Infrared heating running costs.

What are the running costs of infrared heating? Infrared is a very energy efficient form of heating because it is heating you and not trying to heat the air, this will be warmed as a secondary effect, plus by using the latest technology and quality materials our panels will ensure outstanding and efficient performance. Infrared heating is affordable and simple to install with little disruption, whether in one room or the complete home .

As with any form of heating, running costs will vary depending on the construction of the building, the quality of insulation, and the natural heat retention properties of the building.

A comparison between infrared heating with an electric convection panel heater

Example. Heating a room of 12 square metres built by modern construction, having the heater on for 120 days at 8 hours a day, this roughly covers four months of winter. Using an electricity cost of 13 pence per unit.

Comparison example	Infrared heating panel	Electric convection heater
Initial purchase cost	£270	£120
Guarantee	5 Years	1 Year
Wear and tear in lifetime	Fitted in ceiling or high on wall so will not get damaged. No moving parts to  wear out.	Fitted low on wall, scratches or dents will occur in time. Moving parts wear out.
Operation	Silent	Quiet
Wattage of heater	600 watts	2KW or 2000 watts
Electricity units per hour	0.6 units	2 units
Thermostat savings	50%	80%
Total units used during the winter	288	1536
Electricity cost per winter	£37.44	£199.18
Total cost in year one	£307.44	£319.18
Running cost in year two	£37.44	£199.18
Running cost in year three	£37.44	£199.18
Total cost over three years	£382.32	£717.54

Infrared heating running costs. In our example a kilowatt hour of electricity costs about 13 pence per unit (this will depend on your tariff) then our 600 watt heater will cost about 7.5 pence per hour to run to get the room up to temperature, and as low as 3 pence an hour to maintain the temperature. An 850 watt panel will cost about 11 pence per hour to run to get the room up to temperature, and as low as 4 pence an hour to maintain temperature.

All electrical energy is used to produce heat, there are no lights, fans or noise, so our heaters are very economical and silent to run. A newly developed reflector technology allows 98% of the infrared rays to be radiated from the front of the panel.

Any additional savings to my heating bill?

Zone heating. Your electrician should be able to advise you about using programmers to have full control of your heating. Arrange zones where heating can be on to provide background warmth only, zones that require longer hours of heating, or zones that require a higher temperature. Many conventional central heating systems have a simple timer which controls all of the heating across the whole house, it comes on at 6 in the morning goes off at 8.30, comes on again at 4 in the afternoon and goes off at 10 bedtime. But actually do we need the living room toasty warm in the morning? When nobody goes in there until the evening! A zone programmer could save you money on your electricity bill by simply only heating the rooms which need heating and when you are using them.

Only heat rooms to maximum temperature when needed. If an 850 watt living room heater is on for 8.5 hours a day at 11 pence per hour that could cost about 94 pence a day to run, however if the same heater were only on for 4 hours it would only cost 44 pence to run, saving you 50 pence per day, over 200 days that’s £100 saved per winter!  The room may be fine with just a low background warmth whilst it is not in use, the programmer will modulate the panel to only draw power to achieve this lower temperature. Programmers also allow you to set up different  temperatures with a number of set points, so the heating can be programmed to come on low during the day just to prevent the room becoming very cold in the depths of winter and warmer in the evening. With any form of heating, it will always take longer to warm a room from a very cold start and more energy efficient to maintain some background warmth to the structure of the building. Infrared warms people and objects so it is warming the house directly and not just the air. At other times of the year there may be no need for any warm up period as the infrared can be felt on the skin.

Programmers should be altered to the heating needs due to the time of year, when the weather is particularly cold it may be better to have the heating on low for longer periods, and when the weather is chilly it may only be necessary to have the living room and bathrooms on. The regular use of zone heating will save energy and ultimately save money.

Turn the thermostat down. Infrared warms people and objects and not the air between, so warmth can be felt on the skin. Room thermostats can be turned down by one or two degrees and the room still be comfortably warm. By turning the thermostat down you will be using less electricity and saving money.

Lower energy consumption. Many convection heaters will use double the wattage amount of our infrared panels to heat a similar sized area. Infrared heating panels fitted to a programmer have low energy consumption and will draw down even lower once optimum temperature is attained by modulating. This will significantly reduce the energy cost to run our heaters.

Maintenance free. Infrared heating panels are maintenance free, there are no moving parts, so no servicing is required. Once installed there are no additional annual costs to be incurred other than the usual running cost.

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