Heat Distribution of an Infrared Heater
Watts are equal, but heaters aren't
Any 1500 watt electric space heater will produce approximately 5,119 BTU's. This applies equally to a SolarFlare infrared heater and to an inexpensive metal-and-plastic heater you can buy at Wal-Mart. 5,119 BTU's is supposed to be able to heat about 150-200 square feet of space, depending on the insulation of the room, the outside temperature, and other variables.
What, then, enables an infrared heater to effectively heat up to one thousand square feet with that same output? The answer is found in the way that an infrared heater distributes heat, and in the way that humans perceive it.
Standard space heaters: Fast, furious, & straight up
A garden-variety space heater works by sucking air (and dust) through the back of the heater, roasting it with red-hot coils, and ejecting it forcefully through the grille using a high-speed fan. This strategy works fine if you're standing right in front of the heater. Apart from that position, the only place in the room that's going to get warm quickly is the ceiling. Why does this happen?
Well, first of all, the coils inside a space heater actually overheat the air, making it rise quickly, away from the people and toward the ceiling. Essentially, the room heats top to bottom, reaching the floor in the corners - typically the coldest part of a room - last of all. (This effect can be mitigated to some extent by adding a reversed ceiling fan.)
In addition to being superheated, the air from a regular space heater is introduced to the room's atmosphere too quickly and violently. Imagine trying to heat a large pot of soup with a blowtorch and you'll get the idea. This excess turbulence severely exacerbates the problem of rising heat, leaving a blanket of cold air over most of the floor. The average temperature in the room may quickly reach levels that are theoretically comfortable, but humans aren't thermometers. If your feet are cold, you won't feel warm, and you'll eventually turn up your central heat to compensate.
Infrared: Steady, soft, and even
When you first turn on an infrared heater, there's nothing particularly impressive to see. The fan doesn't run while the elements are heating up, so it's silent and doesn't seem to be putting out much heat. After a minute or two the fan does come on, and an orange glow is visible through the front grille.
A few minutes later, people in the immediate vicinity begin unconsciously removing outer layers and discarding lap blankets. They may not even realize it, but the moderate-feeling stream of heat from that infrared heater is beginning to warm the room. The key is that it's doing so evenly, floor-to-ceiling and wall-to-wall. Once again, the average temperature rises, but now it's rising all around you, and you still feel warm no matter where in the room you go. This is the "magic" of the infrared heater - it simply takes the 5,119 BTU's of an ordinary space heater, and instead of giving you one hot spot, it leaves you with a warm room, even if that room is larger than 1500 watts of electricity are "supposed" to be able to heat.
As with the quality of the heat, it's difficult to say exactly how and why this happens, but thermal imaging cameras have proven that it does. It would be nice to have the full scientific explanation, as we probably will one day, but it's really not that important; after all, you don't need a degree in nuclear physics to enjoy the sunshine. Pick one of our infrared heaters and try it for yourself; you can be the next person to find out how good it feels to be warm and save money at the same time.
