Are electronic heating panels fixed to your wall (e.g. LVI-thermostat) a much better option than hydronic heating?

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Hi, we are thinking of installing electronic heating panels rather than hydronic heating panels e.g. LVI-thermosoft. We can then use solar power to support the running of these heaters and we do not have to run water pipes all over the house? anyone got any advice or experience with these panels? Thanks

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Welcome @Roseberry

It’s good to be considering utilising some of your solar power to provide your heating. Electric resistance based heaters all have the same nominal overall efficiency of 1.0. Typically all come with thermostats so that they are not on at full power all the time.

Our experience with electric oil column heaters is they are very expensive to run and less effective than reverse cycle air conditioning for heating. We’ve both as well as a small hydronic system in the main living areas. I’d have to agree the way the hydronics heat the room is more comfortable at times than the RC’s.

Our experience with Solar PV in winter is output is half of what it is in summer and for a much shorter time of the day. We get very little benefit from using the solar PV in winter to run any heating. In the morning when it is coldest the sun is not high enough to be effective with the PV and as it cools in the evening the output of the PV drops rapidly. It may be wise to make an independent assessment of how much electricity the LVI flat panels will need to meet your needs.

Reverse Cycle AC’s or heat pump based hydronic systems use a fraction 25-30% of the electricity of electric oil column or the LVI-Thermosoft panels.

On looking at the promotional table from the suppliers Web site there are a number of comparisons that appear to be incorrect or misleading. I’d suggest the comparison of running cost is not presented with any transparency and should be ignored.
https://lvi-thermosoft.com.au/solutions-with-lvi-thermosoft/lvi-radiators-efficiency-comparison-guide

Choice has a consumer guide and reviews ( some content is member only) which may prove useful in better understanding the costs of the different options.

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