A comparison of the thermal performance of (1) a forced convective heating system, (2) a floor heating system, and (3) combined systems for a high-ceilinged room is presented. An actual size experimental house (285 ft² [26.5 m²]) with a high-ceilinged (17.7 ft [5.4 m]) room was utilised in this analysis. Air temperature distribution in the room was measured experimentally. In addition, distributions of the room air temperature and velocity in the same size room model were computed by a three-dimensional analysis. The computational results were in general agreement with the experimental results. The results of our study show that the thermal comfort of the room was improved by combining forced convective heating with floor heating. Our conclusion is the the most suitable heating system for the high-ceilinged room is a wall-mounted heat pump (heater/air conditioner). In combination with a floor panel heater.

KEYWORDS: heating, ceilings, high, air temperature, temperature distribution, rooms, measuring, housing, comparing, heat flow, forced convection, floor heating, experiment, calculating, wall mounted, heat pumps.