Halogen Heaters

Infrared Halogen Heaters, are relatively cheap to buy & run and so have become the latest affordable technology in domestic Electric Heaters as Electricity Prices rocket to record levels. For years, Infrared quartz heating tubes have been present in food warmers and those heated glass serving counters which you see in shops and bakeries, but now they have found their place as a portable electric heater.

Infrared Halogen heaters, are similar to the old electric fires, in that they have two or three ‘bars’ which emit heat, however the bars used in an Halogen Heater are quartz glass light tubes rather than the spiral wires used by the old electric fires, so their ability to ignite materials within close proximity is reduced (although great care should still be used in their operation). Infrared Halogen heaters also emit quite a large amount of useful light, unlike the old radiant electric fire bars which gave out a dim red – orange glow. Another advantage is that the heat from them is instant.

Infrared Halogen Heaters are also designed to heat people directly similar to the rays from the sun, rather than heat the entire air space within the room, and so they should be considered personal heating rather than space or room heating and whilst Halogen Heaters will still give off a small useful amount of radiant heat into the room, being infrared they are far more effective at direct or spot heating people, rather than being used to heat the entire room, which makes them very suitable for difficult to heat areas or rooms with poor levels of insulation.

In real terms, this could mean using half of the Electricity to keep warm simply by swapping a 2400w convector heater for a 1200 watt halogen heater. Which would essentially halve your energy bill without sacrificing comfort.

	1200 Watt Halogen Heater 3 Bar, 400w, 800w, 1200w Ideal for Bedroom / Home Office £21.99	Buy Now
	1600 Watt 4 Bar Halogen Heater 400,800,1200,1600 Watt Settings Ideal for Living Room or Kitchen £29.99	Buy Now

Halogen heaters come in various models & styles ranging from 1 to 4 bars. Each bar of an Halogen Heater is rated at 400 watts, so running two bars would consume 800 watts, 3 bars would be 1200 watts etc. The bars are individually switched to allow the heat output to be tailored for comfort, and so I would advise buying either a 3 or 4 bar heater for most applications, as a 1 or 2 bar may not produce enough heat during colder winter periods.

Halogen Heaters work in a similar principle to those Electric Outdoor heaters that you see in pub beer gardens and outside pavement cafe’s where they are intended to heat people seated directly in front of them, and on this basis Halogen Heaters are by far the best choice of heating for poor insulated, older buildings or open areas such as Garden Sheds, Caravans, Awnings, Workshops, and in buildings, flats, shops and houses where poor levels of insulation would make attempting to heat the air within the building with Electric Space or Convector heaters extremely expensive, and so it makes much more economical sense to actually concentrate on heating the person, rather than the entire airspace.

Infrared Halogen Heaters should therefore be the first consideration by anybody living in poorly insulated accommodation, or who are already facing large energy bills as a result of using more traditional forms of heating such as Convectors, Fan Heaters and space heaters which may currently be proving ineffective and expensive

Halogen Heaters are also popular with those with Caravans or Tourers, as these types of heaters are portable, compact and have a relatively low current draw which means they can be used with current limited 6A and 10A electrical hook ups on camp sites.

Halogen Heaters are often cleverly marketed as being a cheaper form of heating in respect of electricity running costs, and whilst Halogen Heaters – thanks to their basic and simple design, are relatively cheap to buy, their running costs are no different to any other Electric Heater with the same electricity consumption. So whether you have a 1200W oil filled radiator or a 1200w Halogen Heater, the running costs for both will be exactly the same.

In other words, for 1200 watts input, you will get exactly 1200 watts of heat output whatever type of Electric Heater you use, as they are all 100% efficient, its just the delivery method of the heat that is different between the two examples, as the Oil Filled Radiator will first heat its oil and then the air within the room using natural heat convection, whilst the Halogen Heater will heat whatever is in front of it (i.e you) without having to draw energy to first heat the room space.

So although the cost of running different types of heater is the same there are subtle differences in how the heat from an Electric Heater is felt depending on which type of heater used, and for example a 1200W Halogen Heater pointed directly at you, will heat you faster and more effectively than a 1200W convector heater located at the other end of the room, as the convector heater has to first heat all of the air in the room space between you and it, whilst the Halogen Heater directs heat onto you from the second it is switched on, and doesn’t have to heat the room or the airspace first, and this is why Halogen Heaters are much better suited for use in cold, drafty rooms or poorly insulted buildings, where the heat from the room would quickly escape through the walls and ceilings where traditional heating was used.

Some Halogen Heater manufacturers, cleverly market their design to make them appear more economical than other forms of heating, by using slogans such as ‘costing less than 4p per hour to run’ and whilst, on a competitive Electricity Tariff this is correct, you have to examine how they have reached this figure. In order to cost 4p per hour, you would only be realistically able to have 1 lamp, of a 3 lamp halogen Heater in use, and this would equal around 400 watts of heat. Unfortunately, in real terms, during a cold spell, 400 Watts of heating would do little to heat you, or keep you comfortably warm for any period.

Therefore it is much more likely that you would be using 2 (800w) or 3 (1200w) tubes on your Halogen Heater, which would cost roughly between 24p and 36p an hour to run (based on 30p per kwh as of Oct 2023).

However because the halogen heater is heating you directly, you will actually feel more benefit from 800 Watts worth of Halogen Heat pointed at you, than using the same 800 Watts attempting to heat the air in the room, and this method of heating would cost far less, than running a 2000w convector heater which would cost 60p per hour compared to the 800 watt halogen heater costing 24p per hour.