by Jason McIntire
Jason McIntire is co-owner of InfraredHeaters.co
If you consume any media during the winter months, you’ve probably seen or heard at least one infomercial for indoor infrared heaters. Often these ads make some pretty impressive-sounding claims, such as “heat your whole house for just pennies a day!” Some consumers are bedazzled by these claims and run to the phone to order what they believe to be a magic heater. Other viewers react with a cynical snicker, pointing out – correctly – that all electric heaters are virtually 100% efficient, and dismissing the whole infrared thing as sillly marketing hype.
Before we get into discussing the merits of infrared, it’s important to understand what kind of infrared we’re talking about. Exposed-element heaters, which you may see on patios or at outdoor events, emit radiant heat and are not really suitable for indoor use because of the safety factor. Indoor, or cabinet-type infrared heaters, have their elements enclosed. This increases safety but traps almost all the radiant heat, allowing only convection heat to escape. The exact design differs from brand to brand, but for purposes of this article, we will be talking specifically about the SolarFlare.
Critics of indoor infrared heating often assert that a $350 infrared heater is no better than a $25 space heater, based on the fact that each unit draws 1500 watts and outputs just over 5100 BTU’s. While it’s true that all electric space heaters are equally efficient in terms of BTU output, it’s also true that BTU output doesn’t tell the whole story. Equally important are the related factors of heated air volume and heat distribution.
Standing in front of an ordinary space heater, you will probably feel quite warm – indeed uncomfortably so if you get too close. Thermal imaging shows that much of the heat produced by such a heater stays right in front of the grille, and on the ceiling immediately above that area. Move even a few feet away in a fairly spacious room, and you will likely cease to feel the heat almost entirely. If the atmosphere of the room ever does begin to feel warm, it may take hours to do so.
The area immediately in front of an indoor infrared heater feels comfortably warm, but not as hot as you might expect from an ordinary space heater. Paradoxically, the whole room seems to warm up very quickly, and you can feel the heat from much further away. Thermal imaging, again, shows why – the heat is being evenly distributed throughout the area instead of bunching up in front of the heater and on the ceiling.
Why does infrared heat – remember, we’re still talking about convection, not radiant heat – behave this way? While there is no 100% solid scientific answer to that question, the reason has to do with the way an infrared heater works internally. Instead of baking a small volume of air to a scorching temperature with a toaster-like coil, the infrared heater gradually warms a large volume of air in a dual-stage heat chamber. This is why the heat feels “cooler” than that of an ordinary space heater – effectively, it is. Air that is merely warm has much less of a tendency to immediately rise than does superheated air. Thus, infrared convection heat stays lower and circulates better in the part of the room where the people actually live, while still providing the same BTU output as an ordinary space heater. This enables it to effectively heat an area several times larger than an ordinary space heater of the same wattage could handle.
So, what about the hype? It’s safe to say that, by itself, an infrared heater will not heat your home for any reasonable number of “pennies per day” (unless, of course, you live in a closet). However, because of its ability to cover large open areas, it can be an outstanding source of supplemental heat for use in an overall zone heating strategy. It is this strategy – heating only the parts of your house that need it while leaving the rest cool – that can save you money in the long term.
