Electric infrared radiant heaters are manufactured by companies such as TPI/Fostoria, Radiant Electric Heat, Tri Lite, Calorique, and others. These and other companies use distributors to get the heaters out to the end users. End users can be individuals, or businesses who intend to add heat to a specific area indoors or outdoors. The application of electric infrared radiant heaters include industrial whole area heating, commercial applications, indoor/outdoor uses, snow and ice melt solutions, residential use, portable space heaters, foot warmers, and the ability to provide heat to almost any place a person or organization would want it. The types of heaters are quartz tube, flat ceramic panel, fan-forced & radiant combo, and we can even supply natural gas steel tube radiant.
Electric infrared radiant heaters are different in that they do not operate by blowing heated air into a room. Forced heated air systems only blow warm air into the room. The room must be filled with enough warm air to make a person feel warm. But at that point the only thing that is warm is the air, and hot air rises. There is usually a difference in temperature between the air at the ceiling and the air at the floor. The space at floor level and a few inches above floor level is never comfortably warm and is usually drafty. To fill a room with heated air takes time, and heats the air before heating the person. The room cools rapidly due to cold air infiltration, and takes longer to recover. But the biggest disadvantage is that the forced air system must run longer and work hard to reheat the room which costs the consumer more money on energy.
Infrared radiant electric heaters heat people and objects first, then the air in the room. Described simply, electric radiant infrared heaters work in much the same way as the sun heats the earth. The sun is 93 million miles away from the earth. The air between the sun and the earth is the cold vacuum of space. Yet through these 93 million miles of cold space the earth is warmed by the sun. Imagine how on a cold winter day when the sun is shining bright, a person feels the suns warmth on their face even though it is cold outside.
Radiant infrared heat is an absorbing, comfortable, soothing heat. It is a clean energy heat source. Once installed in the space to be heated the radiant heater warms the things in the room including people. Humans feel this type of warmth first. Skin is the most absorbent material of radiant heat, which is why it is so comfortable for people and even animals. The space is heated only after the people and objects in the room are heated and then give off that heat into the ambient air of the room.
Radiant heating heats people and objects first by utilizing the technology of long wave electromagnetic energy. After the people and objects are warmed they release the warmth into the air which then heats the ambient air. Even if a door is opened that lets a rush of cold air into the room, radiant heating has a faster recovery time due to all the objects in the room being warmed and releasing that warmth back into the room. Even though the unit may run before the thermostat turns it off, it operates at an inexpensive rate. And that cost is only incurred when the unit is running whereas a gas system is always burning a pilot light and trying to overcome drafty cold air infiltration.
Consider the things you may have in the room... your floor, chairs, other objects. Imagine sitting on a warmed chair, or a floor with no chill on it. Radiant infrared heating can do this. But the better news is the cost effectiveness of electric radiant infrared heating. A 1000 watt unit running for an hour only costs about 10-12 cents in energy usage. A 1500 watt unit operating for an hour would cost about 15-18 cents in energy usage. A 3000 watt unit turned on for an hour would cost 30-36 cents an hour in energy cost.
Over the summer of 2009 it was reported that a reduction of electric rates may occur in the Cleveland, Ohio, area. http://www.wkyc.com/money/consumer/personal_finance/save/money_article.aspx?storyid=115663
And recently on December 2, 2009, it was reported that NOPEC residential customers in Northeast Ohio would realize a 6% discount in electric rates. http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2009/12/nopec_customers_to_get_a_6_dis.html
This makes the use of electric heating much more attractive than using fossil fuel systems, even if only augmenting your current heating system with electric heat.
So how does this apply to your garage, patio, green house, work space, or room? Once installed an electric radiant heater would turn on by use of its thermostat set to your desired room temperature. The unit would turn on when the thermostat detected the room air is below the set temperature. Here's the best part, once activated the unit and its heat are immediate. Within a few minutes its output is at its maximum. And while it is on the unit has no fan, no moving parts, no noise, and no dust being blown about, and requires no maintenance. The electric radiant heating unit gently and quietly emits its radiant warmth as the unit's element heats up. If you are in the room or area being heated you'll immediately notice that you feel the warmth. As the unit continues to run you may notice that things in the room, clothes, a chair, desk, floor, etc, are also warmer...not hot to the touch, but warmer. And then the room air is heated as the objects in the room warm up and releases the warmth back into the room.
The quartz tube elements average 5000 hours of use and have a 1 year warranty. Flat ceramic panel elements are very durable and have been known to last 5-15 years or more without needing replacement. Flat ceramic panel elements have a 5 year prorated warranty (20% per year). The units are UL tested and underwritten. They come in 120, 240, 208, 207, and in some cases 480 voltages.
Now, you have that cold room, that drafty work place, a green house that could use more heat, a patio that you'd like to use all year, or earlier in the summer and later in the winter. You can think of work or hobbies you could do in the garage with more heat, or your workplace could use portable heaters or foot warmers. The economical and eco-friendly solution in electric radiant infrared heating systems.
