Industrial Heaters: Radiant or Space Heating?

When talking about industrial heaters, then there are two major different types; industrial radiant heating and industrial space heating. Which is one that you should choose? The answer is closely dependent to the requirement itself, because each type has pros and cons that should be understood as well before making a decision. Industrial radiant heaters are typically more effective to heat the object closely and directly without needing to heat the entire air in the room or warehouse. This is the key of their more efficient and more effective on heating and consuming the energy. On the other hand, industrial space heaters are typically more powerful to heat the entire air in the room (except the lower air in the room) and designed to heat the air first before heating the objects.

Industrial space heating

In order to get better energy saving, this type is more recommended for the space of warehouse or industrial building that has a high occupancy, but not too recommended if the space is only occasionally utilized. Like mentioned before, as the name suggests; it is designed to heat first the space (especially the higher air in the room) before warming up the objects (like people). Therefore, it is not as quick as radiant heating type to reach the maximum performance on heating. Industrial space heaters can be installed permanently or temporarily. The temporary option for the installation is typically portable in design and can be moved (including installed-reinstalled) more practically.

Although this kind of industrial heater is more powerful on heating the entire space of the room but there is more energy losses through convection process, especially if the room or building has too high ceiling (unfortunately, in fact most of commercial & industrial buildings have higher ceiling than residential buildings). But this problem can be minimized by installing a proper insulation (particularly in the ceiling of the building). The room that is properly installed of insulation will be powerful enough to reduce the heat losses. But in several cases, the insulation is not enough and sometimes we have to also use a destratification fan to counter & dispel the tendency of the heated air to rise, so thus the heat losses can be reduced more effectively.

In addition, it is difficult to find space heating unit for outdoor use! The working principle that heats the space first before heating the object (indirectly heating mechanism) is the reason why they are not too popular for outdoor use. Moreover, the air heated cannot be directed as easy as the air heated from radiant heating unit! Therefore, there might be a huge of energy losses if you choose to use this type for heating outdoor.

Industrial radiant heating

This kind of industrial heater is typically designed to warm up the floor (surface) of the room (not the air) or heat the object directly as well as the sunlight heat the earth with radiant heating principle. And this type is not recommended for the space that has a high occupancy, but conversely will be better if the space is occasionally used! Furthermore, in many cases it is also popular option if the running costs (utility bills) of industrial space heaters would be too expensive or if we need more powerful unit that can work in a rapid increase temperature after turning on the unit.

With the directly heating, industrial radiant heaters can be used to warm up only a certain area where the heater is required, therefore they are also familiar to be used for spot heating. If compared to the size (BTU) of space heating units, they are typically smaller in size of power heating capacity because once again they don’t need to heat the whole space to keep warm the workers.  With this mechanism, they are popular choice for outdoor use and keep working efficiently in the outside of enclosed room without having worry to the heat losses problem. They can be portable in design (require temporary installation) or must be fitted to the space or building (require permanent installation).

Image source: puravent.co.uk

And in order to minimize the effect of space heating outside that can make the current of heated-air rises and eventually will make user can still get cold legs problem, the outdoor industrial radiant heaters are usually also designed with a large dome (perforated steel) to make sure the heat is radiated properly to keep the user completely warm in the outdoor areas.

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