It seems that the price for utilities is continually going up. In order to combat those high prices, many people are looking for alternative ways to heat their houses. One way that has become increasingly more popular is to use infrared heating rather than electric or traditional gas heating. But many people are asking if it is even worth it to change or if it will just end up costing them more money. So just how economical is infrared heating?
To start, it is important to understand the concept of infrared heating so that the cost-effectiveness is easier to understand. Rather than heating the air like normal convection heating, infrared use light particles to heat up the actual object. It’s similar to feeling the warmth of the sun on your skin, it’s from the light particles not the heat of the sun itself. Because it uses these light particles, it begins to heat up the objects that are in front of it almost immediately. It works really well in settings where you’re not going to be moving around a lot like offices and bedrooms that way you can focus the heat on you rather than trying to heat an entire room.
So why do those things make infrared heating economical? Generally, when using regular heating sources, you have to turn on the heater before you’re planning to use it because it takes time to heat up itself and the air around it. This requires you to run your heater longer which costs more money, especially because a lot of the heat in the air can escape the room rendering it less effective. It also uses a lot of power to run traditional heaters which also raises the cost. Infrared heaters, however, don’t need to be turned on before you’re ready to use them because you can feel the heat almost immediately. It’s warming your body rather than the air around your body. An infrared heater can also run on as little as 300W of power with nearly all of it being used by the body and the objects around you so there is less being wasted.
Not only is the cost of running an infrared heater much less expensive the other heaters, but it also costs less to maintain. While electric and gas heaters generally have motors, fans and other moving parts, infrared heaters use reflective panels to put out the infrared light. All the moving parts on regular heaters are more like to get damaged or break all together which means additional repair costs or even the cost to replace the heater. The infrared heater, however, will run better for a longer period of time and often times a good cleaning of the reflective panels will get it back in working order.
When trying to choose what you want for yourself and your home, it is very important to know what you’re looking at before making any decisions. If infrared heating is a good option, there are many different sizes and styles that you can get in order to get the best fit for your home.
