New heating system with a twist

mayblue

I'm chancing my arm here asking if anyone has ever heard of "Far-Infrared Heating System" or has this type of heating installed in their homes.
I just found a site that talks about this new type of electric heating which seemingly not only reduces energy consumption by 70% but also improves your health (same heating benefit of the sun but without getting burnt or tanned :P )

For anyone who would like more information, here's the site, but if someone has heard of this or has direct/indirect experience with this system, could you please give me your feedback? Thanks

http://www.purchase.ie/product-detail.php?id=122

franb7111

far infared is just light at above 700nm (opposite end of the light spectrum from ultraviolet less than 200nm) Visible light runs from 200-700nm. I looked at the web site and would be a bit doubtful about their health claims and heating the water in your body etc. as IR light would not penatrate deeply in the skin or through your clothes. That said i don't know abot there system, i think its really just a fancy red light like the ones used keep young animals or chickens warm

bikerboy_ie

I saw something very similar to this the other day in a large nationwide electrical wholesaler. Nice heat coming from it too!

Lantus

Heating from these types of panels has been around for decades. Using electricity is typically more expensive so I'm naturally suspicious when they say it's cheaper.

IR basically works like the sun as they say but the air temp can be quite low. If you have an older house that is leaky and not very airtight then you might struggle to get a comfortable living condition. Also, when you switch it off all the heat is gone as it does not heat the air up, so you'll need it on all the time rather than say rads that heat up the house for 30mins in the morning and then 30 at lunchtime and then 30 at night typically in a faily modern house to keep the air temp at around 20.

If your taken by them find someone who has had them installed for a few years and talk to them. Take into account their house type.

RavenII

I'd avoid that...you'll spend a fortune running it as the basic cost is electricity at full price about 17c per kW hour.

(water based rather than electric)Floor heating is also radiant heat and from a better position in the building (warm body, cool head etc) but you can use much cheaper heat sources then to provide the heat such as a heat-pump or boiler etc

vicar1

Hi, do you have any direct experience of these panels and how expensive is the initial cost? Thanks