What kind of heating is this?? HELP!?

Question

We inherited our house after my husbands grandfather died. We know very little because it was a rental property. It was built in the 60s or 70s. We have a thermastat in each room that is round and you turn it clockwise to adjust the temperature. When the heating kicks on, you can hear fluid flushing through. We don't have a furnace or a boiler. We have a normal hot water tank. Also, do we have to do anything maintanance wise with this. Recently I found a small patch of mold on our ceiling and I'm just wondering if the pipes cracked or if my gutters were overflowing because of all the leaves. We will be cleaning the gutters tomorrow morning but what else should we do? We looked in the attic and the old insulation on that side of the house looks a bit moist. Do we need to replace all that or will it dry out. Note: The ceiling was not soft, nor was the drywall. I do remember that our roof was just replaced about 4-5 years ago so it shouldn't be that! Thanks!

It is heating in the ceiling. Its not baseboard and we only have a crawlspace, no basement. It doesn't appear to hook to our hot water heater.

It is not gas...we have no gas bill.

Answer 1

It's electric heat strips in the ceiling, the flushing sound you hear are the wires heating up this is normal, most homes built in that ear used that type of heat, it is expensive to use so if you can find an alternative do so or pay it every month in high power bills, most of those type units are 220 volt.

Answer 2

you may have baseboard oil heat,,,a closed unit. check in the rooms to see if you have little units along the base boards to heat each rooms.

possibly a recirculating water baseboard heating from the basement water heater.

keep feeding the info and we'll get it for you.

Its not a Victorian cuz it was built in the 1960-70s

Answer 3

Radiant heat. On the ceiling correct. Must be a gas tank outside for propane or no tank using city utilities natural gas. Don't see it much in houses, a lot in warehouses.