Do heat lamps use a lot of electricity?
Content
Many people think that heat lamps consume a lot of electricity, but is it true?
Heat lamps are a type of light bulb called an incandescent light bulb. They are made to produce as much heat as possible through infrared radiation, mostly referred to as infrared lamps, infrared heaters or IR lamps.
As a rule, most heat lamps have a power of 125 to 250 watts. Most companies charge around 12 cents per kilowatt hour of electricity (kwH). If we do the math, we can figure out that a 250W incandescent bulb running 24 hours a day for 30 days would cost $21.60 for electricity. These figures mean that yes, heat lamps use a lot of electricity, but they are comparable to the power consumption of a TV.
Below we will look in more detail.
What power/energy does the heat lamp use?
The easiest way to figure out how much energy an incandescent light bulb, or any light bulb, uses is to check your electricity bill and see how much they charge you per kilowatt hour (kWh).
Once you have this information, you can look at the packaging of the light bulb or directly at the light bulb itself to find out how many watts it has.
In most cases, this is a number with a W after it. (Don't worry about "40-watt equivalent" comparative watts.)
Once you have found the wattage of the light bulb, you need to change it to kilowatts. Cut this number in half. Most of them have a power of 200-250 watts.
Is it expensive to heat the light?
The power of heat lamps is higher than that of other light bulbs. But they are relatively energy efficient because they do not consume much energy. But because these lamps generate more heat than other light bulbs, they use slightly more electricity.
Energy cost estimate for heat lamps
Most companies charge around 12 cents per kilowatt hour of electricity (kwH). If we do the math, we can figure out that a 250W incandescent bulb running 24 hours a day for 30 days would cost $21.60 for electricity.
This means that a 250 watt heat lamp would cost about 182.5 kWh $0.11855 per kilowatt hour = $21.64 per month to run on electricity.
How much heat does the lamp emit?
The energy consumed by fluorescent lamps is 75% less than that of incandescent lamps. Incandescent lamps are heated by a metal filament heated to about 4000 farads in a glass of inert gas. 90-98% of the energy of incandescent lamps comes from the heat they generate.
This percentage, however, depends on the air flow around the flask, the shape of the flask, and the material of the flask. For example, a typical 100 watt bulb can heat up to 4600F inside while the outside temperature ranges from 150F to 250F.
Heat lamps use how much energy?
The energy used depends on how much energy the bulbs use and how well they perform. The efficiency of a light bulb helps to figure out how much energy it converts into light and heat, and how much is wasted. The following table shows how well different lamps perform:
- LED Bulb-15% ɳ
- Incandescent-2.6% ɳ
- Fluorescent lamp-8.2% ɳ
You can see that LED bulbs are the least energy efficient while incandescent bulbs are the most energy efficient.
How does a heat lamp work?
Learning how an incandescent light bulb works is like knowing how a light bulb works. The inert gas capsule contains a thin tungsten wire (filament) that acts as an electrical resistor. It heats up and glows when electricity passes through it, emitting light and heat.
But lamps sold for heating differ from conventional incandescent lamps in several important ways:
- They are often forced to run on a higher current than conventional light bulbs, which causes them to heat up more.
- Most light bulbs are limited to 100 watts. This is usually the lower end of the range for IR heaters, which typically reach 2kW or more.
- Lighting is usually not the main selling point. Their light output can be deliberately limited so that they can heat up more. Filters or reflectors are often used to help focus heat radiation. (1)
- Stronger materials are used than those used for lower wattage lamps. Two common examples are heavy duty filaments and ceramic substrates. They can help prevent the case from blowing out or melting under high current.
Take a look at some of our articles below.
- How to connect a light bulb holder
- How to connect a lamp with several bulbs
- How to connect an LED light bulb to 120V
Recommendations
(1) warm-up - https://www.womenshealthmag.com/fitness/
g26554730/best warm-up exercises/
(2) help focus - https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/how-to-stay-focused
