We've already got about 38 man hours of duct work in.
Honey, why don't we put the kids playroom here? For the tenth time, Ruth.
That's where the furnace goes.
I'm afraid I'll have to take the whole thing out, lady.
Now, I think that any day now, somebody's going to come up with a whole new concept in heating.
A system that takes advantage of the tremendous advances in technology that we've seen lately.
Something that'll get rid of the cumbersome equipment that we've had to design into houses so far.
And when that happens, you future architects are going to be...
This is Thermalux Electric Heating, new, from United States gypsum.
People call it the most startling home heating development in the last 20 years.
And this is all there is to it.
These gypsum panels, all by themselves, will give the people in this house the most natural, comfortable, room -by -room heat they will have ever experienced.
Now, this is how it works.
The basic panel is essentially a standard half -inch gypsum board.
Running down the entire length of the board on both sides is a thin copper electrode.
Now, on this side of the board is a chemically bonded layer of graphite.
It's sandwiched between two sheets of asbestos insulation.
When the Thermalux panels are installed in the ceiling, these copper strips here and here are fitted with connectors.
And then they are wired directly to the power supply of the house.
Now, this layer of graphite acts as a large electrical resistor.
And as the electric current passes through it, 100 % of that electric current is transformed instantly into heat.
Now, because the Thermalux resistor spreads the electrical energy over such a large area, the standard operating temperature of these heating panels is quite low, about 105 degrees Fahrenheit.
Even after hours of continuous operation, the temperature remains stable.
Now, let's suppose the panel gets wet.
The Thermalux can't short out because the resistance will increase rather than decrease, and the heat of the Thermalux will evaporate the water in a short time.
The Thermalux system is based upon the concept of radiant heat, which is much more efficient than the convection system used in other heating.
A radiant heat is like the heat of the sun, which travels through space in visible rays at the speed of light.
Now, convection heating is like the heat from this match.
It heats the air around it.
The hot air rises and the cold air sinks, and eventually the circulating current of air heats the house.
Now, whether you use a coal furnace, a radiator, or a forced air system, you are still depending upon convection currents of hot air to keep you warm.
But Thermalux, like the sun, heats people and objects directly with invisible radiant heat.
In other words, these two objects would be heated by the Thermalux panel, even though the air surrounding them were below zero.
Now, if your eyes could see heat waves the same way they see light, the panel would look something like this.
This scene was taken with camera film that is sensitive to otherwise invisible radiant heat rays.
At the top, we see the Thermalux panel, and in a moment, the invisible rays transmit the heat to everything beneath the panel, the people, the floor.
Everything in the room is comfortably warmed by the even radiant heat.
Even though Thermalux is radically different from any heating system we've known in the past, it is more economical to install than conventional systems.
This is the living room.
You'll find for a room this size, 15 by 20, in this part of the country, we will need a heat output of 2 ,700 watts.
Since Thermalux delivers 15 watts per square foot, this calls for 180 square feet of Thermalux panel.
First, the electrical wiring is brought in from a branch circuit.
From this point, the wiring will be carried to each individual Thermalux panel through an electrical raceway recessed into the ceiling.
The base for the electrical raceway is made from half -inch gypsum filler panel.
Thermalux panels can be cut to any desired length, and this special type 2 panel can also be cut to width because the heating element covers only one half of this panel.
The panels are nailed directly to the ceiling joists with these special insulated nails.
These nails can be driven anywhere in the panel except through the copper electrodes.
After the Thermalux panels have been installed, the wiring can be completed.
This special bushing anchors the branch circuit to the base of the electrical raceway.
The copper electrodes are peeled back at the end of each panel, and the Thermalux connectors are fitted in place.
And that's all there is to it.
The electrical hookup on this panel is complete.
From this point, the rest of the panels are simply connected in parallel.
After the installation is inspected, the ceiling is finished with a layer of special high -density 1⁄4 -inch Thermalux finishing panels.
Then the ceiling will be ready for the conventional joint finishing and painting.
Well, actually this Thermalux is pretty simple.
It's about like lamination.
So maybe a few extra things you have to check out.
Thermalux was under development for five years before it was released to the market, and in 1961 several test installations were made in new homes and apartments in Northern Illinois.
This is Chicago, the Windy City.
This is the area that was selected for the field tests of actual Thermalux installations.
The test installations were made in real homes, lived in by real people.
They are typical houses with normal rooms, normal floor plans.
The only difference is the heating.
Thermalux.
After three rugged Chicago winters, this was the reaction of the people involved.
This is research engineer Tom Fitzpatrick.
...the creation of Thermalux about the latter portion of 1961.
At this point, we decided to install Thermalux in actual homes to get experience from people, to find out how their reactions would be to the heating system.
We had proven everything in the laboratory.
Now we want to get correlation data.
One of the first trial jobs of Thermalux was the Ray Resonance in South Chicago.
Mrs.
Ray was extremely enthusiastic about the performance of the Thermalux system because she was primarily concerned with comfort.
We find Thermalux heating system a very comfortable heat.
It is a regular, even heat in every corner of the room or in the center.
The cost of the heat we have found to be a little bit more, but from a woman's point of view, at the end of the year, the cost of cleaning draperies and upholstery and carpeting, I found that it really averages out.
The Tories Resonance was selected for a few reasons.
The first reason was the actual house construction.
It had a very large cathedral ceiling in which we could put Thermalux to heat the living room and dining room area.
The cost of electric heat was not as high as we had anticipated.
Last winter when we had one of the most severe winters in the area, our bills ran an average of less than $50 per month for the entire year.
Of course, our house is total electric.
We have cooking, air conditioning, drying our clothes, heating our water, our own water well.
So we have just one utility bill, and as far as comfort, what do you think, honey? I think it's wonderful.
Another thing is quiet also.
You don't have the noise of the furnace, which you have with the other heating system.
And so you're completely unaware that you're even in a heated house.
You feel like it's a nice warm day outside.
The results of the Raymond House were very promising as far as we were concerned because the people, that is the Ravens, were extremely happy with the quiet performance of the system.
They told us that the quiet performance was the major point as far as they were concerned with the whole heating system.
The thing that interests me most about our electric heat is there is no noise to it.
I very much object to extraneous noises.
No air blowing around or no blowers grinding out like we used to have in the old gas -heated house at all.
Just complete silence.
Oil heat too, remember? Yeah.
One thing I think that you probably would like about it too is the room -by -room control.
You know, a guy go around at night and sneakily turn those things off a little bit? One of the things your friends keep being amazed at is they can't understand how the floor can be warm, so warm, when the heat's on the ceiling.
Have you ever find a way of getting that over to you? No, no.
They simply don't understand it.
I'm not sure I do.
People often ask us about the cost.
I think it's extremely high.
Before we built the house, we had the public service company engineers give us an estimate of the annual operating cost, and they come up with a figure around $350 for all use of services, I remember it.
We fooled them.
We're under $350 a year, and particularly since the last rate reduction came along, I guess it was...
And what does Thermalux mean to you? If you're a builder, it means a chance to sell more houses.
Houses with clean, quiet, flameless heat.
A heating system with no moving parts, no maintenance.
If you're an architect, it means a chance to design a home or apartment with a completely concealed heating system that takes up no space and allows for complete design freedom.
And if you're a contractor, it means a chance to offer your builders the selling advantage of a cost -saving heating system that becomes as much a part of the house as the ceiling itself.
A home with natural heat, with an independent heating system in every room.
This is Thermalux, new, from United States Gypsum.
Some people have called it the most startling home heating development in the last 20 years.
When you've seen it in action, we think you'll agree.
