Infrared Heating

[TonyT]

I have a infra red panel that drops into a 600x600mm ceiling tile.

its fine in the workshop when standing under it, but I wouldn’t want to heat a home with it

[Nick Thomas]

I had a... 350W Herschel 'Select' FIR panel above the bed in the last house, which was basically the only heating at night until we got the A2A heat pump installed (never fancied keeping the stove going overnight).

 

You could definitely tell when it was on, as long as the covers were pulled back, but it was a bit underwhelming overall. Also seemed to generate a lot of heat at roof level that *wasn't* directed downwards.

[Temp]

Conventional central heating heats the air in a room so you feel warm by conduction. IR heaters work by heating you directly. In theory the latter allows you to have lower air temperatures with the same comfort level. 

 

I've only used IR heaters in a garage open to the elements. The side of me facing the heater was fine,  the rest of me was cold. 

 

We have wet UFH and it doesn't allow us to have our stats set any lower. So I question if UFH has this "direct heating" effect.

[ReedRichards]

34 minutes ago, Temp said:

Conventional central heating heats the air in a room so you feel warm by conduction. IR heaters work by heating you directly. In theory the latter allows you to have lower air temperatures with the same comfort level. 

 

Not this again; it's the basis of a lot of mis selling of IR heaters in my opinion.  IR heaters will heat you directly if you are close by one but as a radiative source it follows an inverse square law with distance so if you are 2 metres away you get 1/4 the heat that you would at 1 metre, 1/9 the heat at 3 metres from the heater etc etc.  The radiation that misses you will warm the solid objects in the room which will in turn warm the air.  So in the longer term it may not make any difference if the heater is powerful enough to keep the room warm.  In the short term it only works if you are near to the heater.  

[Temp]

11 minutes ago, ReedRichards said:

Not this again; it's the basis of a lot of mis selling of IR heaters in my opinion.  IR heaters will heat you directly if you are close by one but as a radiative source it follows an inverse square law with distance so if you are 2 metres away you get 1/4 the heat that you would at 1 metre, 1/9 the heat at 3 metres from the heater etc etc.  The radiation that misses you will warm the solid objects in the room which will in turn warm the air.  So in the longer term it may not make any difference if the heater is powerful enough to keep the room warm.  In the short term it only works if you are near to the heater.  

 

+1 You put it much better than I could.

[Iceverge]

5 hours ago, JohnMo said:

Would look like you have a big satellite dish in your living room tracking your every move.  What would happen if two of you walked in different direction? 

 

Whoever pays the electricity bill gets irradiation priority. 

[SteamyTea]

42 minutes ago, ReedRichards said:

Not this again

Also worth noting that if you wear cloths, they are insulation you to a certain extent from the radiative heating.

One also breaths in cooler air, so your body has to work harder to keep the core temperature up.

44 minutes ago, ReedRichards said:

follows an inverse square law with distance

Yes, so often forgotten.  Why the sun does not fry the Earth, we are a long way off and only getting a very small fraction of the power it radiates.

 

If you can see an element glowing, it is in the visible light part of the spectrum.  IR is invisible to the human eye.  The shorter the wavelength, the more power there is.  So may be better off putting in sunbed lamps, they emit UV, so higher up the spectrum.

And you will get a 'healthy' tan after 40 minutes.

 

2 hours ago, Nick Thomas said:

Also seemed to generate a lot of heat at roof level that *wasn't* directed downwards.

So it was acting as a convection heater.

[Iceverge]

7 hours ago, JohnMo said:

Would look like you have a big satellite dish in your living room tracking your every move.  What would happen if two of you walked in different direction? 

 

 

What about a phased array IR beam blaster combined with some cameras. 

 

 

 

It could sit above the TV.

 

Targeting any exposed skin(s) of the slouch(s) on the couche(s) 

 

Further integration could be done with the audio visual system so you could "feel" the heat of your favourite movie. 

 

 

[SteamyTea]

7 hours ago, Iceverge said:

"feel" the heat of your favourite movie. 

Must watch Dante's Inferno before I go there.