need to put some hooks in the joist. how do I know for sure I have a reading on a ceiling joist and won’t be putting a heavy ceiling screw in the heating system?? Please help.. thank you in advance..

Do I need to do anything special to paint my ceiling that has radiant heat? Regular paint?

A really good grade of paint. My painter suggested Lowes. We had used Sears best grade. After they closed I went with Lowes

I checked with the electrician that installed my ceiling heat He asked me some questions regarding if there had been any leaks, cracks in ceiling, or if I planned to use it for main heat source. All answers were no and i wouldn't hold him responsible if anything happened. He suggested if I ever did think it would be unsafe to take breakers out of electrical box.

Take the breakers out and leave the next owner to puzzle over this? Why not just flip the breakers to off?

Wow, so glad to finally find this informative info. Looking at buying an older home built in late 70's we think.. Very well built for it's time, no money spared when built, but older nevertheless. Still using the ceiling electric as main source of heat. one room is no longer working however. Great info here. thanks

Ceiling heat from 1964 in Maryland. We LOVE it and it’s still working great almost 60 years later except in laundry room where Len the Plumber cut the wires. They sent electricians to splice the wires but no go. They now claim no responsibility so trying to replace it ourselves with something different. Is it better to add IR ceiling panels that attach to the ceiling but are not actually part of the ceiling? Or go with something totally different like a mini split?

https://www.calorique.com/pro-series-heating/radiant-ceiling-heat/

A great product and DYI friendly!

Thanks Sandy, sounds awesome that it's 3D printed. Looks like it's for trades though. Are you a distributor? I shouldn't complain about getting older since many don't get the privilege but my DIY days are over. How can I find local installers of it.? HeatingGreen.com offers comparable panels if you're looking to compare. I sent them both a website inquiry

I have the product in both of my homes. Floor and ceiling heat and love it. If you need to speak with someone this is the person I dealt with ...egilmartin@calorique.com phone is 646 369 2527. I'm sure he can direct you to installers.

thank you

you are most welcome!

Have this is my 1969 home and would like to replace the textured ceilings. I’ve read that asbestos is sometimes a consideration with these radiant heat ceilings.

I was able find a label on the top side of the panel in my attic. They are from the Rayboard Company in Bellaire, OH. It appears the wires are embedded in the drywall.

I wasn’t able to find much at all about this company. These panels appear to be gypsum board and I don’t have a hidden spot to take a sampling for an asbestos test.

Does anybody know about the panels from this company or the panels with embedded wires in general as it pertains to asbestos risk?

Update Bernie Gerry... We purchased the house, and it was built in 1968 not late 70s. Finding a few cracked ceilings and staining near the walls as expected. One crack at the end of the hallway is quite large. In an attempt to repair it I found 3 cut wires. Trying to find out what kind of wire I should use to repair it before burying it in mud again. Any help with this question would be much appreciated. thanks

I just became onwer of a condo build in 1962. The heat is in the ceiling and is presently working great. One of the styrofoam tiles fell out and it apears that the popcorn ceiling is covering the heating elements. The owner left me no history on the installation. i want a new thermostat so this discussion help me deside maybe my son in law can not be the one to put the thermostat in. I hope more people return and share information. I’ve been through coal, hot water and force air heating systems. Believe it or not coal and hot water heat did not effect the respiratory but forced air is a respiratory nightmare. I will have a professional come and do the work and getback to the discussion with the results.

Ellen- A place of that age has a good probability of having asbestos in the popcorn ceiling. Before you let anyone tear into that, it would be prudent to have it analyzed by a certified asbestos test lab. It should cost less than $100.

The heating working great, I just want a digital thermostat put in. But yes thanks if I ever need to take the ceiling out I will have it check for asbestos. Also, need to re glue a styrofoam panel that cover the popcorn ceiling . I think the heating coils are under the popcorn ceiling but no history on the heating system was left by former owner.

Ellen- Sounds good. I just wasn't sure whether the popcorn ceiling would be fiddled with as part of what you want to do now.

Had heater repair man in to put in thermostat and he said it cant be done. sug suggest to just get a thermometor . dose this thmomstat look familar to any one?

My mom has electric ceiling heat and she has a digital T-stat. I would get another opinion from a licensed electrician.

We just bought a condo that was built in 1984. it has ceiling radiant heat and a popcorn finish. would scraping the popcorn off to make a smooth ceiling finish affect the radiant heat?. i have access to the attic space and i havent seen any evidence of wires. ive also cut 4-1/2” holes between joists for can lights and have not seen any wires in the cross section of gypsum board. thanks thanks.

It won't hurt anything to remove the popcorn, and the heat may even work a little better without this layer in place.

Check to see if the ceiling heat is a film and possibly wireless..then there would be no worries

Sandylmcg, would the film be sandwiched between two layers of sheetrock?

My daughter lives in an apt (built in 70s) with radiant ceiling heat. She hears cracking sounds in the ceiling soon after heat is on. What would cause cracking sounds with electric ceiling heat?

I have the same issue and I don’t know what it is but my electric bills are through the roof. 800 sq ft at 65 degrees only on in two rooms all winter and it runs close to 300 a month November -late March. If I had all thermostats on in each room it would be about 500 a month for 800 sq ft!! It will not keep a consistent temperature. worst heating ever and super inefficient. Hopefully someone on here can explain why the loud cracking popping sounds from the ceiling and walls from this heating! Absolutely hate it. Worst invention ever

We bought our house in 2015 and the prior owner was an electrician. The house was built in 1954 and we had the original furnace replaced 2 years ago. Prior to replacement, we were burning oil like mad! Our home is just under 1100 sq feet with 3 zones. The entire house is radiant heat in the ceiling, except the small kitchen which was an addition and has baseboard heating. When we replaced the furnace, we added digital thermostats with no issues in all 3 zones. We were advised to set the thermostat at the start of the season and then not touch it. Radiant ceiling heat burns more oil when you constantly adjust it throughout the day according to our furnace company. Last season we set it to 68 and left it all season Nov-March. This year we decided to try to bear it and have set it at 61. We filled the tank in September and I checked it this morning and we are at just above 1/2 tank! It’s 200 gallons. If we make no adjustments I think we will make it to end of February. Last year (2022) we filled Jan, Mar, May & Sept and we live on the Massachusetts coast. We are very happy with the radiant system. One thing I will add is we hung a ceiling light and had to buy a stud finder from Lowe’s so that we didn’t hit the radiant system. But we may have just had dumb luck!

We built our home in the late 1970’s A friend who was an Electrician told us about Radiant Ceiling heat several factors sold us on the idea. #1 was the low cost…ease of application… each room individually heated…low cost to operate… these were a few factors we considered. we were able to purchase enough to do almost the entire 7 bedroom, 2,500 SF house. We were firtunate that our fruend was an Electrician and could buy at his business price. Also we didn’t do the Family room because it had a fireplace, nor the Laundry room, nor the three bathrooms, but never had any problem with those rooms being chilly. Radiant heat is extremely efficient, in a two story house it literally radiates through the house, upstairs & downstairs.

The only problems we had were due to interference with the system by people, (like boys rough-housing and hitting the wire with a shoe one time before the wires were covered) The Wires were stapled directly to the ceiling in a pattern and then covered with ceiling plaster or sheetrock.

Our power bills were extremely low for a house this size.

At this point, almost 50 years later we need to update a couple of bedrooms. So, I’m looking for the same, or a similar system where we can do a single room at a time.

Visit www.Calorique.com. They have the best ceiling heat on the market including a 25 year warranty.

From what I'm reading, people seem to love this way of heating. I absolutely hate it. I turn on the heat in my living room and my head is the only thing that gets hot and it makes me physically ill. Not to mention the cost of running it. My bill will go from $89 to $200 in 18 days and I only run it at 65 degrees for about 5-6 hours a day. I've been thinking about space heaters but I'm not sure that would save me any money considering I would need at least 4 of them.