3 Disadvantages Of Infrared Space Heaters

When you stand in direct sunlight, the rays warm up your skin and clothing because the heat is hitting you directly. Infrared space heaters work in pretty much the same way, delivering targeted warmth instantly. The energy these heaters emit travels as infrared waves toward a person or object and isn't affected by the surrounding cold. It doesn't matter if you're sitting outside on a patio or in a drafty room; the heat will reach you. For this reason, infrared space heaters are great gadgets for keeping you warm in a freezing office. They also don't mess with your air quality, since they don't dry it out or kick up dust.

However, the biggest advantage of infrared space heaters also leads to some common problems. The warmth is too targeted, meaning there's limited coverage and it only lasts as long as the heater is facing you. There's also a safety concern about what happens if you accidentally come into contact with an infrared space heater while it's operating. This is not to say that you shouldn't buy one; only that knowing its cons helps you temper your expectations and use it for the intended purpose.

Continuing with the sun analogy, it can only keep you warm if you are standing in the direct path of its rays. Step out of its line of sight, or if there's an object blocking its rays, you can get cold really fast because the air around you is still cold. After all, your skin and clothing can only absorb so much heat. That's the same with infrared space heaters. You need to be standing directly in front of them to feel the warmth. These heaters don't heat the air around you through convection, so they aren't an ideal solution for warming an entire room.

Compare this to a convection heater, which is designed to spread warm air around the room. During operation, cold air enters the heater and is warmed by a heating element or ceramic plate. The warm air rises, creating a cycle of hot air leaving the heater and cold air rushing in to replace it. So even in a small room, if you want to make the air around you warmer so you can, for instance, move around without feeling cold, an infrared space heater is a poor choice.

When you turn off an infrared space heater, you can instantly feel cold because there's no lingering heat. This is also a problem with convection heaters. Insulation wouldn't provide much help either in the case of the infrared space heater. The job of insulation is to slow down the rate of heat loss by keeping warm air inside while keeping the cold air outside and vice versa. Since the heater directs most of its warmth at what's in front of it, the rest of the room can still feel cold.

For lasting heating in a room, an oil-filled space radiator would be a better choice to overcome this major drawback of an infrared space heater. The radiator builds up warmth by slowly heating the oil inside it using an internal heating element. Once the oil gets hot enough, the heating element shuts off, and the radiator releases some of the stored heat gradually. At the same time, it will be warming up the air and keeping it that way. Not only does the warmth last longer, but it can also lead to energy savings that you can see when calculating the cost of running an electric heater. This is especially true if you have good insulation.

Infrared heaters have a grid or mesh in front of them to prevent you from accidentally touching the heating element. It's usually made from metal, which can get extremely hot during operation to the point that it can burn your skin. For this reason, it's not advisable to have an infrared heater near kids and pets. Keep in mind that space heaters in general can be a fire hazard when trying to stay warm during the winter. So it's extremely important to follow other safety precautions, like not plugging it into a power strip.

To prevent burns, you can look for infrared heaters with a feature known as a cool-touch grille. These are safer against instant burns since the grille doesn't get hot to the touch. Manufacturers usually advertise this as a safety feature, like in the Sharper Image Infrared Cabinet Heater, which costs $229.99. However, if you accidentally touch a cool-touch grille, don't keep your hand there for too long, because it can still eventually burn you since it's close to the heating element.