Infrared heating experience?

movilogo

Does anyone have experience of infrared electric heaters?

I moved to a new home where there are some rooms having warm air heating (was common in 1960s). Other rooms are heated by conventional GCH. I have the option to fit radiators in other rooms (which require digging pipes) or use stand alone electric heaters like infrared heating panels which will work from simple electric sockets.

grumbler

In terms of efficiency all electric heaters (except heat pumps) are same, e.g. much more expensive than gas CH.

I don't have much experience, but I think IR heaters can be good only for heating your body locally, not for heating a room when they are no better than any other electric heaters.

Ebe_Scrooge

Infrared heaters are good for situations like a small home office, since they heat the person rather than the whole room.  But they're not generally suitable for heating the whole room in the same way that a "conventional" heater does.  For general central heating, an ordinary gas boiler with radiators will be far cheaper to run than electric heaters.  You've got to factor in the initial cost of adding pipework and radiators, of course, but it would more than likely be worthwhile.  As well as adding value to the house when/if you come to sell.

movilogo

Is there any other type of electric heating where I can heat the whole room? If I install GCH in all rooms, I need to do that in one go. But if using electric heater, I have the option to buy a heater for one room, experience it and then make a decision whether to buy further electric heating or go for GCH.

grumbler

movilogo said:

Is there any other type of electric heating where I can heat the whole room?

Any electric heater heats the entire room. It's just a matter of its power. I'm sure there are many online calculators for estimating the power needed for heating a room. And it doesn't matter whether this power is for a CH radiator or an electric one.

daveyjp

A 2 or 3 kw convector heater will be adequate for most typically sized rooms.  From about £30.

movilogo

I already have couple of electric heaters like this.
https://www.daewooelectricals.com/cooling-heating-c14/heating-c56/all-heaters-c62/daewoo-2000w-convector-heater-p159

I was thinking of something better (if exists). 

grumbler

Define 'better'.

As I said, it's only the power that matters, and for a plug-in heater the power is limited by 3kW. If 2kW is insufficient, buy 3kW or or  use 2x2kW.

Fan heaters have lower inertia and heat a room faster (not better).

Ebe_Scrooge

movilogo said:

I already have couple of electric heaters like this.
https://www.daewooelectricals.com/cooling-heating-c14/heating-c56/all-heaters-c62/daewoo-2000w-convector-heater-p159

I was thinking of something better (if exists). 

What do you mean by "better"?  You could buy a 3KW fan heater from Argos for a few quid, that would be "better" inasmuch as it'll kick out more heat that your existing 2KW heater (3KW is the limit for anything plugged into a standard 13-amp socket).  But you do need to understand that using standard-rate electricity is the most expensive form of heating there is (storage heaters using cheaper off-peak rates are slightly better, but that's not applicable to your current situation).

And all electric heaters are 100% efficient, for a given heat output they all cost the same to run.  The only difference is how they deliver the heat - a fan heater kicks out heat pretty much instantly, and stops the moment you turn it off.  An oil-filled rad takes a while to warm up, but will continue to give off hear for a while after it's switched off (plus, you don't have the noise of the fan).  But in terms of running costs, there's no difference at all.

movilogo

By better I meant an electric heater which feels like GCH radiators. 

Ebe_Scrooge

movilogo said:

By better I meant an electric heater which feels like GCH radiators. 

Probably an oil-filled rad would be your best bet then.