ThermaRay | Electric Radiant Heating Systems

Steve Kilbride

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Toronto’s Massive New Market Made Entirely Out Of Shipping Containers Heated by ThermaRay’s Electric Radiant Architectural Series (AS) Heaters

Overview

The Stackt Container Market is the city’s first-ever shopping and dining destination made entirely out of shipping containers. The two-level market occupies a massive area on King Street West (Toronto), and will be home to tons of pop-up shops, restaurants and artist spaces.

About 15 per cent of Stackt will be dedicated to retail, while 85 per cent will go to culture and programming. (COURTESY OF POMP & CIRCUMSTANCE)

About 15 per cent of Stackt will be dedicated to retail, while 85 per cent will go to culture and programming. (COURTESY OF POMP & CIRCUMSTANCE)

Urban Renewal Background

The now-vacant 100,000-square-foot lot at Bathurst and Front Streets in Toronto that was used by a slaughterhouse until 2014, and previously housed a smelting plant, has been an unpopular (and smelly) mainstay of its southwest downtown neighborhood for decades.

Two former residents of the area are aiming to change that. Matt Rubinoff and Tyler Keenan are working to transform it into a modular, shipping-container marketplace for community gathering, programming, retail and social enterprise called Stackt by the summer of 2018. (Alex Mckeen – Toronto Star Dec 19 2017)

Shipping containers can be outfitted for retail, office or meeting purposes, and combined to make larger spaces. For aesthetic and architectural purposes, they can also be stacked like blocks to create interesting and appealing structures.

The Heating Challenge

How do you heat a container? ThermaRay was approached to help engineer the heating solution. These are containers after all with little to no insulation, no floor space for heaters of any kind. The only option is an electric ceiling radiant heating system.

ThermaRay’s AS 2×4 heaters have the highest level and best grade of insulation in the industry which results in a much more efficient heater. By placing them on the ceiling, it maximizes floor and wall space. Radiant heating technology is highly effective in this case by providing heat ThermaRay AS Heater with surface mount framewhere it is needed. After working with the engineers, a proper mounting method was agreed upon and the number of units were determined. Not only was the heating problem solved but it solves a space challenge as well. Don’t expect to get this type of engineering support from an on-line retailer. You’d be on your own.

Last Steps

Once the building itself is fully complete, the surrounding area will be landscaped for a “terraced piazza and a lawn.” According to Urban Toronto, Stackt will be open to the public for two and a half years before the city redevelops the space into a public park. http://stacktmarket.com/

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Transcript of Earth Thermal Storage Installation Video

Here’s the transcript of our Earth Thermal Storage Installation Video

Introduction

Today we’re going to install an Earth Thermal Storage system made by ThermaRay. What it is is a Teflon coated nichrome wire embedded in sheetrock and this sheetrock keeps the wires pre-spaced and it makes it easy for installation.

ETS Panel Connection

Every panel has two wires coming out the ends of the panel so what we do is the wires come out where the labels at here so we want to take a non-sharp edge and break the paper. Get the wires out of the panel. There’s two wires a black and a red and those are our lead wires. They go to our heating element wires. To make our connection, they simply just slip over the 12 gauge USE direct bury wire. It’s a double tumbler connection so we put the feed wire into that window, pull down with a lineman pliers, and that’s our connection. After we’ve completed wiring a circuit we have to ohm test and make sure everything is hooked up properly so that it’ll run once you get the sand and the concrete over the top. Once you get a good ohm reading, then you can close up the connection cover. So we put the connections directly in the center, wires coming out the end, close that up and now you have a completely waterproof connection.

Endcap Installation

There’s a fastener line where it shows you can put a screw safely without hitting any of the wires. Make sure you hit the line when you put the screw in to hold the strap in place. You’re done.

Proper Sizing of the System

ThermaRay representative will help you determine what you will need for your project. Whether it’s a small addition or 100,000 square foot manufacturing facility.  The quantity of heating panels required for any space varies depending on things such as R-values, windows, doors, dimensions and actually how you want to use the space.

Summary

Once all the gel caps are in place, six to eight inches of sand is placed over the top of the heating panels that can be compacted and it’s ready for concrete. You’ll have a floor heating system that will last through the life of your building. Thanks for watching! Keep up-to-date with any of our videos by hitting subscribe.

For additional technical details please visit our Earth Thermal Storage Documentation Page

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Grandma’s Gift of Electric Radiant Heat

Do You Really Love Grandma?

About five years ago, my Dad passed away. His health had been deteriorating for years and he passed quickly after breaking a hip. He never made it home after the surgery, but the drugs made him quite entertaining for the nurses those last couple of weeks.

Mom has always been independent, but my wife and I didn’t think she should be living alone in her late 70’s. The three of us set out to merge two households of furniture into one and find a rhythm that wouldn’t disrupt any of the life patterns each of us had developed over the decades.

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Why is Electric Radiant Heat Less Expensive?

Our electric radiant heating systems are 15% less expensive than Hot Water Baseboard, 43% less expensive than Oil Hot Air, 52% less expensive than Heat Pump and 56% less expensive than Hydronic Oil.

The savings continue due to the ease of installation. You will also save time and money utilizing lower cost laborers compared to HVAC and Electrical professionals with our easy installation process.
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On-Time Heating System Project Completion

How does your heating system impact the on-time completion of your construction project?

Every Project Manager understands there are three key variables in any project:

  • Scope: what work needs done?
  • Time: how much time does it take to complete each task and when must it be completed?
  • Resources: what materials, equipment, people and money are required to complete the project?

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Set It and Forget It!

This home, located in Burton, New Brunswick Canada proves just how energy efficient a SmartRooms home can be. Despite the 400+ square feet of glass, facing north, this 4,000 square foot home is very inexpensive to heat despite the cold climate.

While the home was built with energy efficiency in mind, it didn’t go overboard. The walls are constructed using ICF technology (R22), insulated windows and doors, and R50 in the ceiling. Fairly typical for home construction in 2004.
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Saving Money with Radiant Heat

We partially converted a home from electric baseboard to radiant heat in a few rooms.

The owners so enjoyed the comfort of the radiant heating system they wanted it throughout their home including the entire extension. They replaced the electric baseboards in their kitchen, bathroom and laundry room with electric radiant heat. They also added about 2,000 additional square feet to the home.
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Time of Use and Off-Peak Rates

Utility companies will often offer their customers the ability to choose an alternative rate structure. Sometimes these are referred to as “Off-Peak” or “Time-of-Use” rates.

Utilities are often subject to peak demand. That is to say at certain points in the day their customers demand more energy than at other times. This peak demand usually occurs during the day.

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