Carbon heating element - what is it? Advantages and disadvantages

Are you planning to get a heater, but don't know which one is better? Do you want to understand the topic of carbon heaters? Then read on and find out what are the main elements of carbon infrared heaters, their features, advantages and disadvantages of carbon heaters, alternatives to a carbon heater.

Carbon heaters are a type of infrared heaters powered by electricity. They appeared relatively recently and quickly gained popularity.

The main feature of carbon heaters is spot heating. The resulting heat is reflected from the reflector and directed only to a specific area/object, heating only it/him. Also, infrared heaters do not heat the air - they act directly on interior items, turning them into secondary heat sources. That is, the heater gives off heat to an object, which then gives it back to the room, the air, the user or another object.

Additional features of carbon heaters include the fact that they cool quickly. Carbon (carbon) has high electrical conductivity and efficiency, so it gives off all the heat and cools quickly.

Design of carbon heaters. The main elements of each carbon heater

1. A housing to protect the device mechanism from damage and the person using it from burns.
2. A heating element for, in fact, heating.
3. Reflective plate - This part directly receives heat from the heating element, up to 97% of which it reflects onto the area/object.
4. A control unit for regulating the operation of the device, turning the device on and off.
5. Temperature sensor to monitor heating temperature.

Advantages of carbon heaters

• Durable - carbon heaters, according to manufacturers, have an average of 100 thousand working hours (11 years of operation without interruption). This is due to the natural properties of carbon (expands when heated) and the fact that the carbon filament is located in quartz glass in a vacuum. All this protects the element from slow destruction due to rapid temperature changes.
• Economical - this is ensured by the high efficiency and electrical conductivity of carbon.
• They heat up quickly - all because of the same efficiency and electrical conductivity, carbon elements heat up almost instantly, giving off almost all the heat to the objects in the room.
• Spot heating - the air does not absorb infrared radiation, it is received by objects in the room. As a result, they become secondary sources of heat, transferring it further.
• No emissions/waste – nothing burns when using carbon fiber heating elements. In this case, the carbon fiber is heated to a temperature of 90 degrees Celsius (sometimes higher).
• Compact, small-sized, lightweight, small - they have one of the smallest heating elements among all infrared models. It weighs little and takes up little space. This allows carbon heaters to be made very small, but just as effective.
• Works in cold weather – the carbon heater can be started without problems even at sub-zero temperatures.

Disadvantages of carbon heaters

• Care must be taken - quartz glass is very fragile. Tubes containing carbon fiber are made from it. One wrong move and the tube will break and the device will fail. There is no way to fix it; you will have to buy a new heating element.
• Glows strongly - during operation, carbon fiber gets very hot, which is why it begins to glow. Such bright light can be hard on the eyes, especially at night.
• Spot heating is both a plus and a minus, since the device does not waste energy on heating the air; instead, it transfers it to objects. But the downside is that with this type of heating, the heat does not bend around obstacles. For example, if you have a sofa in front of a carbon heater, and a chair behind it, the sofa will warm up, but the chair will remain cold.
• When the device turns off, a cracking sound is heard - this is normal. The element heats up to high temperatures. When heating, all physical objects expand, and when they cool, they shrink, so a cracking sound may appear during cooling. Some users will find it unpleasant.

Alternatives to carbon heaters. Carbon heaters are considered the best among infrared heaters, especially electric ones, because they consume 2-3 times less electricity than their counterparts. But if you don’t like carbon models, then look for an alternative in ceramic, film, halogen or solid fuel heaters.