[HN Gopher] Trying Out a Far Infrared Heated Poster
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Trying Out a Far Infrared Heated Poster
Author : speckx
Score : 44 points
Date : 2024-10-11 20:37 UTC (3 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.bentasker.co.uk)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.bentasker.co.uk)
| adamc wrote:
| Pretty good discussion of why something that _sounds_ useful
| ultimately is much less so than you 'd think.
| deng wrote:
| Good article about the downsides of infrared heating. These
| things can be useful. They are very light, safe and easy to
| install, and they can really make a difference in tight spaces
| like a caravan. However, with 425W, of course you cannot expect
| this thing to heat a larger room (to be fair, the article also
| does not claim this). The theory that you can direct this thing
| at yourself so that you feel warm but the rest stays cold is nice
| in theory, but as the article says, this is really difficult to
| achieve and usually not worth the trouble. And of course, these
| things only make sense in your home if you happen to get
| electricity very cheaply (which the writer of the article
| apparently does).
| BlueTemplar wrote:
| I mean, the two main issues here seem to be : poor placement
| and bad thermostat control, both of which seem (?) to be fairly
| easy to solve (at least for manufacturers) : place one
| horizontally over the top of the TV, focused on the sofa (since
| it's basically a big lamp, would it work better with a
| parabolic shape and/or a reflector ?), and don't use a
| thermostat so dumb that it can only do on/off, but instead one
| that slowly modulates power output %.
|
| (The expensive electricity point is also kind of moot in case
| that's your only heating option.)
| smeej wrote:
| I'm also wondering about the potential for hyper-localized
| heating. Like, could I have a family picture printed 8"x10"
| and place one on my desk? Could I then stay comfortable in a
| much colder office?
|
| I'm only ever in one place at a time, and both my house and
| workspace are compact, so I'd be up for moving one around
| with me if it meant saving on propane for the "real" heater.
|
| I'd also happily place one under my sink or wherever to keep
| my pipes warm without having to heat the rest of the room
| when I'm not in it.
| donclark wrote:
| If you find this small device for purchase, please let me
| know. I would like one as well!
| donclark wrote:
| The poster could be placed on the floor...
|
| $68 FIR Heater - Infrared Wall Eco Portable Heating
| Electric Panel 3000 BTU w/ High Quality Picture "Flowers"
| Folded Efficient Indoor 41''x 24''
|
| https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1104443023/heater-
| infrared-w...
| Scoundreller wrote:
| Get a heated mouse (those exist), heated mouse/desk pad
| (those exist), heated chair(pad), heated footpad (often
| bought for animals), some IR thingy for the head and you're
| covered. Any mask over your nose/mouth will retain a lot of
| warmth and humidity.
|
| This is the same logic for electric cars where heat is
| expensive: conduction>>> convention. Heat the occupant(s)
| and not the air with heated steering wheels & heated seats.
| Some ICE gear shifter knobs would get warm from
| transmission conduction!
|
| At one point in life, I had a heated mattress pad so I
| could turn the heat off a lot. I just ran it before I went
| to bed so it wouldn't be frigid when I got in. In the
| morning I'd just run into the shower and leave for the day.
| My place was western facing (in northern hemisphere) so I
| got a lot of afternoon sun and would return to a warm place
| in the afternoon.
| the8472 wrote:
| You could try putting a ceramic terrarium heater into metal
| desk lamps (I assume metal reflects far IR too) and use
| them to irradiate whichever body parts feel cold. They
| operate on the same principle as the panels but at lower
| power.
| Mistletoe wrote:
| 425w is about as much as having two 50 inch plasma tvs on. So
| it might ever so slightly increase the temp in the room but not
| if it is cold outside at all really.
| UniverseHacker wrote:
| I think this overall makes a good point that any type of directly
| heating people is much more efficient than heating an entire
| building. I hope electrically heated clothing catches on soon...
| as it already exists and works pretty well. For example, you can
| get lightweight vests for fairly cheap that will keep you warm
| all day long from a USB battery in your pocket. Heated blankets
| and mattress pads of course have also been around a while and
| work great.
| mschuster91 wrote:
| > I think this overall makes a good point that any type of
| directly heating people is much more efficient than heating an
| entire building.
|
| It is, but if a building cools down below the dew point (and it
| will, unless you're somewhere near the equator), any humidity
| e.g. from the air you breathe out or from plants will just
| crash out and condense on the walls, resulting in mold.
| UniverseHacker wrote:
| Because of the effect you're talking about, the outdoor dew
| point is never above the outdoor temperature- so the air even
| indoors gets really dry when it's cold outside, and you only
| need to keep the inside slightly warmer to keep this from
| happening.
|
| I am into sailing and often sail in cold climates without
| cabin heat- and find that my body heat alone is enough to
| prevent this from happening in a small sailboat cabin.
| IncreasePosts wrote:
| I'm not sure if this makes sense - even if you had very
| efficient personal heating, you'd probably still want to
| maintain your house at a certain temperature(for times when
| you're not wearing your personal heating, or for pets, or
| visitors, so your pipes don't burst, etc), meaning you should
| be investing in good insulation/air gap sealing, etc. Once you
| pay that cost, the cost of heating the house a few extra
| degrees isn't that big.
| BlueTemplar wrote:
| For a not so small minority, it's more of a _if_ you can
| afford that cost (ironically, probably more of an issue in
| places without pipe-freeze-busting temperatures).
|
| (And they probably cannot afford redoing insulation of where
| they live either, assuming they even own rather than rent.)
|
| P.S.: The hot water bottle is pretty great, in _particular_
| when sick.
| bloopernova wrote:
| We got a "tall" dining table height Kotatsu with heater and
| blanket. It's incredibly warm and comfortable in deep winter.
|
| The pets love it too!
|
| Main issue is that because it's dining table height, all the
| standard blankets and futons are too short/small.
|
| Highly recommend it though, it's great. It just needed a
| voltage converter.
| _joel wrote:
| Not great for your health, long-term - as you'd be breathing in
| unheated, cold air for excessive periods -
|
| "Cold air inflames lungs and inhibits circulation, increasing
| the risk of respiratory conditions, such as asthma attacks or
| symptoms, worsening of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
| (COPD), and infection. Cold also induces vasoconstriction,
| which causes stress to the circulatory system (198) that can
| lead to cardiovascular effects, including ischaemic heart
| disease (IHD), coronary heart disease, strokes, subarachnoid
| haemorrhage and death (198-206). Most of the evidence for the
| impact of cold on health comes from studies connecting outdoor
| temperatures to health outcomes. For example, cold spells are
| associated with increased mortality and respiratory and
| cardiovascular morbidity (207), and mortality and morbidity
| rates in countries with cold and temperate climates are higher
| in winter than in summer (208)."
|
| https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK535294/
| phendrenad2 wrote:
| We need to do more research into this, honestly. The biggest
| factor - time - isn't accounted for (I.E., do you eventually
| acclimate to colder temperatures, nullifying all of the bad
| effects these studies find in the aggregate).
| dp-hackernews wrote:
| Just think Inuit or Aboriginal - both living in
| environments of opposing extremes, surviving just fine for
| many, many years...
| UniverseHacker wrote:
| I'm pretty skeptical of this because it seems to conflict
| with common sense and personal experience but I'll look a bit
| more. I wonder to what degree they controlled for health
| effects of short days, less sunlight, more time indoors,
| increased infectious disease in cold months, poverty, etc.
|
| I doubt they are finding people that do a lot of outdoor
| winter sports for example have increased health problems vs
| people that just sit inside.
| bgnn wrote:
| this 1 study says so? I bet you can find a study claiming the
| exact opposite.
| smeej wrote:
| The other thing that keeps me nice and warm is the stationary
| bike under my standing desk. I never managed the coordination
| to _walk_ at my desk, but sitting and riding is easy.
| vosper wrote:
| Oh there's more than one of us! I also have a stationary bike
| under my standing desk. It's a cheap recumbent. It's not
| amazing in terms of ergonomics, so I use it for about 20-30
| mins at a time, a few times a day. I used to walk on a
| treadmill but I found that my head moved enough that focusing
| on text could be quite annoying. Also, I'd rather get my
| steps outside.
|
| My head still moves on the bike, but it's much less. Also,
| this way I can just raise my desk and slide the bike under,
| whereas with the treadmill I was unplugging and going to
| another room which was less convenient. I have a TV dinner
| tray thing with a secondary wireless keyboard and trackball
| that sits just above my knees so I can work while I pedal.
|
| And yes it's great for warming up and staying warm all day!
| AStonesThrow wrote:
| "Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for the night. Set a man
| on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life!"
| the8472 wrote:
| Yep, the 0/100 duty cycle of FIR panels is not ideal. Buying a
| panel at a lower power rating and running it at 100% is more
| comfortable. At high power it will also lead to dry skin/eyes if
| it's in your field of vision, another reason to use a lower-
| powered one. IME mounting it behind a mesh backrest works best.
| MichaelZuo wrote:
| Isn't 75 C already way too hot for any surface that you could
| accidentally bump into?
|
| Which suggests the 'poster' should be a lot bigger too.
| the8472 wrote:
| Afaik they're closer to black-body radiators than some narrow
| band emitter like LEDs, so they have to operate significantly
| above room temperature.
| MichaelZuo wrote:
| Hmmm, that seems like a significant disadvantage compared
| to fan heaters then. Where at least the fancier ones have a
| 'cool touch' design.
| Nition wrote:
| Does the heater only project the heat forward? Or is it also
| projecting heat back into the wall that it's lying up against?
| the8472 wrote:
| mostly forward
| imp0cat wrote:
| In this particular case, he could just get some extra fans, mount
| them under radiators and achieve much better heating for a lot
| less money.
|
| Something like https://www.speedcomfort.com/en - just attach the
| fans and the thermal sensor to your radiator and plug it in. From
| then on, anytime the radiator gets warm, fans start and circulate
| hot air everywhere in the room.
| donclark wrote:
| It does not appear that they sell those devices in the US?
|
| I did find them on ebay:
|
| https://www.ebay.com/itm/405285386735?_trksid=p2332490.c1018...
| nlawalker wrote:
| For anyone else for whom the term is new - it's not "an infrared
| heater that can heat you from far away", it's "heating that uses
| _far infrared_ radiation ".
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Far_infrared
| mikewarot wrote:
| I don't understand the assumption that the heat output is going
| to be directly out of the poster, only orthogonal to it, like a
| columnated beam of heat. Clearly, like any black body source,
| it's going to radiate in all directions.
|
| Or am I mistaken somehow?
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