The Art of Heating
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Freestanding Glass Heater
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How Infrared Heating works
Feeling warm and feeling cold does not actually depend on the air temperature around us. For example climbers and skiers are bathed by the sun’s infrared rays, so they don’t freeze even in very cold air.
This form of infrared heat is experienced directly on our skin and from rays also reflected by other objects that surround us (snow, stones, earth etc.). When an infrared wave touches a surface, heat energy is released regardless of the air temperature.
Infrared Rays
What are infrared rays? Infrared lies just beneath the visible light range in the electromagnetic spectrum, with its rays striking molecules – causing them to oscillate. We feel this as warmth and unlike shorter Ultra Violet waves, infrared has an extremely beneficial effect on us.
Infrared waves do not require a means of being carried, such as through air or water. They travel as easily through the air as they do through outer space and they produce heat only upon making contact with a surface such as the earth or a wall.
How Infrared heating units work
When rays from the sun hit an object they warm it so in the same way, when radiation from an Infrared heater hits an object (wall, ceiling, floor, door, ornament etc), it usually warms it. It is in fact either absorbed or reflected but Infrared waves continue to radiate through a room until all their energy is absorbed and all objects have warmed up.
Think of an infrared ray as a bouncy ball – you will know that if you drop a bouncy ball, it gradually bounces lower and lower until it stops.
This is because each time it hits a surface, a little of its energy is absorbed by that surface. The absorption of infrared radiation is very similar – the infrared waves jump around until their energy is absorbed throughout the room.
Infrared waves first hit the top layer of stone or brickwork and most of this energy reflects back into the room. Only a sixth of the energy is lost by absorption into the masonry approximately.
The history of Infrared Heating
Heating by infrared radiation is as old as the discovery of fire. Stone, clay and tiled stoves all make use of Infrared.
Actually the first heating system ever was the Roman hypocaust, which functioned solely by infrared. A chamber was built which enabled steam to travel under floor tiles. The floors became warm and radiated heat into rooms, whilst the air temperature remained unaltered and fresh.
A tiled stove is another example of heat radiation. A strategically placed stove will warm the inside of a house’s walls, increasing their surface temperature yet leaving the temperature of the air in the room cool.
With the environment being at the forefront of many of our minds these days, age-old heating methods are finding their way back into modern homes. Only the way in which infrared radiation is produced (with electricity) is new. Ecological products can help achieve clean, healthy, energy-saving heating.