A work colleague asked me what I thought about a flat panel heater he was considering for a living room. It is a largish room which has another CH radiator and an open fire. This heater is in place of a second CH radiator that has been removed. What he is looking at is one of the Far Infra Red type heaters now on the market. I have no experience of these so do not know how well thay work. The unit he is looking at is only 300W which seems low but may not be a problem with FIR technology.
Flat panel heater, which type?
- Thread starter davecooper
- Start date
No matter what the technology a 300 watt electric heater will produce 300 watts of heat. No more. ( exception is a heat pump system )
Far infra-red. Maybe it does produce radiant heat as far infra red ( what ever that may be compared to ordinary radiated heat ) and maybe there are health benefits from far infra red reaching the skin. But if the room is too cold and everyone is coverred in wool to keep warm it won't reach the skin.
Far infra-red. Maybe it does produce radiant heat as far infra red ( what ever that may be compared to ordinary radiated heat ) and maybe there are health benefits from far infra red reaching the skin. But if the room is too cold and everyone is coverred in wool to keep warm it won't reach the skin.
Dave - the point is that radiant heaters do not warm the air in a room, they only heat up objects, e.g. people, where the infra-red radiation hits.
Put the radiator back.
Any electric option will be far more expensive to run.
K
kai
Perhaps he wanted a method to quickly take the chill off a room on a cold Summer evening, where firing up the boiler was not justified??
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To my mind three ways to electrical heat the home. One is the heat pump, next is inferred, and final convection. The inferred has a major draw back in it will not work with a thermostat. You can switch on one, two, three or four bars on an electric fire, but the effect is instant, so not really any good for long term heating. Great for a church where only wanted for an hour or a garage where the doors are always opening.
The idea of combining with other heating could work, instant heat until the air has warmed up. But how you would control it is another question. There is no gradual switching it off as other form of heating takes over.
We talk about the efficiency of convected heating which is the time it has to be one compared with time it is used. Faster the heat up time the more efficient it is considered to be. Night storage is worst, followed by under floor and the best is fan assisted. I have fan assisted, but it's not as good as one would think. The problem is noise, and also like the inferred within minutes of switching off you start to feel the cold.
The fact we have so many forms of heating points to how much it depends on the room. Smoking hut clearly inferred, and with bed room fan assisted is a non starter.
Far inferred is getting close to micro wave. The inferred spectrum starts where visible lights stops and stops when we reach microwave. There is not a fixed frequency there is some overlap. I am unsure of the safety of such heaters be it the sun with sun burn or the quartz halogen lamp where we are told we much either mount well away from personal or have a glass panel to filter out the harmful waves. I am not sure I would want a microwave transmitter close to me, and if not close it's unlikely to get you warm.
To my mind technology is too new to be sure it's safe. I will stick with water filled radiators.
The idea of combining with other heating could work, instant heat until the air has warmed up. But how you would control it is another question. There is no gradual switching it off as other form of heating takes over.
We talk about the efficiency of convected heating which is the time it has to be one compared with time it is used. Faster the heat up time the more efficient it is considered to be. Night storage is worst, followed by under floor and the best is fan assisted. I have fan assisted, but it's not as good as one would think. The problem is noise, and also like the inferred within minutes of switching off you start to feel the cold.
The fact we have so many forms of heating points to how much it depends on the room. Smoking hut clearly inferred, and with bed room fan assisted is a non starter.
Far inferred is getting close to micro wave. The inferred spectrum starts where visible lights stops and stops when we reach microwave. There is not a fixed frequency there is some overlap. I am unsure of the safety of such heaters be it the sun with sun burn or the quartz halogen lamp where we are told we much either mount well away from personal or have a glass panel to filter out the harmful waves. I am not sure I would want a microwave transmitter close to me, and if not close it's unlikely to get you warm.
To my mind technology is too new to be sure it's safe. I will stick with water filled radiators.
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