Posted on June 17, 2010.
Quartz Infrared Heater: What's not to love? In case you have not heard, quartz infrared heaters are "hot" item this heating season. Although they have been about 20 years, the owners are now discovering this inexpensive heater that costs nothing to install or maintain and heats your favorite place of living for pennies a day.
At the heart of these infrared heaters are the quartz bulbs. They provide even, non drying, floor to heat and reduce the ceiling of positive ions in the atmosphere responsible for many respiratory problems.
Similar to incandescent lamps, quartz bulbs are formed by enclosing a tungsten resistance wire in a sheath of high purity quartz. The bulbs cost $ 5 - $ 15 each, are easy to replace, and last 5 - 7,000 hours, or 3-5 years.
The cost of electricity to operate an infrared heater is extremely low. A 1500 watt unit will consume about 18 cents of electricity per hour if run continuously.
However, a quartz heater infrared does not run continuously and cycles on only 50% of the time. This reduces the actual cost of operation of 9 or 10 cents per hour, or about $ 1 per day.
If you're heating a house made with propane gas, the savings could be substantial.
A contributor to the forum mobilehomerepair.com said he ended up spending more than $ 200 for gas last winter, simply lowering the thermostat to 62 degrees the oven and let its infrared quartz heater do the rest.
Similarly, if you own a bricks and mortar of the house, and want to save money by heating only your main living space, why spend $ 2,000 on a pellet stove, $ 700 more for the heater installation when $ 500 IR could get the same result?
Further savings can be achieved by adjusting the programmable thermostat to coincide with your daily schedule. Set it to turn on before you get when you leave for work, and back before you get home from work. Some units even offer weekday programming / weekend.
The security of a quartz infrared heater that heats the rivals of my favorite oil filled. In fact, the quartz heater not oil-filled radiator one better by offering a speaker cabinet that stays cool to the touch. It is a welcome advantage if you have children or curious animals.
