How to pick the right infrared heater for your bathroom
Let’s be honest: nobody likes stepping out of a hot shower into a freezing cold bathroom. It’s a shock to the system. But picking the right heater isn’t just about buying the most powerful one you can find. If you overdo it, you’re just wasting electricity and killing your equipment. Getting the power right Think about the size of your space first. If you’ve got a tiny powder room, a single 400W to 600W short-wave lamp is usually plenty. Here’s the thing: if you cram a 1000W heater into a tiny room, it gets too hot too fast. Your thermostat will start clicking on and off every few seconds. We call that “short-cycling,” and it’s a great way to burn out your filaments way sooner than they should. For the bigger bathrooms—the ones with more breathing room—don’t just buy one massive lamp. Instead, go with a few smaller ones. Two 600W lamps spread across the ceiling work way better than one 1200W beast. You get a nice, even glow of heat instead of one scorching spot and a few freezing corners. Dealing with the damp Bathrooms are tricky because they’re full of things that suck up heat. Think about your cold tiles or that heavy porcelain tub. They act like sponges for warmth. That’s why short-wave radiation is the way to go. It doesn’t bother wasting time trying to warm up the humid air; it goes straight through the moisture and hits the surfaces (and you) directly. It’s a much more immediate kind of warmth. A quick warning on your wiring More wattage means you’ll feel the heat faster, but it also puts a lot more stress on your electrical panel. Before you go wild with the high-power lamps, check your wiring. If you hook up three 1000W lamps to thin, old wires, you’ll get a voltage drop. That means you’re paying for power that isn’t actually turning into heat. Worse, you might find yourself tripping the breaker right in the middle of a winter morning. Just make sure your home’s electrical setup can actually handle the load you’re adding. Your breakers will thank you.