Power Source

Infrared heaters can be powered by a couple of sources: you can have electric infrared heaters as well as natural gas and propane infrared heaters. They come in several different styles, but the most common style is a wire mesh that is heated by the power source and gives off the radiative heat. The heat is emitted via electromagnetic energy waves which largely pass right through the air (a negligible amount of heat is actually absorbed by particles in the air, but this is less than 1% of the total heat emitted).

Indoors Use

Infrared heaters are a good choice for indoors heating and can even help you save some money on your heating bill. The best thing about infrared heaters is that they work very quickly – much quicker than a convection heater) since they don’t have to heat the air in a room before you start to feel the heat. You can generally feel the heat from an infrared heater as soon as you turn it on. Many people are turning on to infrared heaters for indoors use and choosing a quartz infrared heater has become very popular lately.

Outdoors Use

In addition to being useful for many indoors heating situations, infrared heaters are also a great choice for outdoors heating. Due to the uncontrolled air currents outdoors, conventional heaters that use convection to heat the area are inefficient and ineffective outside. As the heat given off by infrared heaters is independent of the air currents – and even passes right through them – infrared heaters are both efficient and effective for outdoors heating. This makes them a popular choice for heating outdoor areas, like patios, gardens and waiting areas (such as outside restaurants). Reviews of infrared heaters in these outdoors situations have been very positive.

One attribute of infrared heaters is that the heat they give off dissipates quickly when the heater is turned off, due to the fact that the air itself has not been heated. This is useful for situations where the temperature needs to be strictly controlled, such as food preparation. Turning the heater off effectively ends the heating process, allowing for more responsive and immediate temperature control. This also means that infrared heaters are generally not the best choice for areas that need to be heated indefinitely. If you need to heat a room or building all day for several days at a time, then an electric or propane convection heater would most likely be a better choice.

Overall, infrared heaters are somewhat situational and not suitable for every heating need, but they are also very efficient and quiet, and can prove to be effective heaters in the right spot.

Spelling

Quick note on the spelling: it’s infrared heater, not infared heater.

There are a couple of different types of electric heaters and they vary in the method in which they produce heat. Each type of electric heater has its own unique advantages and disadvantages to being used in a particular situation. Sometimes one type of heater will do a better job for a situation, and sometimes another type of heater will be better suited for the task at hand. Let’s take a look at what the differences are between the various types of electric heaters and see what you should consider before buying one.

Types of Electric Heaters

There are four distinct types of electric heaters: convection heaters, fan heaters (also called forced air heaters), radiant heaters, and infrared heaters.

Convection heaters use the natural properties of air and convection to heat the space they are in. The heat given off by the heating element is naturally absorbed by the surrounding air, which then rises as it becomes less dense. The colder, more dense air flows down to take its place near the heating element, becomes warm, rises, and the cycle continues. Electric baseboard heaters are commonly convection heaters, as are many electric space heaters.

The advantages to this sort of heater are that it runs almost silently, is very efficient, and does a very thorough job of heating all the corners of the room that it is in. In addition, since convection heaters warm the air in the room, the temperature in the room will stay constant for some time even after the heater is turned off. This allows the heater to switch off periodically to save energy.

The disadvantages of convection heaters are that they can take a good bit of time to heat a room – since the warm air will rise to the ceiling first, it can take some some before you will be able to feel the warmth the heater is producing.

Fan heaters, or forced air heaters, are quite similar to regular convection heaters, but they use a fan to facilitate the process. The warmth given off by the heat source is pushed into the surrounding air by use of this fan, which can speed up the heating process considerably. The disadvantage to using fan heaters is that they are somewhat less efficient and have some operating noise from the fan.

Radiant heaters are a very simple type of electric heater. They generally have a single heat source – a heating element encased in a glass tube, strongly resembling a large light bulb – that is partially surrounded by reflectors to angle the heat away from the body of the heater. The reflectors allow you to aim the heat directly to where you want it to go, making radiant heaters great for outdoor work and any situation where you need to direct the flow of heat.

Radiant heaters use electromagnetic waves to emit heat, rather than using air currents. The heat they produce is transmitted via electromagnetic, or infrared, waves that travel through the air until they reach a solid object. The waves are then converted to heat. This means that radiant heaters do not heat the air in a room, but rather only heat the objects in it. What this means in a practical sense is that you will feel the heat from a radiant heater much more quickly than from a convection heater, in fact almost instantly.

Disadvantages of radiant heaters are that, since they do not heat the air in a room, the heat they give off dissipates very quickly once the heater is turned off. This means the heater has to run constantly to keep a room or space warm. Another downside to radiant heaters is that they do not heat a room evenly. The heat is far more intense close to the heater, in contrast to convection heaters, and this can lead to people near the heater being too hot while people on the other side of the room are still cold.

The last type of electric heater is called an infrared heater, and it is essentially the same as a radiant heater. Both use a radiant heat source to emit infrared waves that are converted to heat. The main difference between infrared heaters and radiant heaters seems to be a marketing choice: electric radiant heaters are generally marketed as radiant heaters, and gas propane radiant heaters are generally marketed as infrared heaters.

Using An Electric Heater

The primary drawback to using electric heaters is that they require a steady supply of electricity to function. If your power were to go out, due to a storm or other similar event, then your heating will go out as well. For this reason, if you live in an area that gets a lot of winter storms, it is wise to either use gas or propane heating as your primary heat source (and have electrical heating for back-up as needed) or make sure that you invest in a good generator to power your heating should the power go out. If you have an electric hot water heater, that is also something to consider needing a back-up for.

Other things to consider when deciding on which type of electric heater to use are where you’ll be using it – convection heaters work great indoors, but are much less efficient outside – how long you need the room to be heated – convection heaters are more efficient over long periods of time than radiant heaters – and the size, location and shape of the building or room to be heated.

Power Sources

There are two main methods for classifying heaters: the power source they run on and the method in which they heat a room or space. Let’s look at the different power sources heaters can run on first. There are three varieties of heaters in this category: electric heaters, gas heaters and propane heaters. All heaters use one of these power sources exclusively and cannot be run on another power source.

Electric heaters run solely on electricity and this can be both an advantage and a disadvantage, depending on your situation. The advantages to using an electric heater are the high efficiency of those heaters, the low costs associated with running them, and the ease and convenience of using electrical power – anywhere you have a plug, you can use the heater.

The main disadvantages to using electrical heaters are that they are limited by the availability of electricity – you will have a hard time using one in the outdoors, for instance – and if your power goes out, your heat will go out with it. This can be a very bad thing if you live in a place that has a lot of winter storms. You don’t want to have your power go out and take your only source of heat with it.

Gas and propane heaters run off of natural gas (methane) and propane (which is a petroleum derivative), respectively. The primary advantage to using gas and propane heaters is that they can continue to run even if there is no power. For this reason, it is generally recommended that you use a gas heater or propane heater as your primary heat source, and have an electric heater as a backup. In addition, if you want to use a heater outdoors, for instance at a job site, then a propane or gas heater will be much more convenient.

The disadvantages to using gas and propane heaters is that they can be less convenient than electric heaters (especially indoors), they are generally more difficult to install and set up, and gas and propane often cost more than electrical power.

Method For Generating Heat

The other way in which heaters are classified is the method they use for generating heat. There are four varieties here: convection heaters, fan heaters (also called forced air heaters), infrared heaters, and radiant heaters. Convection heaters and fan heaters are similar in how they work, as are infrared heaters and radiant heaters. Let’s take a look at what makes them tick.

Convection heaters use the principles of thermodynamics and the convective properties of air to heat a room or space. The power source (whether it’s electricity, gas or propane) is applied to the heating element in the heater (usually a metal bar of some sort) which then heats up to a significant temperature. As the temperature of the heating element increases, it gives off heat into the surrounding atmosphere, which is absorbed by the air. As we all know, hot air rises and that is what allows convection heaters to heat a room. The air that is warmed by the heater rises and displaces cooler air. The cooler air flows down to the heater, becomes heated and then rises itself. This cycle then repeats indefinitely.

Advantages of using convection heaters are that they are very efficient, virtually silent, and do a very thorough job of heating a room. In addition, since convection heaters actually heat the air in a room, the heat they give off remains in the room after the heater is turned off. This allows for more efficient use of the heater, as they do not have to be running constantly. Disadvantages of using a convection heater are focused primarily on the length of time they take to heat a room. Since they rely on natural air currents to heat a space, it can take some time for the heat they generate to reach all of the corners of a room. (Or to be more correct, the heat they generate can be felt quickly, but it is going to rise to the top of the room first. This can be good to know if you are trying to heat a very high-ceilinged room.)

Fan heaters are similar to convection heaters in that they also use the conductive properties of the air to transmit heat, but fan heaters use a small fan to force the air through them, rather than letting the natural air currents carry the heat. This means that convection heaters can heat a room more quickly, but it comes with a cost of lower efficiency and some noise from the fan.

Radiant heaters are fundamentally different from convection and fan heaters, and use different scientific principles to emit their heat. Rather than transferring heat into the air, radiant heaters emit heat in electromagnetic waves (also known as infrared waves) which travel through the air until they encounter a solid object, such as a person, a wall, or a piece of furniture. The object then converts the electromagnetic waves into heat.

The main practical difference between radiant and convection heaters is that the heat given off by radiant heaters is not absorbed by the air. It travels through the air until it is absorbed by a solid object. This means that the heat given off by radiant heaters is felt much more quickly than convection heaters (almost immediately), as the heater does not have to heat the air in the room first.

That point is the main advantage to using a radiant space heater. The space or room you need heated will feel warm much more quickly. Other advantages to radiant heaters include greater efficiency outdoors, as the heat they give off is not carried about by the wind, and a greater ability to direct exactly where you want the heat to be applied. There are a couple of disadvantages to radiant heaters. First, in contrast to convection heaters, the heat radiant heaters emit dissipates quickly when the heater is turned off, as the air itself has not been warmed. This means the heater has to run pretty much non-stop as long as the heat is required. Second, although the heat emitted by radiant heaters is directional, people and objects closer to the heater will be much warmer than people and objects further away. This can lead to people close to the heater sweating, while people on the other side of the room are still shivering.

Infrared heaters are essentially the same as radiant heaters – they use the same scientific principles and generate and emit heat in the same manner – and the main differences are simply marketing decisions. Most heaters that are called “infrared heaters” are powered by gas or propane and are designed for commercial or industrial use, while most heaters called “radiant heaters” are powered by electricity and are designed for home or personal use. They may look different, but other than the power source there is very little practical difference between the two.

Other Heaters

There are many other names under which heaters are sold, but these names usually just refer to the specific purpose they are designed for, and don’t reflect a new or different power source or heating method. Space heaters simply heat a space (or room or house or building), patio heaters heat a patio. Wall heaters are installed on the wall, and baseboard heaters are wide and short and run along baseboards.

Deciding On A Heater

When you are ready to buy a heater, consider both the power source and heating method used to make a wise purchase. If you are going to heat indoors, then an electrical heater might be the best choice, unless it’s going to be the only heating source available, in which case you might want to consider a gas or propane heater. If you are going to heat a room for long periods of time, then a convection heater is probably best, but if you only need the heat for a short amount of time, then a radiant heater might work fine.