heating question?

Question

Why is radiant heat preferable to forced-air heating in each of the following?
a. open loading areas
b. shower rooms
c. high ceiling industrial areas

Answer 1

"open" areas are subject to air movement so warm air is quickly lost. Radiant would keep the people and objects warm without losing a lot of energy when the warm air leaves.

The problem in shower rooms is that air movement leads to evaporation from the skin which leads to rapid cooling of bare, wet skin. IR heat doesn't increase evaporation.

High ceilings allow warm air to rise unimpeded so all the heat is up where people aren't. Radiant heating warms up the things and people, not the air.

Answer 2

I would say, "It isn't preferable in any of them".
Radiant heat only heats the side facing the radiating source.
The opposite side remains cool. (Hence, why the moon's side facing away from the sun becomes almost absolute zero temperature). Forced air heating circulates heat all around you and the room (or space), you're in..
(Stand in front of a large, outside fire on a cold night (or day) and notice how cold your back gets compared to your front).

Answer 3

Radiant heating consists of "radiant energy" being emitted from a heat source.

This radiant energy (commonly known as heat energy) then penetrates all objects in its path, including people.

The total amount of radiation goes up very fast as the temperature rises (it grows as T4, where T is the absolute temperature of the heat source).

It means that the total radiant energy rises as the fourth power of the absolute temperature.

In radiant heating, objects absorb heat radiation from their surroundings.

If a body is hotter than its surroundings it emits more radiation than it absorbs, and tends to cool.

If a body is cooler than its surroundings it absorbs more radiation than it emits, and tends to warm.

And this process will continue for all objects until complete thermal equilibrium with its surroundings is reached.

Therefore, in the process of radiant heating for a certain area and / or zone, uniform heating is maintained and assured over a less time period, where as, other heating methods impart mostly localized heating.

Radiant heating also gives following advantages over other heating methods.

1. Economical;
2. Low maintenance;
3. Consistent, Quiet, Effective and Reliable heating solution, as compared to others;

Hope that this answers your query!

Kindly indicate your feedback.

Answer 4

It does not waste energy heating the air between the heater and the person that needs the heat. It just shines that heat down onto people who are in its path and that is very efficient.

Answer 5

keeps the floor evenly tempered

Answer 6

c