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Infrared heating - how does it work?
Heat radiators, i.e. the popular “sunshine” in beer gardens and restaurants, are not only a great solution to spend time outdoors on a cold evening. Infrared heating panels can be successfully used as a replacement for traditional convection heating in domestic rooms or as a supplement to an existing heating installation. How does infrared heating work? We invite you to read!
Infrared radiation - what is it?
The sun emits two types of light waves: visible to the human eye and invisible. Visible rays allow e.g. distinguish colors, and invisible rays, remaining below the visible area, in the red spectrum, thermal energy.
Infrared radiation is also commonly called infrafed (infra from Latin - below, red from English - red) or infrarot (equivalent in German).
The specificity of infrared waves is the way they act on objects remaining in their field of influence. Infrared does not heat the air (although we think so), but objects, including people.
Why do we pay attention to it?
In a room heated with a traditional radiator, the heating process is based on convection, i.e. air movement in order to spread the heat wave throughout the room. We all know how the popular radiator works.
Thanks to the heat generated by the combustion of fossil fuels (coal, natural gas), the water in the heating system warms up, and then the radiator, usually located under the window in the living room.
The air around the heater heats up. The warm wave rises upwards, where it moves gradually cooling down towards the opposite wall. There it falls down and across the floor, already cold returns to the radiator to repeat its path.
As a result, the temperature in the room is distributed unevenly. It is very warm near the radiator, and clearly cold on the opposite side. Our feet are freezing and our heads are hot.
In addition to unpleasant thermal sensations and losses resulting from unnecessary heating of the room above our heads, we feel the discomfort associated with forced air circulation combined with a cloud of dust.
The heating season is most often associated with more frequent diseases and ailments related to the respiratory system. The reason is precisely the movement of air to heat the apartment. Warm waves along with dust, mites and microbes swirl around us all the time.
Inhalant allergy sufferers feel particularly uncomfortable.
Even healthy people complain about dry mucous membranes and sleeping difficulties during the heating season. Hence the popularity of water containers hung on radiators and air humidifiers placed in bedrooms.
How to heat the apartment differently?
For example, no unpleasant breathing sensations?
An effective way to improve the comfort of living in the cold months isinfrared heating.
First of all - infrared heating panels do not move the air in the room, which increases the comfort of breathing from the very beginning. In addition, the air in the room is cooler and therefore more humid. This makes it easier for us to breathe and sleep better.
However, how is the heat distributed around the room, since it is not the air that carries the temperature?
To answer this question, we need to recall a frosty sunny day in the mountains, e.g. skiing. In addition to skiing on the slope, sunbathing on a sun lounger on the shelter's terrace is also a great pleasure.
Lying in the sun, we feel a nice warmth coming from the sun, but it is enough to move into the shade for a moment, and the feeling of biting frost returns immediately. How is this possible? After all, the temperature of the air can't vary that much over a meter or two?
Rightly so, because air is not the carrier of the heat emitted by the bright star above our heads.
Infrared radiation reaching our skin, penetrates it and acts directly on water molecules. Man is made of 60-70% water, so the sun is able to quickly raise the temperature of our body.
In a similar way, the sun's rays heat benches, walls, trees and cars. The air heats up again, from the temperature of the objects.
How it worksinfrared heating
Is it possible to have pleasant and pleasant warmth at home? This is how infrared heating panels work. Infrared waves heat objects and people within their range, not the air itself. Thanks to this, walls, furniture and us, people, feel comfortable warmth at a lower air temperature.
Relief in breathing and better sleep are not the only advantages of infrared heating.
An equally important argument for heating with radiators are lower operating costs.
Convection heating is burdened with large losses in heat transfer and reception by users. Thermal energy is irretrievably lost already at the stage of the heating installation. All it takes is a leak, too long pipes, older material from which the installation is built, for the heat to escape.
The wave of warm air in the room accumulates under the ceiling, where we, as users, cannot take full advantage of it. It is also a waste of thermal energy.
In addition, it is worth mentioning the costs related to environmental pollution (smog!) and the cost of installing a central heating system.
Advantages of infrared panels
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Savings on utility costs
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Breathing comfort
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Thermal insulation of the walls
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Environmental Protection
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Low installation cost
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Ease of assembly