As a general rule of thumb it is said you need 25w per m3 of room space. If you decided to go with ir panels, I would say you need at least double that to give you a chance of actually heating the room up in a reasonable time. Maybe triple would do it. Basically oversize the system. I'm guessing only the main branded panels actually work as they are claimed to, but of course, they are expensive.

I was loaned a 600w panel to compare with a quartz tube patio heater. The aim was to find the cheapest temporary heating while I renovate my house. The long-term plan was GSH or heat pump, but that has since changed. The panel was effective at 2m but took too long to heat the room. The patio heater, on the other hand, was noticeably warm at the same distance and output within one minute. The temperature in the same 130sqft room reached 60F within 15 minutes. Patio heaters won on everything except appearance. I have since used patio heaters in three rooms for two years and, comparing energy bills with two friends, found I have the lowest total cost. That is without including equipment cost and depreciation. My situation is probably different from most. I only need to heat the room I am in and I like to dress appropriately for that time of year. The speed of patio heaters means I can heat rooms as I need to use them. This lifestyle may not work for the average family.

Interesting video and well done for the amount of research you did, I have often wondered about them and now I Know! Luckily I am on mains gas and my underfloor wet system I installed works a treat and at a reasonable cost.

As an electrician - I would suggest running all three heaters for 24hrs & seeing what the ambient room temp becomes . . .

Herschel panels make you lovely and warm. They are expensive but work well.

I was thinking of getting some infra red heaters as I thought they'd be more efficient at warming me up (not necessarily the room). I'll scrap that idea now. Good vid. Glad your back on form.

That was mega disappointing! Your comment below about electric boilers is spot on, they are massively expensive to run. You also talked about your set up for the house in the future. I'd also recommend getting the largest battery that you can afford. Once the water is heated up that battery will power you for the evening. You can also take advantage of price drops if your supplier has them (I use Agile Octopus) to charge the battery from the grid in case there's not going to be much sun the following day.

The video and the comments,are the most informative I've seen so far, well done.

I have one or these panels,it works very well,as other commentators have said ,it’s a different kind of heat,if your used to piping hot radiators it takes a bit of getting used too,and don’t forget their maintenance free.

FINALLY a review where SOMEONE tests the heat coming off the back of these! I have uPVC cladding on the walls of my outbuilding gym and was considering an IR bar heater but was told it would be too hot and to get the panels instead but not ONE company will tell me how hot these things get at the back. My gym is 5.6m x 4.7m and was after putting 2x 1kw panel heaters in but considering 350w gets to 25 degrees on the back I will NOT be risking what 1kw will get to!

Thank you for posting 📫 😊

Very informative young man!

You were a lot of fun to watch mate. Sorry they didn’t work but you helped me save the money :). Let’s Go!!!

Thanks mate that was very helpful

I would put in electric floor heating. I have done it in the basement under laminate flooring and it is great. Mainly if you are doing tiles, which can feel cold to touch, it makes a big comfort difference

Hi pal, good video. I have the same predicament coming up for my build as I’m off grid to so this video has been a great help. Looks like infa red are overhyped against what you are actually able to achieve from them. Just as a thought, did you not look into an electric boiler which you could run directly from your solar panels? If you did again I’d be interested in hearing your opinions on them. Keep up the good work👍🏻

Plug can just go behind the panel, no worries. Have been installing these for years and years...

I was looking to switch to infrared panels because I wanted to remove the dry heat from gas heaters, and I kept hearing how much more energy efficient they are.

Hi .would a 800 watt panel fixed on the ceiling above the bed be able to heat directly underneath quickly? Not worried bout heating the room just the person directly underneath. The distance from the panel to the bed below would be 5.5 feet...if so would it get too hot? According to this video.its pretty much crAp??

Great video. But I don't think you are giving the panels enough of a chance to prove their worth. The panels are not intended to work like (traditional) radiators, and won't perform like them. Your tests so far have too many variables that don't apply to their intended use. I suggest installing them all as you planned and testing in the real situation. I imagine they need several hours to get the surfaces around them up to temperature. Don't worry too much about the plugs. The are designed to work up to at least 52 degrees and given margins of safety will be fine way above this. Sockets fail because of electrical issues not heat. If you subsequently find they get too hot you can work out a fix. If you are really against making the holes in the ceiling, mount them on a length of 4x2 and suspend/prop this up somehow.