| Perhaps you have decided to build an infrared | | | | throughout the sauna. One drawback of infrared |
| sauna in your own home or office, and you are | | | | radiation is that it doesn't travel very far, so the |
| now wondering about the different electric | | | | heaters need to be placed relatively close to |
| infrared heaters available to you. Or maybe you | | | | users. At the very least, the sauna room needs |
| are just curious about how infrared heaters work. | | | | to have an appropriate number of heaters for its |
| Whatever your reason for wanting to know | | | | area. Sauna users should be absorbing the light |
| more, this article is the perfect source for | | | | from all around them, including the back and the |
| infrared heating element information. | | | | front. |
| Infrared heaters are composed of thin, flat | | | | One important thing to understand is that infrared |
| sheets or plates. It is imperative with infrared | | | | heaters work differently than traditional saunas. |
| radiation that a large surface area is covered. The | | | | Traditional saunas are heated by means of a box |
| widest, tallest infrared heaters will generally be the | | | | filled with hot coals or rocks that heat up the |
| best at doing their jobs and effectively emitting | | | | sauna room. Heating elements reach surface |
| the infrared radiation the sauna needs. Some | | | | temperatures of up to 180 to 220 degrees F. |
| infrared heater manufacturers make infrared | | | | They generally require 30 to 90 minutes of |
| heaters that come in the form of incoloy rods, | | | | warm-up before they are fully hot and working at |
| but these will not be effective or efficient | | | | peak efficiency. Infrared heaters, however, are a |
| because of the small surface area that they | | | | revolutionary way to power a sauna. They emit |
| cover. | | | | infrared radiation, which is an invisible form of light |
| The vast majority of infrared heaters are made | | | | on the light spectrum. It directly heats objects, |
| out of carbon fiber, but there are ceramic and | | | | not requiring the air to get hot in order to work. |
| steel heaters as well. There are various claims out | | | | By eliminating the need to heat the air and just |
| there about what material is best for a heater, | | | | directly warming the people in the sauna, infrared |
| but one sure way to know how one heater | | | | heaters are able to work quicker, more efficiently, |
| stacks up against another is researching its | | | | and at lower surface temperatures than traditional |
| emissivity. Emissivity is the measure of an | | | | heating elements. Infrared heaters usually |
| object's ability to emit far infrared radiation. It | | | | measure between 110 and 140 degrees F while |
| ranges from 0 to a perfect blackbody 1.0. | | | | operating, and only require an average of 20 |
| Ceramic heaters have the highest emissivity | | | | minutes of warm-up before they are ready to |
| value, meaning that they are best able to emit far | | | | use. Their low surface temperature makes them |
| infrared radiation. Taking a look at the light | | | | more energy efficient (and therefore, |
| spectrum will show that there is both infrared | | | | cost-effective) to use by 30% to 50%. |
| radiation and far infrared radiation. Though any of | | | | There are some major differences between |
| the standard materials will heat the sauna, the | | | | traditional sauna heating elements and electric |
| health benefits of infrared will be most | | | | infrared heaters. Infrared saunas work in an |
| pronounced with ceramic heaters. | | | | entirely different way, so it stands to reason that |
| Placement of the heating elements in an infrared | | | | the heaters do too. Their construction, surface |
| sauna is also an influential factor in how well they | | | | area, and placement in the sauna all make a |
| work. Infrared saunas require multiple heaters so | | | | difference in their ability to function well. |
| that they are emitting radiation evenly all | | | | |