How to pick the right infrared heater for your bathroom
Here is the thing about infrared heaters: they don’t actually warm up the air in your room. Instead, they send out short-wave radiation that hits you and your towel directly. It’s like stepping into a patch of sunlight on a cold day. But if you get the wattage wrong, you’re headed for trouble. Too little power and you’re still shivering. Too much, and you’re basically sitting in a sauna you didn’t ask for. Finding the sweet spot If you’ve got a tiny bathroom—something under 4 square meters—stick with 400W to 600W. A single lamp is plenty. For bigger bathrooms or places with those fancy high ceilings, you’ll probably want 800W to 1200W. That helps keep the warmth feeling consistent across the room. Just be careful. Putting a 1200W lamp in a tiny shower stall is a bad move. It creates this aggressive blast of heat that makes your thermostat freak out, clicking on and off every few seconds. That’s a great way to wear out your equipment and drive up your electric bill. You want a steady, cozy glow, not a series of heat shocks. Dealing with steam and moisture Bathrooms are wet. Obviously. That’s why these units use quartz glass with special coatings to keep the dampness out. We seal the connections tight because if steam leaks into the electrical terminals, things start to oxidize. Once that happens, your lamp is going to burn out way sooner than it should. One thing to keep in mind: this heat is instant. The second you flip the switch, you feel it. But the moment you turn it off? It’s gone. Since you aren’t heating the walls or the air, there’s no “residual” warmth. It’s all about the immediate feel. A few tips for the setup Do yourself a favor and put these on their own dedicated circuit. High-wattage lamps pull a lot of power the moment they kick in. If your wiring is too thin, you’ll see voltage drops, which isn’t ideal. And remember, don’t overdo it. If you put too much power in a small space, the room gets oppressive. Just balance the wattage to the size of your floor, and you’ll be set.