What if every light switch in your home controlled every lightbulb in every room? You’d basically have two choices at night – light up the whole house or sit in the dark.
Sounds crazy, right? Who would want that? Not many, I’d guess. It also would not be very energy efficient. Yet this is how central heating works (in essence). If you want more heat in the living room in the evening, you have to turn up the heat in every room. Unoccupied rooms during the day get more heat just because you’re cold in your office, ad nauseam. Arbitrarily changing the heat for the occupants of other rooms not only can affect their comfort levels but also start a thermostat battle.
Forced air systems, even energy efficient mini-split systems, are also limited in effectiveness because of a fact about ambient air temperature. Cool air readily travels from the source throughout a home since it flows down where everyone is. But warm air begins to rise as soon as it enters a space. And, with central air systems, heat is lost as it travels through ducts. Closing the register in an unused room just means the heat will move through the ducting to that room, cooling down the whole way, only to have no access and, therefore, to wasted effect.
In contrast to hot air, far infrared light is the invisible part of sunlight that heats the land, water, etc. directly. Then, the heat is shed into the air. So, just as we simulate the visible light of the sun with electric lighting, we can do the same with the heat of the sun using technology that shines far infrared light into our spaces.
Infrared radiant heat allows for room-by-room control. A warm bathroom doesn’t affect a cooler, unoccupied bedroom. A boost of cozy warmth in the family room on movie night doesn’t affect the temperature of the laundry room. Since one of the most significant factors in both comfortable and energy efficient heat comes down to control, infrared radiant heat can maximize efficiency without sacrificing comfort.
Think about what happens when you need to change a lightbulb. You take the old one out and put in a new one. And, just like changing a lightbulb, only the room it is in is significantly affected. Whereas, if your furnace, heat pump, or mini-split system fails, your home will be left in the cold until a repair or replacement can be made.
As such, when you think about infrared radiant heat, approach it like you might approach lighting — room by room control. Infrared radiant heat will help you achieve maximum comfort while using as little energy as possible to get the job done.
For more information, contact us at info@mightyenergy.net or 206.880.1558