Infrared Heating Opinion from the Owner of Mavit Building

Through a building contractor's eyes, the main virtues of infrared heating are simple and quick installation, no maintenance, fast heat-up and room-by-room control. About the heat pump he says: it consumes less, but its investment cost is much higher - so in a well-insulated new house it is worth doing the sums. We talked with Zsolt Mánya, head of Mavit Building, in our office in 2020.

Zsolt Mánya is the managing director of Mavit Building. His company has been in construction contracting for 23 years, and at the time of the interview had been installing infrared heating as a heating system for more than 4 years.

What do clients look for in a heating system?

In the contractor's experience, clients typically want heating that is relatively easy to install, has no maintenance cost and can be run economically. Electricity consumption naturally costs money, but most people expect it not to be much more expensive than gas heating. According to Zsolt's experience in 2020, in a family house the running cost of infrared heating was roughly on a par with that of gas heating, while its installation was much simpler and quicker. Energy prices have changed since then, so this comparison today has to be recalculated with your own house's data.

Installation options

Heating film can be used both as underfloor heating and as ceiling heating, under both cold and warm floor coverings.

Dust, heat-up, control

Many families do not want airborne dust in their home, especially if there is a family member with sensitive airways. Radiant heating does not heat by circulating the air, so it stirs up less dust. The inertia of the system is also an important consideration: nobody wants heating up to take a long time after coming home. Infrared heating film gives noticeable warmth quickly, because it primarily warms surfaces and the body. Rooms can be controlled with separate thermostats, also remotely, and the system can be connected to a smart home. Zsolt's tip: in a bathroom, an electric towel dryer is a practical supplement.

Radiation and electrosmog - what does the contractor answer?

Clients often ask whether "radiation" is harmful and whether electrosmog is produced. According to the contractor's answer, infrared heat radiation is not something unknown: we feel the same kind of heat in the sun, and infrared warming is also used in healthcare, for example in warming newborns. You can read about infrared heating in detail on our infrared heating page.

Electrosmog is a different matter: it is the electromagnetic field generated by electric current, which can be measured with an instrument - even on site after installation. Many household devices create such fields, for example a microwave oven or a wifi router. According to Zsolt's experience, heating film installed with the proper layer build-up causes only a small amount of electrosmog. The actual measured values are best looked at not from the interview but from our own measurement: we publish them on our page about electrosmog and in our electrosmog measurement article.

Zsolt installs infrared heating film in his own renovations and builds too, and recommends it to clients looking for pleasant heating, because he considers it a modern and economical solution.

Heating film or heat pump?

The question comes up often. According to the contractor, what has to be weighed is how large the investment cost of the two systems is, and whether the more expensive investment pays back within a relatively short time through the running costs paid over the long term. He puts it clearly: a heat pump system consumes less electricity than a heating film one, but its investment cost is much greater.

Today's new houses are well insulated - walls, windows and doors and roof alike - so they use little energy. According to Zsolt, it is therefore worth considering whether a heating system with a very high initial cost is needed, or whether a system with a smaller investment will also do. At 2020 prices he calculated that heating film, even supplemented with solar panels, cost roughly half of a heat pump investment. A comparison made at today's prices, with stated assumptions, is in our cost comparison of heat pumps and infrared heating.

Renewable energy and solar panels

In the interview the contractor also referred to the fact that, from 31 December 2020, in new houses part of the energy demand has to be covered from renewable energy, and this can be met with solar panels - alongside a heat pump and electric heating alike. Today the energy requirements for new buildings in Hungary are set by Decree 9/2023 (V. 25.) ÉKM, which entered into force on 1 November 2023; the specific requirement for a house is calculated by the designer.

Solar panels can reduce the electricity bought for heating, but do not make it free of cost: from 1 January 2024, new household systems in Hungary are on gross billing, and fed-in and drawn electricity are accounted for separately. The decision thus depends on calculating the investment, the expected consumption and your own generation together - with a heat pump and with heating film alike.

MAVIT Building - construction contracting, Százhalombatta

More useful articles on the topic

• Heating film presentation at the Mapei professionals' meeting
• An ISOTEQ house with infrared heating
• Infrared heating or a heat pump - 9 points for the decision
• The Hungarian Chamber of Architects awards points for heating film training
• The 5 biggest myths about infrared heating film