Do you like halogen room heaters?

[AL_n]

For the first time in my life, I bought one of those halogen heaters. They seem very popular these days, after all, curiosity got the better of me.

Having tried it, I've got to say, there are things I don't like about it:

1) It's uncomfortably bright to look at. I wonder if a lot of energy is being wasted producing light rather than useful heat.

2) No thermostat; just three fixed settings

3) Slower to heat a room, than a fan heater of similar power, I think

So, I've decided I prefer fan heaters - at least ones with thermostats.

Comments appreciated.

Al

[Ronald Raygun]

I doubt it's much. Light doesn't need a lot of energy.

That's in the nature of the beast. See below.

Unlike a fan or convector heater, it's not designed to heat the room, but to heat you directly by bombarding you with infrared rays. It's supposed to make you feel warm despite the air temperature not being particularly warm. By not having to heat the air, energy is saved. To return to point 2, not heating the air means you can't use air temperature to provide feedback via a thermostat.

[Gib Bogle]

All that light ends up as heat, for what it's worth, which probably isn't much. Except for that that escapes out the window.

[Mike Tomlinson]

In article , AL_n writes

I think they're damn ugly, but if you're the type that likes to sit by the fire, they're more effective than a fan heater.

The halogen wotsits give localised heating, fan heaters warm the room. Different applications.

[Nightjar]

They are very effective when you want to keep warm in a large factory unit that it would be wasteful to heat throughout. If you want to warm the air in a room, a fan heater is the better choice.

Colin Bignell

[tinnews]

It *all* ends up as heat, only the light that manages to go out through the windows (very little I would guess) gets turned back to heat outside. Light hitting the walls, floor, curtains etc. simply warms those up very slightly.

The radiant heat from the halogen heater is often much more directed and can keep you warmer in a large room (if directed at you) than a fan or convection heater would.

[John Rumm]

as the others have said, they are not room heater, but *you* heaters.

I have one in my workshop - it also have hot air heating for frost protection, and that can be turned up for general heating when occupied. However the halogen is quite handy for taking the initial chill off when going in on a cold day, until the air temp rises. I agree about the light output though - they are brighter than I would have liked.

[js.b1]

The yellow-light halogen heaters are pretty crap and low wattage - but cheap. The =A315 or =A310 cheap-store 400W/800W things? Stood in front of one and felt next to nothing on one bar.

My experience of proper heaters are the =A3150-180 sealed type, they are

2kW, sealed IP rated, long wave infra red (faint red glow), wall mounted only at height, absolutely incredible - like walking into direct June sunshine. They do not heat the air, they heat you (or objects they are pointed out) which means for large open spaces they are *extremely* effective. The downside is the bulbs are quite expensive, and the switch on surge is quite high (just needs good quality controllers).

I recall M&S garden centre areas use the IR heaters above the counter, you get a suntan and immediately feel warm.

[John MacLeod]

There are two components to feeling comfortable using IR heaters

i) that you should be in the beam of radiant heat and ii) that the air temperature should be at least 50=BAF

And indeed the general principle that an air temperature of 50=BAF is the minimum for comfort inside, and that you CAN be comfortable at that heat, holds good whether you're talking about being in a beam of radiant heat or a current of warm air.

[Invisible Man]

I use ours as a personal heater. Just sit it near me if I need some sudden warmth in a cold room or if I get insomnia and get up for half an hour in the cold of the night.

I wouldn't contemplate using it as a room heater.

[Nightjar]

On 28/10/2010 23:28, John MacLeod wrote: ...

I make that 10C and it was colder than that at night in Bruges this weekend, but radiant heaters made it perfectly comfortable to eat in the outdoor section of the restaurants.

Colin Bignell