Infrared heater lamps - applications

Infrared heat lamps are comparatively new, or at least comparatively innovative when it comes to affordability and domestic product applications.

An infrared lamp uses infrared rays to radiate heat onto any physical surface that falls within its path.

Put simply, the infrared rays heat up any object onto which they fall, but they “do not” heat up the medium through which they pass, primarily the air.

This creates an interesting dilemma in that most situations that require artificial warmth also requires the raising of the surrounding air temperature, something that infrared lamp heating devices do not achieve.

For this reason, using an infrared heat lamp as a garden, patio or camping heater will have questionable results as the heat will only be enjoyed by those in the glare of the heater. There are however certain products where this unusual kind of “radiated only” heat can be of a big advantage.

A great example of how this technology can work in an extemporary way is the domestic sauna.

Home saunas are often located in a disused room in a house and, although a window will normally be present, no special ventilation will be available.

The problem with home saunas is that, in order to heat up the body of the sauna taker, they require high temperatures. When these temperatures are generated by conventional heaters they often come hand in hand with high humidity. (The hotter the air, the easier it is for it to take in water vapour.)

Naturally, this is not desirable in a house and it can lead to damp and a wet “after atmosphere” along with other undesirable conditions.

This is where an infrared heat lamp can come into its own. This kind of heater will quickly make the skin of the human body hot and sweaty (a sauna requirement), but without increasing the sauna’s air temperature or humidity.

In effect, it tricks the body into thinking that the air is hot by raising the temperature of the skin.

These infra red sauna heaters have become very popular and can now be purchased as a component included in a domestic sauna kit.
As previously mentioned, the other main infrared heat lamp application is the patio heater. In this situation these heat lamps do have some limitations, but they offer cheap running cost and require nothing more than the flicking of a switch to get them working.