Infrared heating panels

Messages
3,173
Edit My Images
Yes
Anyone here have experiences with infrared heating panels? Such as: http://www.eco-world-northeast.com/products/infrared-heating-panels/

Winter is coming, my wife complains of the cold getting out of shower again. In the interest of saving energy (and money) I was thinking to install an infrared heater to directly heat the body rather than the whole bathroom. Initial thought was to buy one of those cheap IR heaters, but they don't seem safe with exposed elements.

Then I found these panels that claims to function similarly while being IP rated and suitable for bathroom. Best of all is that they can be built into the bathroom mirror, and demist the mirror while giving off heat.

Anyone have experiences with such heating panels? Is there anywhere I can go to experience it before purchasing?

Thanks
 
The originals IR heaters were really lousy, frankly, and only the kind of thing to fit because you couldn't find a better way to heat a room - you get uncomfortably hot on the side facing the heater and cold on the other until they have been on long enough to warm the room up (usually a LONG time - they were not efficient). Buy a bathroom fan heater and have warm air to step into after running it for just a few minutes.
 
This "This type of heating does not rely on air convection so there are no cold spots within the room, dust and airborne contaminants are not circulated" is just horlicks. Anywhere you have heat you have convection, you can't heat any area evenly, there are always colder spots and... 'airborne contaminants' ...eh??
 
An large electric towel rail with a semi decent (300w) heating element is what we did. It runs off a timer so is set to come on an hour or two before we need the shower. Towels hung on the side to allow the heat to circulate until we get in, then the towel is moved to make sure it warms up. We use this until we turn on the heating, then the rad warms the room.
A fan heater like Toni suggests is the way to go if you need a decent amount of heat and/or don't have a radiator.

Heating the mirror will indeed give a clear mirror, but the amount of heat given off will not make any noticeable difference to any room. Not sure a clear view of me in the morning would help me wake up..
 
The idea was to use IR to only heat one's body so that it doesn't waste energy heating rest of the room.

We do have central heating and a tall towel rail. But we have found it to be insufficient, we need to feel warmer than the rest of the house when getting out of shower. Moving the towels to ensure better convection is a good idea though.

Fan heater will draw more than 2000w, a bit excessive IMO....... but if the towel idea doesn't work, I'll have to look into fitting a well directed heater so that it is pointing at the entry/exit point of the shower.
 
Most fan heaters have a variable output, so you may not need the full 2000 watts, and I would guess that you'll only be using it for a few minutes so the power consumption wouldn't be massive and ought to heat most average sized bathrooms pretty fast. I'm not sure you'll be able to heat just a specific area effectively as heat creates air movement.
As for places to try heated mirrors, many plumbers merchants used to have a small demo unit so it might be worth popping in if passing one.
The mirror heaters in your link cost well over £200 which will pay for a fan heater and many many hours of usage...
 
The thing about the fan heater is that it's only on for a few minutes - step out of the shower, pull the cord & the air surrounding me is warm almost immediately. after a brisk drying with the towel I can happily turn it off again, and the bathroom retains the heat well until I'm dressed. Also fan heaters can come with different power levels, so ours starts off at 2kw and then switches to 1kw when the temperature has risen, but our previous heater would output IIRC) 800, 1200 or 2000 watts, all user-selectable.
 
To be fair reading all you have said I would also say maybe a wall mounted fan heater with a pull cord sounds a great idea.
 
Back
Top