Far infrared panel heaters

Does anyone have any knowledge or first hand experience of far infrared panel heaters?

Came across them by chance and got me wondering if they're any good?

We've recently moved into an old stone cottage (built around 1830), which isn't on mains gas and so has an oil fired boiler central heating system. The boiler looks fairly old and I would imagine I'll have to replace it before too long and so on seeing these I wondered if they might be a viable alternative.

The marketing material tries to throw a lot of 'science', numbers and way too many references to random articles/publications which makes me a little suspicious or am I just overly cynical?

The ones I came across are https://www.herschel-infrared.com/ although there seems to be a number of manufacturers.

Paul.

Please, someone with experience chime in on this - I'm interested (just lit the wood fire in the dining room as I'm working from home and it's bloody freezing this morning).

does that mean the fabric of the house will not be warmed up? isn’t it only humans or wood/metal that absorb the radiated heat? of have i got that wrong?

I think they suggest water is a good absorber of far infra-red radiation so we will be heated in preference to the fabric of the house which will largely reflect the rays back into the room. Similar to microwaves which preferentially heat water.

The stuff on the website clearly claims that they heat the fabric of the building rather than the air, giving the effect of a "360-degree radiator". Never heard of these before and they certainly look interesting.

I have one that I use in the garage and it is OK - does seem to keep me warm but doesn't chuck out a lot of hot air. Not used it for a few years as moved house and the garage was warmer and then the boiler has been relocated to the garage but it used to come out every winter for years. In those conditions better than a fan heater for sure.

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Originally Posted by DMC102

The stuff on the website clearly claims that they heat the fabric of the building rather than the air, giving the effect of a "360-degree radiator". Never heard of these before and they certainly look interesting.

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Yes they do sound very interesting, was hoping someone on here had them already and could provide an insight or had more scientific knowledge than myself and could corroborate/debunk the marketing blurb.

Paul.

You'd still need your boiler for hot water though no?, so if it needs replacing, you still need to do that.

According to their own website, they cost more to run than a traditional gas central heating setup
https://www.herschel-infrared.co.uk/...aving-heaters/
Oil costs about the same as gas, ish, when i average out my last 8 years or so

Also, you'll only feel the real heat benefit when in line of sight of a heater, have anything in the way, sofa, table, chair, and you'll feel cold.

These are probably a good option to replace old electric storage heaters, or to install in a shed/garage/man cave/outbuilding, but i wouldn't rip out a radiator central heating system in a house for them

Brighty

I was thinking just have an immersion heater for hot water, don't really tend to use that much anyway since we have an electric shower.

You're probably right though, if it sounds too good to be true it generally is. The write up suggests that other objects in the room heat up and radiate their heat out to heat the whole room although it would obviously feel warmer directly in front of a panel.

We do not have them to heat the house but have panels in a Sauna, they do not emit heat as such in terms of warm air but will heat you up. It is a weird heat in that you do not really feel it as an intense heat but feels like when you are sitting in the sun and the warmth on your skin. For our sauna it takes approx 15 mins of sitting there before you get the full effect, but this is different to heating a house.

I would be sceptical to be honest about heating my house in this way as although it might penetrate your softer furnishings I would suspect the house would still be cold, I would also be nervous of things like water pipes in the really cold weather. as I am sure these would not bee heated by FIR radiators.

I've seen them used quite effectively on farms keeping lambs warm.

Our house has neither Oil or Gas and apart from a coal fire is all electric, we have Gabarron Heaters in some rooms and a couple of Suka Heaters and use an emmersion heater for the water and an electric shower. We live 700ft up the side of a hill in Wensleydale in a house thats a couple of hundered years old, the walls are a couple of feet thick and our electic bill is less than £600 a year. It would be even better if we had solar panels! Given your choice though I would be tempted to replace the boiler.