A couple of years ago we manage to topple over an old night storage heater while decorating the holiday apartment we own. Given that three of us couldn't even lift it off the floor, and reasoning that the elements and/or internal blocks would have been damaged we replaced it with an infrared heating panel.
Although we weren't living there, only visiting the apartment to clean between guests, it quickly became apparent that the apartment felt much warmer than when we had the old storage heater. It warmed the uninsulated concrete floor (laid with parquet, unheated garages below) which always used to feel cold. The installation was a little awkward, because the only practical place to mount it was on the wall alongside the dining table pointing down the length of the c.5m long room, meaning that anyone sitting at the dining table got the full blast. However, it did seem to make a good job of warming the whole room, which was important for us as we had paying guests. The other advantage is that we didn't have any complaints about room temperature, nor we did have to second guess the weather which was necessary with the storage heater.
The downside came with the power bill - up by 33% over a year. This is probably due to us being advised to run it 24/7, although we did turn it off during the few brief spells when we had no guests. It was a 1kw panel, which is relatively high for infrared panels. If we had been living in the apartment I would probably have installed a timer, but adding complexity to holiday lets is almost certainly going to end in tears!
In retrospect, I think it would have been better with ceiling-mounted panels, although they would have looked unsightly, as it's possible that we could have placed two lower-powered panels in strategic places such as in the dining area and in the lounge area, rather than using one to throw the heat the length of the room. When we revamp the bathroom in our own house, I'm planning to find some way of using one to provide auxiliary heating in the room, as they are so quick and easy to install, and gave impressive results in our apartment, but I wouldn't leave it on all the time, as it warmed our room so quickly I don't think it's necessary.
|
