Infrared Heaters for home use

[motley man]

Anyone have any output on the new infrared heaters for use in the home ? I've heard good things and was thinking of getting one. I'm talking about the box type ones 1500 watt. Many different brands out there, any preference.

[BobT]

Discussed this last year but here goes.

1500w of electric heat is 1500w of electric heat. A cheap $15 or $20 1500w electric heater will give you the same heat output as a $500 infrared electric heater. Unless the appearance of the heater is important to you, I wouldn't waste the money. Both are nearly 100% efficient at the user level and so both will give you the same output, which will be about 5000 BTU/hour.

Infrared heat is nice because it does a better job of heating the objects within the target area from greater distances. Something to consider. For this reason I believe infrared might be a little more comfortable heat.