Electric wallpaper explained

Electric wallpaper is a relatively new heating technology. It’s a thin sheet containing an electric heating element that emits infrared heat.

Most home heating systems (like radiators), mainly warm your home by heating the air. The air around the radiator warms up, rises, and moves around the room. This is called convection

Electric wallpaper and other infrared heaters work a bit differently. They mostly give off infrared heat that directly warms people and surfaces in the room, rather than relying on heating the air first.

You feel similar infrared warmth when you’re in the sunshine. You’ll feel the heat from the sun on your skin, even on a cold day. In the shade you don’t get direct infrared radiation and so feel much cooler.

Electric paper can be installed on walls or ceilings before being painted or plastered over. Once covered, it looks like a standard wall, but it can act as a low temperature heating system.

Because it runs on electricity, electric wallpaper will be more expensive to run than a gas boiler. This is due to the unit price of electricity being around four times that of gas.

Electric wallpaper (like other types of infrared heating) use similar amounts of electricity as other types of electric panel heaters.

It’ll also be more expensive to run than a heat pump. While heat pumps do run on electricity, they use less electricity than infrared heating to produce the same amount of heat. This is typically two to four times less.

So, if you’re thinking of switching from gas heating, a heat pump is far more likely to save you money than an infrared system.

To get a rough idea of how much electric wallpaper might cost to run:

• We looked at how much heat a typical three-bed semi-detached house needs over a year.
• We didn’t model electric wallpaper directly, but we used standard direct electric heating as the closest comparison.

Using 25.9p/kWh electricity and 6.3p/kWh gas, this gave us approximate annual running costs of:

• Direct electric heating (as a stand-in for electric wallpaper): £2,700
• Gas boiler heating: £680

Important caveats

• This is a simplified illustration, not a detailed model of electric wallpaper.
• Hot water is not included. These figures are for space heating only.
• These results aren’t directly comparable with other numbers on our website, because the methodology is different.
• Actual costs will vary depending on your home’s insulation, temperature settings, energy prices and how the system is used.

If you have solar panels, you might be able to reduce running costs. This involves using some of the electricity generated at home to power the heating on cold sunny days. Some smart time of use tariffs also offer cheaper electricity at certain times of the day. But these are unlikely to the reduce running costs of electric wallpaper unless you also have a battery.

Find out more about the running costs of infrared heating.

There’s no difference. Electric wallpaper is a general term, while ‘infrared’ describes the type of heat it gives off.

Electric wallpaper contains a heating element which is usually made from carbon, copper or graphene. A qualified electrician will need to connect it to your home’s electricity supply.

When the system is switched on, low voltage electricity warms the element to around 40 to 45°C. This is a safe surface temperature, which should feel warm to touch but not scalding.

The wallpaper emits infrared heat, similar to infrared heating panels.

It can heat a room, but it won’t produce hot water. If you’re replacing an existing system, you’ll need a way of producing and storing hot water, such immersion heaters in a hot water cylinder.

Electric wallpaper might may be similar in cost to other electric heaters. If you’re installing a whole house heating system, it could be less expensive to install than a boiler or heat pump and radiators. But it will cost more than just replacing an existing boiler.

Like other Infrared heaters electric wallpaper might not need much maintenance and could last a long time.

The cost of installing electric wallpaper depends on how big a surface area you want to cover and how complex the room layout is. For example, a small square room would be cheaper than a large room with lots of corners, alcoves or built‑in furniture.

You also need to factor in:

• any electrical work
• the cost of removing your existing system
• how you will heat your hot water
• any redecoration costs

We don’t yet have enough information to provide a reliable expected install cost.

Benefits of electric wallpaper include:

• Doesn’t need much maintenance and could last a long time.
• Space‑saving design that removes the need for radiators.
• Can provide a more even heat distribution in a room than radiators or smaller infrared panels.

Drawbacks of electric wallpaper include:

• Much higher running costs compared to gas boilers and heat pumps.
• Doesn’t produce hot water, so you’ll need a separate system.
• Relatively new technology, so there’s only limited knowledge about it.
• Repairs can be more complex if the electric wallpaper is plastered over.
• May not be suitable for every wall type.

Electric wallpaper can make you feel warmer more quickly than some other types of heating. It also frees up wall space and requires little maintenance. But electric wallpaper is typically much more expensive to run.

Traditional radiators heat a room by warming the air, which may take longer. But they’re usually cheaper to run because they are heated by a heat pump or boiler.

There’s little conclusive research about the effectiveness of electric wallpaper and infrared heating. This means we aren’t able to say yet if it’s worth it. However, if and when more research is done, we’ll update this page accordingly.

Remember: you should always choose a heating system that meets your needs.

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