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  1. Is infrared radiation harmful?

Below we answer this question.  Heating panels and infrared radiators are gaining the heating market more and more boldly. They are particularly popular among supporters of cheap and healthy thermal energy. However, in discussions on Internet forums, the question is often asked: Are infrared heaters safe? Well, is infrared radiation harmful to human health? We invite you to the next part of the article for answers.

How to heat the house?

We all know the disadvantages of traditional heating. Practically every one of us has come across, if not raised, in an apartment or house heated by radiators, stove or fireplace. 

With the advent of autumn rains, we more and more often look with hope towards radiators and check their temperature with our hands: are they already heating or not?

 

We usually accept the moment of turning on the home heating with joy and fear at the same time.

We enjoy the warmth and protection against the cold of autumn or winter, but there are also many reasons to worry.

 

Health and money! 

 

While emitting heat, radiators raise a cloud of dust, mites and allergens. Sensitive people start to sneeze and feel the characteristic scratching in the throat. And this does not only apply to radiators equipped with air inlets, where dust collects all year round.

Even built-in radiators cause air circulation discomfort. 

 

The reason for this phenomenon is convection, i.e. the movement of air to achieve the effect of heating the room. 

 

The heated mass of air above the radiator travels around the room, starting its journey from the ceiling, where the heat accumulates (warm air is known to be lighter than cold air), then cooled down down the farthest wall from the radiator and returns to its starting point above the floor._cc781905-5cde- 3194-bb3b-136bad5cf58d_

 

In a traditionally heated room:

 

  • the temperature is unevenly distributed. The ceiling is the warmest, which is a clear loss of energy, because it is difficult for us as users to take advantage of this heat. At the floor - coldest, which we feel as an unpleasant feeling of cold around the feet;

  • the walls behind the furniture remain damp and fungus or mold often appears in older buildings;

  • external walls and walls remain cool and freeze, conducting cold to the inside of the house;

  • the air is dry, which has an adverse effect on sleep, breathing, the condition of the skin and mucous membranes;

  • dry mucous membranes facilitate access to the body for viruses and pathogens, hence the outbreak of upper respiratory tract infections during the heating season;

  • allergy sufferers suffer from increased movement of allergens in the air;

  • heating costs in the heating season are a serious expense in the household budget.

 

 

We are all well aware of what the use of traditional radiators entails. Typically over six months of each year, we struggle with the adverse effects of convection heating. 

However, is it possible to heat a house or flat in a different way than convection heating? 

Infrared radiation works on the principle of heat waves sent to us by the sun.

The sun's rays reach the earth in the form of visible (light) and invisible (heat) waves.

Heat is produced by radiation invisible to the human eye, located in the spectrum below the red region. This is how the name used by manufacturers of infrared panels was created - infrared (combination of Latin infra, i.e. below and English red, red) or IR for short.

How does infrared radiation work?

Just like the sun's rays on a frosty day. We expose our face to the sun in winter and clearly feel a nice warm feeling on our skin. However, if we move into the shade, the feeling of frost immediately returns, and the temperature of the air can not change so radically in the space of a meter or two!

 

Infrared radiation emitted by the sun does not heat the air, and objects within the infrared range do not heat it. The air heats up only secondarily, from the heated bodies of people, objects, cars. 

 

Infrared radiators used for space heating work in a similar way. 

Advantages of infrared heating:

  • the room is heated evenly over the entire surface;

  • objects (furniture, walls, people, animals) receive heat directly, not through the air;

  • the air is a few degrees cooler, which translates into lower costs of obtaining thermal energy (lower utility bills) and greater comfort of breathing;

  • no forced air circulation - dust and allergens do not swirl in the air;

  • warm walls are a better insulator from the cold from the outside;

  • heated walls prevent the formation of fungus and mold;

  • low power consumption has a significant impact on reducing air pollution.

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Are infrared heaters safe?

Finally, we come to the original question and the basic objections of people unfamiliar with the secrets of infrared radiation: are infrared heaters safe?

 

Infrared radiation panels used to heat rooms where people stay emit waves of far infrared rays that do not emit light and work in a natural, safe range for humans. 

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