Infrared panels and electric underfloor heating do similar jobs in different ways. We sell both. This page is the honest version: when each one wins, when they cost a fortune for no reason, and when the smart play is to use both together.
Infrared panels heat objects, not air. They radiate long-wave infrared from the panel surface, usually wall-mounted or ceiling-mounted, and the radiation hits people, furniture, and walls, warming them directly. Air temperature comes up afterwards as the warmed surfaces release heat back.
The "warm feeling" from an infrared panel is immediate, sit in the path of the panel and you feel warm within seconds, even if the room air is still cold. That makes infrared brilliant for spot heating: a home office, a small bathroom, a porch, a workshop. Anywhere you want quick local warmth without heating the whole room.
It also makes infrared inefficient for whole-house heating. If you need to warm an entire living room reliably, infrared panels need to be high-wattage (600W+) and you may need several per room. The running cost can exceed underfloor heating in any room over 6m².
Our standard line is a slimline 600W wall-mountable infrared panel at £249. It comes in two finishes (white glass and mirror) and pairs with the same WiFi thermostats we use for our underfloor Ribbon. The Ribbon and the panels can share a single thermostat zone, which is what makes hybrid systems straightforward.
Same metric, same property, same UK pricing. No spin.
| Factor | Infrared Panel | EkoBuild Electric UFH |
|---|---|---|
| Cost per m² heated | ~£60–£120/m² (room-dependent) | £45–£65/m² (Ribbon only) |
| Speed to feel warm | Instant (under 60 seconds) | 3–5 mins (carpet) / 10–15 mins (tile) |
| Whole-room warmth | Patchy, depends on panel coverage and angle | Even, room-wide warmth |
| Floor temperature | Cold | Warm to bare feet |
| Install | Hang on wall, plug in. 20 minutes. | Roll out the Ribbon under floor finish. Half a day per room. |
| Renovation impact | None | Floor lift required (renovation timing) |
| Works above 5m²? | Multiple panels needed, costs rise fast | Yes, scales linearly |
| Output | 250W to 1200W per panel | 150W/m² across whole floor |
| Primary heat certified? | No (supplementary) | Yes (with 70%+ coverage) |
| Best for | Spot heating, low-coverage rooms, no-renovation upgrades | Whole-room and whole-house heating |
Infrared is the right answer if any of these apply:
Cloakroom WC, home office, garden room, porch, garage conversion. Any space where you want a quick burst of warmth without heating the whole house.
You don't want to lift the floor or tile over anything. Panels mount on the wall in 20 minutes, drill four holes and plug it in.
A bathroom with a corner bath and shower enclosure may only have 40% free floor area. UFH coverage below 70% can't act as primary heat, an infrared panel makes up the gap.
Tenants can take the panel with them when they leave. UFH is a fixture you can't recover. For shorter tenancies, infrared is the lower-commit option.
Underfloor wins decisively if any of these apply:
You want the floor warm, the air warm, the room evenly heated front-to-back. Underfloor delivers this in a way no panel ever will.
Bathroom, kitchen, living room, bedroom. Anything bigger than a cloakroom. The cost per m² of UFH is cheaper than infrared panels needed to cover the same area.
If you want to bin the radiators entirely, you need UFH at 70%+ floor coverage. Infrared panels can't carry primary heat for anything above a small cloakroom.
The floor is already coming up. The window to install UFH for almost no extra labour cost is right now.
Full case for UFH including pricing tables and product details: underfloor heating page.
The smartest specification on awkward properties is usually both technologies sharing a single thermostat zone.
Standard bathroom: bath + shower + WC + basin = 40% of floor occupied. UFH coverage of 60% is below the 70% primary-heat threshold. Two options:
The EkoBuild Room Designer automatically flags rooms below 70% coverage and recommends an infrared panel where it makes sense. You don't have to work this out manually.
Cold concrete floor, frequently insulated under the converted use only, want occasional use as workshop or gym. Best play: full-floor UFH for the times you spend long sessions in there, plus one wall-mounted infrared panel for the 10-minute "I need to be warm now" jobs. The infrared kicks in 60 seconds after you walk in; the UFH ramps up under your feet over the following 10 minutes.
Send us your room. We will spec the system honestly, even if that means recommending infrared panels and skipping UFH entirely. Russell does not do oversell.