Radiant Heaters

Radiant Heater Buyer's Guide

Keeping your home warm and cozy is an ongoing battle if you have a family. Someone always seems to be cold, and someone always seems to be hot. If your home has central heating and air, then the thermostat is a battleground. Lines are drawn in the sand, treaties are torn asunder, and signs of peace have all but faded long ago.

One way to bring the war of ice and fire to a close is to bring another heating solution to the table. You'll find the peace talks to be successful when you bring a supplemental heater into the mix. The cold one in your family gets the heat they need. And the hot-blooded person can breathe easily not living in an oven anymore. All thanks to a radiant heater.

What Is a Radiant Heater?

Radiant heaters use the same type of warmth we all feel each time we step outside. The Sun warms the entire planet with radiant heat. A radiant heater will warm up an element, and that heat you feel coming off that element is radiant energy, a.k.a radiant heat.

Your stovetop also uses radiant heating. Some of the best radiant heaters are portable too, and you'll see many radiant heaters used outdoors. Radiant heaters can use gas or electricity for power.

What are the Benefits of a Radiant Heater?

Radiant heaters are great for a specific purpose, like when you want to warm people nearby. Radiant wall heaters can keep a single room warm. There are also portable radiant heaters to keep a single person warm as well. It's for those cold nights in front of the TV. Grab a blanket and a radiant heater, and you're all set. Take it outside too! You'll find many of your favorite restaurants use radiant heaters on their patios.

For personal heating, there's nothing better than a radiant heater.

Ceiling surface-mounted radiant heater

Before You Buy

While radiant heaters are great for keeping you warm, they are not great at keeping your family warm. Radiant heaters do a poor job of heating large spaces. If you're in the market for a whole-home heating solution, you may be better off with a furnace.

We mentioned earlier how your stovetop is a radiant heater. Now imagine trying to heat your home with your stove. Some households use radiant heating in the floors and walls and ceilings, but the issue you'll face is incomplete warmth. People with ceiling mounted radiant heaters often complain about the heat on their heads/shoulders and not on their bodies.

Configuration Options

Radiant heating solutions are malleable when it comes to configurations. You'll find mountable and portable radiant heaters that can work in any home.

Mountable

• Ceiling-mounted - You'll find these heaters for interior and exterior spaces. They are more subtle than wall-mounted heaters. Outdoors, these can cover larger areas.
• Wall-mounted - Perfect for outdoor spaces, wall-mounted appliances put the heater right in the area to be heated. This configuration can come with brackets and swivels, letting you affect an even larger area.

Radiant heater mounted outside a restaurant

Portable

• Pole-mounted - Unlike ceiling or wall-mounted, pole-mounted heaters can be portable. You can move a pole-mounted heater to the space you want to heat and put into storage at the end of the season. Pole-mounted can also be stationary. Electric radiant heaters can be plugged in or connected directly to the electrical system. The same goes for gas. You can find pole-mounted appliances that use propane tanks or connect to a gas line.
• Small room heaters - When it comes to radiant heaters, these are the perfect example. Small room heaters do just what the name implies, heat a single room to perfection. You'll find many small room heaters are portable, too. Bring it to the den, to the bedroom, the reading nook, wherever, and give yourself the heat you need.

Bromic portable radiant heater

Controls

Radiant heaters come in many different configurations. Because of this, they offer you a bunch of different control options. You'll find on-the-unit controls, remotes, zone control systems, and smartphone controls.

• Smartphone - Yes, we are in the 20s now, and you can control some space heaters with a smartphone. Out of all the control options, this is the most convenient. It also offers you the most options for your appliance. Some manufacturers will give you variable controls like timers or the ability to change the intensity of the heat.

Infratech smartphone heater control

• On-the-unit - These controls are standard and usually consist of a simple on/off switch or a knob that controls the heat output. On-the-unit control is the most simple to use and understand.
• Remotes - Some radiant heaters, especially outdoor ones, will give you access to a remote. It works just like your TV remote does. Simply point, click, and there you go. You're warming up. Not all remotes look like your TV remote, though. You will see some that connect via cable and others can be wall-mounted like a light switch. Some brands like Infratech will give you many remote options.
• Zone - This one is a little more complex in its use. Zone controls work best in outdoor situations where there are multiple heaters in different spaces or "zones". If you want to heat one area but not the other, zone controls give you that power. These work best in commercial situations and are the most expensive to set up. You will need a professional if you opt for a zone control solution.

Infratech multi-heater system controls

Leading Brands

You should probably know about the best brands in the industry before you haul off and buy a radiant heater. Sunstar, Bromic, Empire, and Infratech are great places to start looking for the best radiant heaters. They are also super popular. You've no doubt seen one of these radiant heaters out and about. Maybe at a friend or family member's house or out on the town at a top-quality restaurant.

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