Hi, if you just haven’t got a clue what size infrared heater you need and you don’t know how to do this for your particular room size then fear not!  You can just use my handy infrared heater calculator I’ve developed below.

Introducing my infrared heater calculator

If the thought of measuring stuff fills you with fear and dread, please let me assure you that my infrared heater calculator is super simple to use and will tell you what size heater you need in under 30 seconds.

That’s my promise to you.

All you need to do is go grab a tape measure or you can “rough it out visually, or by striding it out.

That sound fair enough?

So, in the most simplest way of understanding this, you need to know 3 measurements of your room basically, the width of the room, the height of the room and the length of the room.

If you somehow have a circular room, or triangular room or any other strange shaped room then just approximate and you will be near enough.

How to use my handy infrared heater calulator:

You will need to measure the width (or height or length, no matter what all 3 measurements need to be taken, in metres.  There are roughly 3 feet to a metre (I know I know, I said “roughly”.. you don’t need to be critically accurate!).

The image Ive made below should help you out.

Do you want to know which infrared heater to buy? 

You can check out our buyers guide and list of the current best ones on the market by clicking here.

We recommend you choose a heater or set of heaters that when added up are much more than the suggested figures in the calculator.  Better to have too much and then you can simply adjust the thermostat down to a nice temperature.

The worst case scenario is to find out that some days you want more heat and your current infrared heater couldn’t produce extra heat to get there, so try and aim for a higher wattage wherever possible.

So, let’s be honest here, are infrared heaters actually worth it?

This guide will help to get rid of any nagging doubts in your mind about these heaters.  Hint: they’re great for anyone with breathing difficulties.  Oh and yes they also give you instant heat, great for cold feet!

What kinds of infrared heater are there and which should I look out for?

Outdoor infrared heaters – or patio heaters.

These can be free standing or wall mounted or even ones that just sit on the floor.  Below is an example of one type that hangs down over a seating area (you can click the images if you like the product, it will take you to Amazon Uk for further details, and will open in a new window so you don’t lose this page):

Wall mounted infrared Panel heaters – some have pictures on them

These infrared picture wall heaters can be hung on a wall.  Some are plain White in colour and others have pictures on them so it looks like part of the rooms design!

Infrared heat lamps – personal space and accurately directed infrared heat

For ultimate portability, and for warming up a precise space where you are sitting without the expense of warming up unused spaces.  Below is a firm favourite:

Fancy an infrared mirror heater in your bathroom?

Technology has really advanced in recent years.  There are now infrared bathroom mirrors.  Some have infrared heat demisters on them (so the glass always stays clear), along with Bluetooth (to play your favourite music) and LED lighting.  Others perform as both a regular mirror and at the same time giving off pure infrared heating to heat objects in the room.  Please see below.

Radiant tuber heaters and also BTU propane / gas powered

The best radiant tube heaters can vary in price widly.  There are some used for garage heating where the gas powered heaters give out a huge amount of heat.  Expect over £1000.  Other radiant tube heaters are in line with many other infrared heaters price wize and all come down to personal choice.

Life expectancy of infrared heaters

Quality of workmanship might have been an issue many yuears ago when rules were less regulated but now with Uk product laws things have to meet certain guidelines.

That said, the only real part that may need replacing would be a Quartz infrared tube on certain infrared heaters.  These tubes do have really good life times anyway, as much as 60,000 hours, and as low as 15,000 hours.

If used for 12 hours a day, this is still 3 and a half years up to 13 and a half years of use (and thats at 12 hours a day every single day).

However it’s very unlikely you’ll use these every single day, especially during summer, so you can effectively triple these figures, assuming you’d only use them during the coldest of months and for anywhere from 8 to 12 hours each of those days.

So in all honesty, you’re looking at bulbs that last a good 8 to 10 years minimum, assuming all other parts work flawlessly.  Superb value.

Infrared heating panels disadvantages

If you are going to make a decision to have infrared heating in your home, you want all the facts, right?  I did when I invested in some for our home garden office.

So here are some reasons why an infrared heater might not be the best option for you, and a few things to think about before you go ahead.

• Is your room simply not feeling the heat? You have to think about the positioning of the panel.  Remember the heat is radiant and heats things directly in it’s path first.  So if your panel heater is wedged in behind a sofa, the sofa will warm up first before eventually spilling out into the room.  remember how we talked about the Sun being infrared heat?  It’s just the same, when you stand in it’s path you feel the heat more, and it takes far longer to heat areas where the line of heat is not direct from the heat source.
• Is your room not a straightforward square shape?  For L shaped rooms you might want to install 2 infrared heater panels instead of one larger panel.  This way each panel can be directed to the parts of the room that get the most heat.  For example point one at your seating area.
• Is the heater too warm or too cold?  Choose an infrared heater that has a thermostatic controller on it.  We always recommend you choose a heater with a higher wattage rating on it – you can always turn it down to suit the room, but you can’t turn up a smaller panel that’s already maxed out!
• You’ve purchased cheaper units that are not well known.  This shouldn’t always be the case, but some cheaper imported panels may not be “LOT 20” compliant (Tradeskills explains what this is).  Essentially they may not fall under Uk efficiency guidelines.
• You were hoping for cheaper electricity bills.  If you’re comparing these to a previous central heating system you may be left feeling a little disappointed.  This may be because you are now heating rooms which previously never had an heating installed, so you’re now using extra consumption of the heat.
• It can take longer to heat up.  Typically, convection heaters heat the air in a room but aren’t very efficient.  Open a window and see how fast that heat escapes!  However with an infrared heater panel, the panels heat objects in direct line of sight of the panel, so other walls, floors etc first and the heat is felt this way.  The good thing about this is that the heat stays in the room for longer. Explore the world of payid online pokies australia for an exciting and secure gaming experience. With PayID, Australian players can enjoy quick and easy deposits.  Open a window and it won’t take long at all to get it nice and warm again afterwards as the heat is within objects and not lost in the air.

Disclaimer:

While we have tried extremely hard to provide you with a proven factual result, this calculator must only be used as guidance.  We have built this calculator and used a standard formula to work out the figures.

Our calculations are as follows:

width of room x length of room x height of room – total cubic metres of room.

Example: 2 metres x 2 metres x 3 metres high = 12 cubic metres.

12 x 25 = 300.  Then adding on 20% for older houses, or taking off 10% for newer houses.

We then take this figure and multiply it by 25, then take the end figure and apply a percentage of between “10% less watts needed” to “20% more watts needed” depending on how old or new the property is.

If in doubt always go for a bigger and better infrared heater (you can always turn the temperature down to suit).