Electric Heating Systems

In this post, we are going to briefly look at the health benefits of Infrared Heating. Later posts will look at energy-savings and installation / building benefits.

Infrared heating is "heat - as nature intended". It is perhaps one of the most basic, original forms of heat known to man. Radiant heat is how we experience the heat of the sun.

An experiment at the John B. Pierce Laboratory, USA, clarified the human perception of radiant Vs convected heat:

"Test persons in a room with a temperature of 50°C (122°F) of warm air and cooled walls froze deplorably; when in a room with a temperature of 10°C (50°F) and warm walls, they broke into an unpleasant sweat. (source: Techn. Info “Strahlungsenergie – die Ur-Energie, neu entdeckt, TT Technotherm GmbH, Nürnberg".)

i.e. we feel comfortable feeling radiant heat, irrespective of the surrounding air temperature.

And indeed, because infrared heating does not heat-up the surrounding air this adds further health advantages to just "feeling well":

- No draughts to cause sudden chills, uneven layers of heat
- No stirring-up of dust or germs (hence the interest in Infrared Heating from Hospitals)
- Objects such as walls and furniture heat up, therefore dispelling any resident moisture. Therefore mould and mildew are discouraged.

Infrared heating stimulates the immune system and discourages disease that emanates from the combination of heat and damp (milder forms of Foehn disorder found in the tropics). Illness at the workplace increases with the presence of poor convection heating and cooling (and the usual imbalance between the two). Workplace asthma and bronchial infection are largely caused by convection heating and cooling systems and they are on the increase.