The new Heating revolution for your Garden-Room

Infa Red heater in garden room

Last year we wrote a blog-piece about heating your garden-room & ran through several heating systems for modular buildings and the traditional heating solutions available.  Naturally, as with any other room in the house, a garden-room does require a heating source and we’re continuously looking for new and efficient heating systems which can reduce our clients energy consumption and compliment the beautiful space.  Over the course of the last 12 months we’ve been introduced to a new and revolutionary heating system which has fast become one of the primary systems we are now installing for clients who have invested in Granny Annexes, spare guest bedrooms, home extensions, garden-room offices and eco-lodges on their property.

If you’ve not come across this system before, you certainly need to; as the most efficient form of heating available today, the cost savings alone are significant (we’re talking pennies, not pounds here!) and the health benefits are worth taking into consideration.

A favourite photograph – rendered onto the heating panel within the garden-room

What is Infrared Light/Infared Heating?

Infrared light is the reason why we feel warm when the sun is shining upon our skin on a cool day.  Conventional wisdom would suggest that if the air temperature were cold, then you too would feel cold. However the infrared waves emitted by the sun travel unimpeded through space, and warm any object they hit, including your body.

Infrared is a form of electromagnetic radiation that sits just beyond the red end of the visible light range of the electromagnetic spectrum. We often hear the word radiation and then automatically associate it with being harmful, but in fact, radiation is just a process of energy emission. Just like visible light radiation, infrared radiation is 100% safe.

How does this compare to traditional heating methods?

Conventional heating in the home works by warming up the air around people and objects; so for instance a radiator does most of its heating through air movement directly around it which circulates around your garden-room; often stirring up dust and reducing the air quality.  As the hot air begins to cool down it drops down back to the floor level. This cold air gets heated again and this process keeps repeating itself – this is known as convection heating.

InfaRed heating is referred to as ‘radiant heating’ and, put simply, radiant heating heats solid objects directly rather than heating the air.  Since you are heating a surface area of the building rather than a volume, this infers a smaller heating capacity requirement if you go with infrared hence you can get away with a lower wattage.

Panel 1.1m high x 1.3m wide heaters – sited on the wall – smaller panels and mirrored panels are also available.

Another key benefit of radiant heating is that when you turn off the heat source it takes far longer for the space within your garden-room to cool down.  If the heater is warming an object with a high level of thermal mass (such as a large item of heavy furniture or a wall) This object will then slowly release this heat back into the room long after the heating has been turned off.

If infrared waves come into contact with humans, they will travel about an inch into the body providing a feeling of deep heat, but even if you are not directly in the way of the waves, any solid body will vibrate when the waves hit them, causing them to radiate heat back towards you. If you’re using your garden room as a garden-office and are spending all day sitting at a desk, our suppliers inform us that infaRed rays promote circulation and boost your immune system.

There are also no direct emissions associated with using electrical infrared panels (and if you use them in conjunction with solar panels you get 100% emission free heating).

Is this the optimum choice for your Garden-Room?

– Our clients get the benefit of ‘custom printing’ on panels – so, the panel can be hung on the wall like a canvas, with a printed image of your choice

– Reduced energy consumption, thereby reducing your energy bill significantly

– Healing and Health – we’ve linked to a few sources here citing the perceived health benefits of InfaRed:

http://www.chimachine4u.com/fir2.html  Japanese InfaRed Medical Facts

 http://infraredtechnologies.co.uk/health-benefits    Infared Technologies Health Benefits

http://www.livestrong.com/article/149715-benefits-of-infrared-heat/    Livestrong – Benefits of Infared Heat

http://www.globalhealingcenter.com/natural-health/health-benefits-of-far-infrared-therapy/   Global Healing Centre

http://farinheat.com/benefits/  Farinheat, Health Benefits of InfaRed Heating

Of course, this is one of the numerous systems which can be intergrated into a Rotunda Roundhouse Garden-Room so if you have any questions relating to a project you’re embarking on please give us a call and speak with Joanna or Philip on (0161) 222 3350 or email us info@rotunda.co.uk