Heater above door - far infra-red an option?

[YorkshireMidge]

My flat re-furb project continues...

Just removed a gross (greasy, rusty etc.) old halogen heater from the wall above the doorway of a small galley kitchen just a couple of metres square. There are plenty of small quartz infra-red wall mounted heaters I could replace it with but they typically specify 0.5 meters clearance from the ceiling - and the bit of wall above the door is only about 13 inch (which begs the question whether the original heater should have been there in the first place, given the top of it was about 3 inches from the ceiling). Space is at such a premium in there, that at the moment, my only options seem to be:

1. A door curtain type fan heater, but these tend to be ugly, industrial, and far too large/powerful for the requirement

2. A bathroom type down flow fan heater

3. A plinth heater

It was whilst looking at the third option that I stumbled across this:

https://udenheating.uk/en/warm-plinth-infrared-heaters.html

I know very little about these far IR panels, nor what (if any) restrictions there are around where they can be mounted. But this "plinth" heater looks neater than most of the quartz IR ones and begs the question whether there is any reason why it can't be mounted higher up.

Anyone with any experience of these heaters like to comment?

Thanks!

 

[ericmark]

IR heaters have some problems, main one is control, as soon as you turn it off you feel cold, so unlike the air heaters you can't use a thermostat all you can do is use more or less heaters. They work well where there is a regular air change, like a garage, or very short occupancy like a church, or as a boost to back ground heating as with bathroom, but are not that good at heating a room with windows as glass will not in the main stop IR heat, and there must be line of sight between heater and person using the room. Can't see how a plinth heater would work as you can't see them? I would say fan heater more likely to do a good job.

 

[YorkshireMidge]

IR heaters have some problems, main one is control, as soon as you turn it off you feel cold, so unlike the air heaters you can't use a thermostat all you can do is use more or less heaters. They work well where there is a regular air change, like a garage, or very short occupancy like a church, or as a boost to back ground heating as with bathroom, but are not that good at heating a room with windows as glass will not in the main stop IR heat, and there must be line of sight between heater and person using the room. Can't see how a plinth heater would work as you can't see them? I would say fan heater more likely to do a good job.

Thanks - when I was looking at plinth heaters, I had the hot air variety firmly in my mind and like you, I just didn't get how IR at a low level would work, except perhaps to toast your legs nicely. This galley kitchen has no windows, so that at least isn't a problem. What I had in mind was trying to find a suitably compact IR panel like the plinth one, and making some brackets so it can be angled down from the position over the door. The room does have some transfer of heat from the adjoining lounge but just needs a boost when it's very cold.

Since posting, I've found some technical info on the Dimplex site which gives the clearance above a bathroom type down flow fan heater as 280mm, so even that isn't suitable. So it looks like a hot air plinth heater or try and take this IR panel idea a bit further.

 

[EFLImpudence]

Do you need heating in a small kitchen?

 

[davelx]

Do you need heating in a small kitchen?

Yes, mine is freezing first thing in the morning - no radiator and C.Heating in the rest of the house does not heat the kitchen. It's fine if you're using the oven or hob for a longer period, which then heats the room, but just making coffee and cooking toast for breakfast does not heat even the smallest kitchen. So a quick blast with the plinth heater when you wake up does the job.

 

[deadshort]

Hi, plinth heater !

DS

 

[YorkshireMidge]

Hi, plinth heater !

DS

Yes, mine is freezing first thing in the morning - no radiator and C.Heating in the rest of the house does not heat the kitchen. It's fine if you're using the oven or hob for a longer period, which then heats the room, but just making coffee and cooking toast for breakfast does not heat even the smallest kitchen. So a quick blast with the plinth heater when you wake up does the job.

Do you need heating in a small kitchen?

I think it does need something just to boost it at certain times.

The most interesting looking solution I've found so far (depending on your taste!) is called PION Thermo Glass, but that starts at a 400W panel around the £190 mark, so is a bit too pricey for what I want.

However, I have found the same company who do the IR plinth heater I found, also do a 250W IR wall panel which looks about the right size for over the door at around £90, so it looks like the solution is either that OR a hot air plinth heater.

Thanks for the thoughts......

 

[endecotp]

Go for the hot air plinth heater.