Most people are familiar with the combustion process where their furnace burns fuel to create heat. However, this is not the only type of heating system on the market. One of the more talked about types of heaters today is infrared heating. We’re going to discuss what this is below to help you get a better understanding of what it can do for your home.
What Is Infrared Heating?
The simplest way to think about infrared heating is that it doesn’t require air to transfer heat from one place to another. For example, let’s say you have an infrared heater and you’re standing in front of it. Heat will directly transfer from the heater to your body without the need to penetrate the air between you. This operates much differently than other types of heating systems on the market today.
How Does Infrared Heating Work?
The mechanism behind infrared heating is electromagnetic waves. These waves are specifically used to transfer thermal energy directly from one material to another. Infrared electromagnetic waves go across a very broad spectrum of wavelengths ranging anywhere from 78 NM up to 10 microns. The shorter the wavelength, the higher the frequency and greater energy produced. Infrared heating has been known to generate temperatures from hundreds of degrees to multiple thousands of degrees Fahrenheit.
Infrared heat is very similar to heat that you get from the sun. This makes it a very natural and efficient way to warm your family in the various rooms throughout your home. As the infrared heater emits its radiation, the radiation will travel through the air until it encounters a solid object, like a human body. It will then directly transfer its heat energy to that object.
An infrared heater’s main components are a heating element and a reflector. The heating element will convert whatever the heater’s chosen fuel type is into heat. The unit’s reflector will work to channel thermal energy and radiate that heat toward nearby objects. The reflector inside the infrared heater needs to have a very high reflectivity to help fully maximize the transfer of radiant heat to other objects. Reflectors can be made out of stainless steel, aluminum, quartz, or ceramics.
What Do Infrared Heaters Run On?
Infrared heaters are very versatile in the fact that they can be powered by one of a few different types of fuels. They can be powered by electricity, propane, or natural gas. This can allow you to better optimize your energy efficiency when it comes to running your infrared heater.
What Are the Benefits of Infrared Heating?
As with learning about any new item for your home, it’s helpful to understand the various benefits that it can provide. This information can easily allow you to compare it to other potential options on the market so that you can choose the best one to meet your needs.
Energy Efficient Operation
One of the most recognizable benefits of infrared heating is that it’s very energy efficient. It doesn’t waste any heat by heating up the surrounding air before it reaches the objects in the room. Rather, infrared heat is directly transferring that thermal energy to solid objects. This allows it to use much less energy than other types of heating sources that rely on heating the air first to eventually heat the solid objects.
Works Instantaneously
Another benefit of these infrared heaters is that they work instantaneously. You don’t have wait for your heater to heat up the air and then transfer that heat to you. Rather, when you turn on your infrared heater, it will start transferring thermal energy to you immediately so that you can warm up.
Comfortable Sun-Like Heating
Infrared heaters produce heat that’s very close to natural sunlight and doesn’t affect other factors in the surrounding environment. These include things like humidity levels and oxygen content. Infrared heaters don’t evaporate any of the moisture in the air, which allows them to produce more warmth and comfort in a refreshing way. Think of it as similar to sitting out in the sun as compared to sitting in front of a fire.
Inhibits Mold and Mildew Growth
One lesser-known benefit of using infrared heat is that it inhibits the growth of mold and mildew microbes. This is because it doesn’t affect the moisture level in the air. With infrared heat, you can experience fewer cases of itchy eyes, wheezing and other sinus conditions.
Ultra-Quiet Operation
The beauty of infrared heating is that it doesn’t rely on any of the traditional blowers or fans to circulate heated air. This allows it to have a super quiet operation. This can make infrared heating highly desirable for quiet areas of your home like bedrooms and your home office.
Doesn’t Agitate Surrounding Air
One of the biggest pitfalls of heating systems that rely on blower fans is that they’re constantly kicking up allergens on the various surfaces throughout your home. Without proper filtration, this action could end up reducing the quality of air inside your home. With an infrared heater, you don’t have to worry about it agitating any of the airborne debris as it doesn’t rely on a fan.
Various Health Benefits
The role of infrared heating’s effect on your overall health has been studied for the past few decades. Heat from an infrared heater is known to directly penetrate the body and help to expand our capillaries. It does wonders for regenerating red blood cells and increasing oxygenation throughout the body. Both of these components are very important in detoxifying the major organs throughout the body.
Because infrared light helps to enhance blood circulation throughout the body, it has many positive benefits for the average person. Improved circulation helps to reduce inflammation and muscle pain while improving and healing wounds. It’s also been shown to reduce stiffness and soreness in joints throughout all areas of the body.
Infrared for In-Home Heating
When it comes to common home heating systems, you typically won’t see infrared in the lineup of options available. However, it’s important to note that there are infrared heating panels that can be placed throughout the various rooms of your home. Most infrared panels are powered solely by electricity and don’t require any sort of exterior ventilation for exhaust byproducts.
You may find that adding infrared heating panels to some of the more utilized rooms of your home can help to reduce your heating bills while providing many of the health benefits noted above for you and your family. These panels are available in all different sizes so that you can find the perfect one to fit each room of your home.
Expert Infrared Heating Service
Atticman Heating and Air Conditioning, Insulation offers expert heating service for residents throughout the entire Sacramento, CA community. Our HVAC technicians will be more than happy to assist with all your air conditioning, heating, whole-house fan, ductwork, water heater, electrification, and insulation needs. Simply contact our friendly staff today to book your next service consultation with one of our experienced HVAC technicians.