Traditional Heating vs Infrared Heating

What is meant by 'traditional convection heating'?

  • The term “convection heating” refers to a type of heater that uses convection currents to heat and circulate air within a room.
  • Several types of radiators and heaters fall under the heading of “traditional convection heating”: standard ‘wet’ radiators (heated by oil or gas), electric storage heaters, electric fan heaters, oil-filled electric heaters, etc.
  • The primary difference between convection and infrared heaters is the way in which they transfer heat

Traditional convection heater

  • Warms the surrounding air, rather than objects and people in the room.
  • The spread of heat is uneven and slow. Heat rises to the ceiling where it is not needed, and easily escapes through draughts. The air can feel stuffy.
  • Less energy efficient, because a convection heater needs to heat large volumes of air.
  • Less environmentally friendly.
  • More expensive. At least a third more energy is required to heat a room using convection heating.
  • Can cause, prolong and aggravate various health issues (allergies, respiratory issues, circulation). These problems arise because convection heaters heat the air rather than the objects. This circulates dust particles around a room, and creates condensation and mould when warm air is moved towards cold surfaces such as windows.

Infrared heater

We reccomend infrared every tme.
  • Warms the objects and people in the room directly, rather than the surrounding air.
  • The spread of heat is even and almost instant. The radiant heat waves transfer directly to objects and people in the room and are instantly absorbed by them. The feeling is similar to stepping into sunshine.
  • More energy efficient, because it converts all of the electricity it uses into heat.
  • Better for the environment– carbon neutral; almost zero energy wastage. A great partner for additional green measures such as solar panels. [For further information, see the section on ‘Low Carbon Heating’.]
  • More cost effective. As infrared heaters can heat the objects rather than the air, they do not waste energy in the way that convection heaters do.
  • Has multiple health benefits and can tackle the many health issues impacted by convection heating. This is because infrared heaters heat the objects in a room rather than the surrounding air. [For further information, see the section on health benefits.]
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