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Frequently Asked Questions
What is Infra-red?
Infra-red is part of the electromagnetic spectrum between visible light and radio-waves. It is invisible to the human eye but its heating effect is dramatic. Infra-red heating has the ability to heat people and objects directly, without the need to heat up the air in between.
Is Infra-red harmful or dangerous to health?
No. Infra-red is purely a heating effect. There are no harmful rays such as ultra-violet or microwaves involved. Shorter wavelengths also emit inside the visible spectrum and tend to be quite bright. This can be uncomfortable to the eye so larger industrial systems use shrouds to enclose the heating and stop direct viewing of the elements. Ruby or gold filters are used to block out most of the light for commercial heaters such as our Sunglow people heater. The Infra-red heating effect is not affected.
What are Infra-red rays?
Infra-red rays resemble light rays but are undetectable by the human eye. They are sometimes called heat rays and are given off by a high temperature heat source or 'emitter'. Emission of Infra-red rays increases as the emitter gets hotter.
How does Infra-red work outside?
Infra-red has the ability to heat people and objects directly so it is ideally suited for outdoor heating products like patio heaters and gazebo heaters. Infra-red does not need to heat the air so you are not 'heating the sky'!
How does electric Infra-red compare to gas heating?
Gas heating in general is less radiant than the shorter wavelengths of electric Infra-red so tends to be less efficient. There are far more losses associated with gas heating and by-products such as carbon monoxide and water can be a big problem. There are no by-products associated with electric Infra-red and performance does not diminish over time. Gas systems, in general, require regular specialist maintenance, which can be quite expensive. Electric infra-red requires no or little maintenance by comparison.
Why is Infra-red classed as 'energy efficient'?
The heat transfer of Infra-red is far more efficient than conventional hot air heating. Conventional heating requires a heater, which will first warm the air. The air in turn heats objects and people. The losses associated with this type of heat transfer are quite large. Infra-red rays heat objects and people directly so heat transfer is far more efficient. There are no lengthy heat up times because Infra-red is almost instant.
How can Infra-red help me with the climate change levy?
The climate change levy affects every business who uses energy. Heating is one of the most energy hungry operations in many businesses and switching from conventional heating to Infra-red heating usually means you will save energy. Less energy means less tax! If you are working towards an 80% reduction in the climate change levy, the adoption of energy efficient Infra-red processors is a recognised subject for including in your targets.
Why is Infra-red so good at drying water-based coatings?
All materials have their own absorption characteristics. That means they will absorb at certain wavelengths more than others. Water in the paint tends to absorb at about 2 - 4 microns. Our 'FLARE' medium wave Infra-red heater has a peak wavelength of about 2- 4 microns. This means that the absorbency of water almost exactly matched the emission of Infra-red from the FLARE heater. The water molecules absorb the Infra-red rays before the substrate or the paint and begin to vibrate. They very quickly get hot and rise from the surface where they are carried away by an airflow. This rapidly leaves the paint itself on the substrate in a dry condition.
Information used by permission from Infra-red Systems
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