I bought this heater in combination with a 2000W mica heater for comparison after my house main heating system died and has to be repaired (try to find a tech guy that touches old gas heaters...).First off, it is not all far infrared. This heater has quite some convection heating going on too. Which is good.Sitting in the "light" side, meaning, in front of the heating panel lets you feel the radiation heat being absorbed by your skin. But on the "shadow" side, meaning on the backside or anything left or right or on top of it, as well as on the backside, things very much stay cold. My room thermometers stay 4 to 7 degrees C lower than the heaters thermostat, because they are on the "shadow" side of the heater. And the convection is maybe 20% max. on this type of heater.This heater is one-directional. The backside stays relatively cool and is fully covered.It has holes on its backside for wall- or if you are dangerously brave, ceiling mounting. Some spacers for that are included. Screws or other installation material are NOT. Considering the low range of the heating, it is most likely many buyers will use it standing nearby anyway - not on a wall far away not giving any radiation heat any more.On first use, open the windows for at least 10 minutes. It has a sweet chemical smell that fades slowly after 30 minutes of maximum power usage. After 10 minutes it is low enough to be safe, I think.The best part of this heater is that it is really and completely noiseless. No mains power frequency hum, nothing.And it seems quite safe. The top side is getting hot enough than you can burn yourself by touch. But 1cm away from the case the temperatures are safely low.Apropos case. It is a very stable steel frame (mine came with some plastic or steel parts rattling around on the inside), with a hexagonal front mesh out of steel with the flimsiest standing feet you can get. Which also have no rolls, in comparison to the advertising pictures. But since this heater is not very heavy, you can live with the cheap plastic feet. Unless you have children or pets which might fall or lean against the heater itself or kick it over.The thermostat is controlled by two infrared sensors on top of the heating element inside the case. Aprox. on the 1/4th and 3/4th position of the width. And since convection heat is just a small portion of this heating system, you get cold instantly when the thermostats turn off because they "sense" 24 degrees C when the rest of the room has only 16 degrees C. A sad disadvantage of this heating type. And bad placement of the temperature sensors, considering the take up the temperature of the IR reflection and the convection from the front grid itself (which explains the inaccuracy).And everything is depending on these not very accurate working sensors / thermostat, because you cannot control the heater otherwise. Turning the power off means for the heater, that if you turn the power on again, it stays off until you press some touch sensitive (resistive) buttons on the right side of the case to turn it on. So you will not be able to control the heater by a smart plug connected to a smart thermometer in the room.So compared to the mica heater I also bought, you either set the thermostat to 30°C and hope for the best or freeze.And the heat instantly goes away, when it turns off. The convection heat is just a too small portion to keep up. Objects radiated by the far Infrared cool off immediately. And that is why it feels weak. (Like you are OK when standing in the sunlight on a cold temperature and windy day and then a cloud shadows the sun.)So on the plus side, absolutely silent. Does what it should do - if you are sitting in front of it and over-set the thermostat. Even tho the infrared range is very, very limited and does not heat up objects apart from yourself, or rather your skin, very well.On the negative side, the convection heat part is very small. And, I know, this is the principle of this heating type. But that also means you instantly get cold when the thermostat of the heater turns it off.Also, absolutely make sure you understand that this heater is only efficient in a sense of conversion of electricity to heat (when it is turned on). It is not really efficient, just because it has a conversion rate near to 1 (no infrared or resistance type heater is). That objects, that get radiated by the far infrared, do not really turn that radiation into heat is very dependent on the (colour, porosity, structure, density, conduction, size...) surface that the heater is "shining" on. That is probably the reason they choose a black steel mesh with enough "blocking" surface to turn some portion of the IR into conversion heat. And I probably do not want to re-decorate my room just to find surfaces that conduct the radiation to heat just to be warm. The most human reaction I would see is for buyers of this heater to turn it to at least 30°C on its thermostat while sitting in a 16°C room and 6 months or a year later heads explode because of the electrical bill. So be careful or rather mindful - or at least buy a power plug consumption meter for 5 to 10 bucks with it, so you can easily see what you or rather the heater is doing for (and against) you and your electrical costs.No pictures needed on this review, but imagine the advertised pictures without the rolls on the feet. You get no rolls.Keep the manual, do not trash it. While the main functions are quite self explanatory, others are not, like the sensing of an open window and how you have to reset that off-state by hand every time (more annoying than useful in my opinion).Also, please make sure you understand that running this heater for an hour on full power means that you have to pay 2KWh to your power supplier for that hour. If you want to use this for a longer time or frequently, make sure to raise your monthly electrical fees to meet the usage.For me in that emergency use case that would mean a whopping a hundred forty five Euros (at 25 cents per KWh) electrical costs per month just to heat one 20m² room. Ouch!Right now, with a heat pump plus installation cost more than 25k, it seems the motto is, repair old now, buy new when it is cheaper. Just a shame you have to kill your CO2-bill and the next or 2nd next gens life expectancy with that. Great choices!
Ta grelec sem kupil v kombinaciji z 2000W sljudnim grelcem za primerjavo, potem ko mi je glavni sistem ogrevanja hiše odpovedal in ga je bilo treba popraviti (poskusite najti tehnika, ki se ukvarja s starimi plinskimi grelniki...). Najprej, ni samo daljno infrardeči. Ta grelec ima tudi precej konvekcijskega ogrevanja. Kar je dobro. Če ga postavite na "svetlo" stran, kar pomeni, da pred grelno ploščo, lahko občutite, kako vaša koža absorbira sevalno toploto. Toda na "senčni" strani, torej na zadnji strani ali kjerkoli levo ali desno ali na vrhu, pa tudi na zadnji strani, stvari ostanejo zelo hladne. Moji sobni termometri ostanejo 4 do 7 stopinj Celzija nižje kot termostat grelnika, ker so na "senčni" strani grelnika. In konvekcija je pri tej vrsti grelnika morda največ 20 %. Ta grelec je enosmeren. Zadnja stran ostane relativno hladna in je popolnoma prekrita. Na zadnji strani ima luknje za stensko ali, če ste nevarno pogumni, stropno montažo. Nekaj distančnikov za to je priloženih. Vijaki ali drug montažni material NISO. Glede na nizek doseg ogrevanja je najverjetneje, da ga bodo mnogi kupci uporabljali stoječega v bližini - ne na daleč stran od stene, kjer ne bo več oddajal sevalne toplote. Ob prvi uporabi odprite okna za vsaj 10 minut. Ima sladek kemični vonj, ki po 30 minutah največje moči počasi izgine. Po 10 minutah je dovolj nizka, da je varno, mislim. Najboljši del tega grelnika je, da je resnično in popolnoma tih. Brez brnenja omrežne frekvence, ničesar. In zdi se precej varen. Zgornja stran se dovolj segreje, da se lahko opečete na dotik. Toda 1 cm stran od ohišja so temperature varno nizke. Kar se tiče ohišja. Gre za zelo stabilen jeklen okvir (moj je imel nekaj plastičnih ali jeklenih delov, ki so ropotali naokoli v notranjosti), s šesterokotno sprednjo mrežo iz jekla in najkrhkejšimi stoječimi nogami, kar jih lahko dobite. Ki se tudi ne valjujejo, v primerjavi z oglaševalskimi slikami. Ker pa ta grelnik ni zelo težak, se lahko sprijaznite s poceni plastičnimi nogami. Razen če imate otroke ali hišne ljubljenčke, ki bi lahko padli, se naslonili na sam grelec ali ga prevrnili. Termostat krmilita dva infrardeča senzorja na vrhu grelnega elementa znotraj ohišja. Približno na 1/4 in 3/4 položaja širine. In ker je konvekcijska toplota le majhen del tega ogrevalnega sistema, vas takoj zebe, ko se termostati izklopijo, ker "zaznajo" 24 stopinj Celzija, medtem ko ima preostali del prostora le 16 stopinj Celzija. Žalostna pomanjkljivost te vrste ogrevanja. In slaba postavitev temperaturnih senzorjev, glede na to, da zaznavajo temperaturo IR odboja in konvekcije s same sprednje rešetke (kar pojasnjuje netočnost). In vse je odvisno od teh ne zelo natančnih delujočih senzorjev/termostata, ker grelca sicer ne morete upravljati. Izklop napajanja pomeni, da grelec, če ga ponovno vklopite, ostane izklopljen, dokler ne pritisnete nekaj gumbov na dotik (uporov) na desni strani ohišja, da ga vklopite. Grelnika torej ne boste mogli upravljati s pametno vtičnico, priključeno na pametni termometer v prostoru. V primerjavi z grelnikom iz sljude, ki sem ga prav tako kupil, termostat nastavite na 30 °C in upate na najboljše ali pa zmrznete. In toplota takoj izgine, ko se izklopi. Konvekcijska toplota je premajhen del, da bi jo lahko vzdrževali. Predmeti, ki jih seva daljni infrardeči sevalnik, se takoj ohladijo. In zato se zdi šibek. (Kot da ste v redu, ko stojite na soncu na hladen in vetroven dan, nato pa oblak zasenči sonce.) Torej je na pozitivni strani popolnoma tih. Dela, kar bi moral - če sedite pred njim in prenastavite termostat. Čeprav je infrardeči domet zelo, zelo omejen in ne segreva predmetov razen vas oziroma vaše kože zelo dobro. Na negativni strani je del konvekcijske toplote zelo majhen. In vem, to je načelo te vrste ogrevanja. To pa pomeni tudi, da vas takoj zebe, ko termostat grelnika izklopi. Prav tako se prepričajte, da razumete, da je ta grelnik učinkovit le v smislu pretvorbe električne energije v toploto (ko je vklopljen). Ni zares učinkovit, samo zato, ker ima stopnjo pretvorbe blizu 1 (noben infrardeči ali uporovni grelnik ni). Dejstvo, da predmeti, ki jih seva daljni infrardeči žarki, tega sevanja v resnici ne pretvorijo v toploto, je zelo odvisno od površine (barve, poroznosti, strukture, gostote, prevodnosti, velikosti ...), na katero grelnik "sije". To je verjetno razlog, zakaj izberejo črno jekleno mrežo z dovolj "blokirne" površine, da del infrardečega sevanja pretvori v pretvorbeno toploto. In verjetno ne želim preurejati svoje sobe samo zato, da bi našel površine, ki prevajajo sevanje v toploto, samo da bi bilo toplo. Najbolj človeška reakcija, ki bi jo videl, bi bila, da bi kupci tega grelnika nastavili termostat na vsaj 30 °C, medtem ko sedijo v sobi s 16 °C, in bi jim 6 mesecev ali leto kasneje glave eksplodirale zaradi računa za elektriko. Zato bodite previdni oziroma bolj pozorni – ali pa si vsaj kupite merilnik porabe električne energije za 5 do 10 dolarjev, da boste zlahka videli, kaj vi oziroma grelec počne za (in proti) vam in vašim stroškom elektrike. V tej oceni slike niso potrebne, a predstavljajte si oglaševane slike brez zvitkov na nogah. Zvitkov ne dobite. Shranite priročnik, ne zavrzite ga. Medtem ko so glavne funkcije precej samoumevne, druge niso, na primer zaznavanje odprtega okna in kako morate vsakič ročno ponastaviti to stanje izklopa (po mojem mnenju bolj nadležno kot koristno). Prav tako se prepričajte, da razumete, da če ta grelec deluje eno uro na polni moči, morate dobavitelju električne energije plačati 2 kWh za to uro. Če želite grelec uporabljati dlje časa ali pogosto, poskrbite, da boste mesečne stroške elektrike zvišali, da bodo ustrezali porabi. Zame bi to v tem primeru nujne uporabe pomenilo kar sto petinštirideset evrov (po 25 centih na kWh) stroškov elektrike na mesec samo za ogrevanje ene sobe velikosti 20 m². Joj! Trenutno, ko toplotna črpalka in montaža staneta več kot 25 tisoč dolarjev, se zdi, da velja moto: staro popravi zdaj, novo kupi, ko je ceneje. Škoda le, da moraš s tem zmanjšati račun za CO2 in življenjsko dobo naslednje ali druge generacije. Odlična izbira!
