Almost all radiant heat installations use the floor as a heating panel, but it’s also possible to heat a space through its walls or ceilings. Radiant heat can travel in any direction, but there are several advantages and disadvantages to these unusual systems. Although ceiling and wall systems don’t provide a warm floor, they may be necessary in rooms with thick carpet (through which floor heat would have difficulty travelling).
Like floor panels, ceiling and wall panels heat rooms evenly, with minimal noise and air currents. They provide the additional benefits of potentially higher fluid temperatures/heat output and easy retrofitting. Both wall and ceiling radiant hydronic panels use heat transfer plates. To maximize heat transfer to the heated space, they should be more heavily insulated than standard walls and ceilings.
