You may think that all heat is created equal, but this is not the case. When it comes to heating your home, there are two distinct kinds of heat and our bodies respond very differently to each one.
Convection Heat is basically a fancy term for ‘hot air’. Several common household heaters provide this kind of heat, such as fan heaters and heat pumps, and they work by heating up the air and blowing it around to increase the temperature of the room.
Convection heaters are great for heating up a room fast and evenly. However the problem with convection heat is that’s where it ends – only the air in the room is heated and the warmth isn’t transferred to people or objects in the room as efficiently. In effect, it gives you the illusion of being warm instead of actually increasing your temperature.
Radiant Heat is a very different beast. Radiant heaters include woodburners, fireplaces, oil column heaters, gas flame heaters, and even the sun. As the name implies, radiant heat radiates from its source and heats up the objects in the room – the people, the furniture, the cat, even the walls.
As a result, you genuinely feel much warmer, and the objects in the room continue to release their stored-up heat long after the heat source has been turned off.
Traditionally the downside of radiant heaters has been that you need to be close to them to get warm, with nothing in the way to block the heat. However central heating systems do such a good job of heating the entire house that you get the benefit wherever you happen to be.
Convection Heating
