Herschel Inspire IR heater on the bathroom ceiling - good or bad idea ?

mmmmikey

I have an IR heater in my bathroom and it's superb and definitely one of my better buying decisions. Because the heat is radiated you feel the benefit a few seconds after flicking the switch. Most electric heaters work by convection - i.e. they heat the air. So you have to wait for the air to warm up before you feel the benefit. It was quite chilly this morning with the air temperature in the bathroom down to 16C but even at that I was still comfortably warm after stepping out the shower. It's easy to be sceptical but it really does work. I think you've made a wise choice which you won't regret.

Scot_39

Netexporter said:

I think an IR heater controlled by a movement/IR sensor might be a good solution. No point in having an IR heater on when there's nobody in the room.

Surely it will heat the floor / walls etc - any surface - and they will heat the room. 

Ceiling mounted IR might not be the best choice for short term heat the person anyway if want head to toe heating.  If you stand directly underneath surely it's rays will miss most of the body.

But for me they seem very  expensive anyway for secondary heating.

mmmmikey

Scot_39 said:

Netexporter said:

I think an IR heater controlled by a movement/IR sensor might be a good solution. No point in having an IR heater on when there's nobody in the room.

Surely it will heat the floor / walls etc - any surface - and they will heat the room. 

Ceiling mounted IR might not be the best choice for short term heat the person anyway if want head to toe heating.  If you stand directly underneath surely it's rays will miss most of the body.

But for me they seem very  expensive anyway for secondary heating.

Yes, they do heat the room up as you describe. The various surfaces heat up and warm the air that then circulates round the room, so once they've been on for a while they will have taken the same amount of energy as any other heater to bring the room up to an even temperature. The difference is that if you're in the room you absorb the heating effect directly so you get warm much quicker.

Another consideration in a bathroom where you have a heater that works by heating the air is that at the same time the heater is warming the air any extraction fan will be sucking some of it outside. This makes IR heating more efficient in the bathroom because more of the heat goes in the room and less outside.

The heating rays don't all go vertically downward so as long as the panel is not very small and directly over the spot where your standing you get the benefit.

As far as the purchase cost is concerned, at least some of that will be recovered through lower running costs and even if not you benefit from a much improved heating experience.

As I said in my previous post it's easy to be sceptical about this and theorise about why it's not worth it, but speaking from a position of actual practical feeling the warmth experience I can say with confidence that this is a bit of heating technology that has worked very well for me indeed.

QrizB

Scot_39 said:

Netexporter said:

I think an IR heater controlled by a movement/IR sensor might be a good solution. No point in having an IR heater on when there's nobody in the room.

Surely it will heat the floor / walls etc - any surface - and they will heat the room.
Ceiling mounted IR might not be the best choice for short term heat the person anyway if want head to toe heating.  If you stand directly underneath surely it's rays will miss most of the body.

You're treating it as a point source of heat, but you're forgetting that you're not in a void; you're in a room.
It's more like being inside a microwave oven. There's an IR heater source above you which will heat your head and shoulders directly, bit there's also IR reflected from the walls and floor that will heat the rest of you. This reflected IR won't be as intense as the direct rays, but still contributes.

matelodave

Irrespective of the merits or not of infrared ceiling heaters, Herschel seem to be around twice as expensive as others on the market, so what do you get for the extra £200+ over and above the cost of other IR ceilings heaters.

have a shufti here - https://www.infraredheatersdirect.co.uk/ceiling-mounted-infrared-heaters/

Personally I would opt for something a bit cheaper and if it doesn't doo the job then you haven't lost quite as much - in the end a heater that produces 1kw and costs £600 is no more efficient and wont produce more heat than one that costs £250. 

Netexporter

Scot_39 said:

Netexporter said:

I think an IR heater controlled by a movement/IR sensor might be a good solution. No point in having an IR heater on when there's nobody in the room.

Surely it will heat the floor / walls etc - any surface - and they will heat the room. 

Ceiling mounted IR might not be the best choice for short term heat the person anyway if want head to toe heating.  If you stand directly underneath surely it's rays will miss most of the body.

But for me they seem very  expensive anyway for secondary heating.

Yes, it will indirectly heat the air eventually and very expensively. Hence the movement/IR switch.

Yes, a "broiler lamp" will only boil your head, that's why large panels are more appropriate, so you get the heat from a wider angle, to heat more of your body.

IR is the best source of heating for poorly insulated spaces, such as garden centres, or other intermittent applications where you want to warm people rather than the whole space.

RNV

Thank you for all the comments. I think I have convinced DH to try. Believe for our niche needs of some extra instant comfort heat in the bathroom IR may work.

Kind of settled on Herschel Comfort range (not Inspire) - as a token of supporting UK industry [made in Bristol, although using German name and heating elements so not quite British but suppose this is better than nothing]. 

We are looking at one panel of 60x60 cm; 420 W.  Compared with the cheapest [I believe it is Ecostrad model], to achieve the same output a bigger size (= heavier as well) is needed which is kind of a problem because even less space is then left for lighting  [Ecostrad 90 x 60 cm gives 400W;  and half the warranty].  For one panel only, I will not really achieve any "life changing" savings so price is not the main deciding factor.  

With Bank holiday, cannot order until Tue now. Builder is coming on Mon, so will have a chat with him before ordering. Installation wise, IR seem very simple but will need to rearrange ceiling lighting to fit the panel.