A study set out to test the effects of infrared heaters used in industrial buildings. Since infrared radiation is the kind we experience from the sun, the study found that the human body is able to withstand the typical amount of radiation emitted by the infrared heater. The study found that infrared heaters have many benefits, including greater energy efficiency and a better living environment due to the use of natural gas, the least damaging fossil fuel [source: Sage Journals Online].
When to Use Infrared Heaters
Infrared heaters do provide direct cost-efficient heating, but that doesn't mean you should forego central heating. Infrared heaters generally aren't meant to heat your entire home.
Instead, you're most likely to find infrared heating technologies in large spaces that must counteract frequent loss of heat, such as warehouses, garages and airplane hangars. These spaces often have large doors or other cavities that are opened and closed often. Infrared heat works well to keep these areas from cooling too much.
You're also likely to find them along production lines in factories, but infrared heaters aren't reserved for industrial sites and cavernous areas. Because of their ability to focus heat on objects and not just pump hot air into a room, they're useful in home construction or improvement projects, such as helping paint dry. Anytime direct heat is needed, infrared heat may be the answer.
You might even find infrared heaters in use at your local gym or spa -- infrared saunas are beginning to grow in popularity. New technology directs infrared rays toward bodies, warming them in a similar fashion as the sun's rays would, but without the UV rays. Saunas of the past relied on traditional methods of producing large quantities of heat to first warm the air and then the bodies in the sauna. Infrared heat skips the air and directly heats bodies far more efficiently.
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