Far Infrared Heating review: a customer keen to share the benefits

One of the best ways to understand whether a new product or service is right for you is through feedback from other customers. Direct customer testimonials can provide a real insight into what infrared heating is and whether its suitable for you. That’s why we jumped at the chance to visit our customer in his stunning rural home in the Cotswolds – Mark was so impressed with the benefits of Herschel infrared panels that he invited us to visit and help spread the word to others who are considering which heating system to use.

Our first impressions of entering the house, on a cold but sunny February day in 2018, was just how comfortable the environment felt.  As Mark explains, before he renovated the house, it had the usual problems typical of an older property feeling cold with various damp issues and this didn’t help his children’s asthma. The house no longer has any damp and Mark is certain that his children’s asthma problems have significantly reduced since the renovation.  Mark has a large solar array and likes to turn the heating on when the sun is shining in the winter to make the most of the free energy being generated. He installed large windows to maximise passive solar gain from the south facing aspect of the house and installed high levels of insulation throughout.

The result is a very comfortable and sustainable eco country house which is cost neutral to run and a healthy environment for the family to live in. Whilst on a much larger scale to the average home the same principles can be applied to any house.

Mark considered several other heating solutions alongside his review of infrared heating panels:

• night storage was ruled out; “I didn’t like night storage heating for the obvious reasons they’re not that controllable and they’re very ugly”
• ground-source heating, with solar displacing pump running costs, was considered as the site has ample land, however capital costs of £100,000 were prohibitive
• a priority for Mark and his family was to not have cold floors so underfloor heating initially appealed. This was ruled out as Mark “was installing a very expensive new floor that I’m hoping is going to last longer than the life of the underfloor system. Also, its very slow to react to temperature changes and with this property having so much solar gain, this would have been an issue”.

“I found out about infrared panels through a kids chat room website on asthma sufferers. I did more research in the UK and found Herschel”.

Mark says, “The more I found out about infrared heating the more attractive it was. Almost too good to be true and I wasn’t sure whether it really did what it says. Once I got the reassurance from Herschel we went for it”.

The heating was installed early 2017, the full renovation completed in April 2018.

• the complete system, with 18 zones, was 8 times less to purchase and install than a new ground source, underfloor heating system
• electricity is currently 3 times the price of oil and gas but I have found that throughout this past winter we have been more than 3 times efficient while being warmer and more comfortable
• we have not felt cold all winter even when temperatures dropped below -5˚C
• there is noticeably less dust
• there has been no condensation or any damp feeling throughout the house, including the basement.

Mark was keen for the aesthetics to blend with the interior design so ceilings were colour-matched to the panels for a stylish yet discreet finish and we were able to demonstrate warming of a cold tiled bathroom floor from 17 to 21 ˚C in less than 2 hours, using just 450W of Herschel infrared heating, allaying Mark’s concerns over cold floors.

The renovation combined solar PV with high levels of insulation throughout, an MHRV system, passive solar gain & Herschel heating. The electricity generated over the course of last year was enough to offset his entire electric running costs for the entire site. Mark comments “The key to any heating system is insulation and ventilation, which creates a nice atmosphere. This is enhanced further by the type of heat you get from infrared panels”.  “Being able to control each room individually is key to being comfortable and reducing the energy required”.

Mark was “amazed at how cheap it was compared to all the other systems” given the features and benefits profile of Herschel heating “and how easy it was to install. The Herschel solution ticked all the boxes and was competitive against alternative heating options, significantly so in many cases”.  

Herschel heating has provided Mark and his family with a low capital, simple to install solution, using readily available tradesmen.  Able to control each room to the desired temperatures from a low energy solution, Mark runs a CO² neutral heating system alongside his solar PV supply.

Affordable radiant, comfortable heating, is fast becoming an indisputable trend that will facilitate the transition of the UK to a low carbon energy system.  Visit our site for more details on Mark’s far infrared heating panel review and detailed technical specification.

A video of the panels in situ at the property can be seen here.

For more case studies and infrared heater reviews, for domestic, outdoors and commercial environments, please visit our site.