On Sat, 29 Oct 2011 16:51:02 -0700, Pete wrote:

On Sat, 29 Oct 2011 11:14:04 -0700, Pete wrote:

I need to boost the heat in our bathroom because our forced air heating
system is set to 65-68 degF. The heater needs to run on 120V, so 1.5kW is
the limit.

Am i better off with an infrared heater such as this one:

http://tinyurl.com/3glupt3

or a ceiling fan heater such as this one:

http://tinyurl.com/44mohz6

or a plain vanilla wall mounted fan heater?

Any suggestions/experiences appreciated.

Thanks all for the suggestions.

I only need the extra heat when using the shower or tub. There is already a
250W heat lamp, but it is useless because the ceiling is higher than
normal.

I'm leaning towards the 1500W ceiling-mounted infrared heater, for several
reasons:

1. It avoids the room warm-up time of a fan heater.
2. You don't have to close the door to keep the heat in.
3. There should be a lot less heat lost via the room's extractor fan
(expecially if a fan heater and extractor fan are in the same unit).
4. It has no moving parts to break down.

(1, 2 and 3 apply because infrared heaters mostly heat objects, not air)

On the other hand, I'm guessing:

1. The warmth from an infrared heater is a lot less uniform as you move
around the room.
2. Infrared heaters are less suitable for thermostatic control (again,
because they don't heat the air much).

Time for some experiments!

For completeness, I should add another advantage of infrared heaters:

5. They are silent.

--
Pete