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5 Ways That Infrared Is Cheaper Than Other Types Of Heating

5 Ways That Infrared Is Cheaper Than Other Types Of Heating

Posted by Navdip Gahir on 3rd Jul 2025

It’s easy to make bold claims online. Some are founded in truth, and others are not.

And every time we say that infrared is cheaper than other types of heating, we are most definitely founded in truth.

Here are 5 ways that infrared will cost you less than other types of heating.

Heat People, Not The Air

The key difference between IR and convection, is that infrared heats objects directly rather than heating the air itself.

Now you can walk into any room, there will ALWAYS be less surface area than there is volume of air. That’s a significantly lower amount of ‘stuff’ to heat up. So you need less energy to generate the same perceived level of comfort.

Not only that, but warm air rises, escapes, and cools down very quickly. This is why your radiators need to keep reheating the air, which is highly wasteful.

Infrared heat keeps the warmth exactly where it needs to be, meaning you don’t need it on for anywhere near as long.

Decentralised Systems

IR panel heaters can be controlled independently per zone or even per room. This means you don’t need to heat your entire house even if you’re only using one room.

So let’s do some very basic maths here: let’s say you have six rooms in your home, and you’re only using your living room. Your gas boiler will heat every room, using 100% of its power.

A decentralised infrared system would only switch your living room heaters on, meaning 83.3% of the heaters in your home will be off. That’s £83 out of every £100 spent on heating saved.

Multiply that across a whole year and the maths paint a very clear picture.

Faster Warm Up Time

When you switch your gas boiler on, it has to take your gas from your supply, ignite it, use the heat to make your water supply hot, pump it round your house to make your radiators hot, and then wait for the air to get hot.

That’s a lot of steps, and a lot of ways for energy to be wasted.

Heat pumps go through a similarly long process involving fans, compressors, pipes and more. Even storage heaters have to charge up overnight.

IR panels skip all of that when you flick them on. The electricity goes straight to the heating elements that begin emitting IR waves almost immediately, and you feel them within minutes.

That means they’re on for less time, which is energy saved, and more money in your pocket.

Zero Maintenance Costs

There’s one thing that gas boilers, heat pumps and fan heaters have in common.

Moving parts.

This means wear and tear, parts getting worn out, regular services, failed components. The list goes on.

IR panels don’t move (unless you pick them up and move them). They have no bits that have to move to generate heat, and not a lot that can go wrong. The result is zero servicing, and zero maintenance. Ever.

That’s another chunk of change saved.

Lower Installation Costs

Gas boilers cost anywhere between £3,000 and £5,000 to buy and install. Don’t forget to add even more to that if you need to replace your radiators.

Heat pumps are notoriously expensive to install. In most cases you’re looking at upwards of £10,000, just for the pump itself! On top of that, because heat pumps generally can’t generate the peak water temperature of a gas boiler, you will need to upsize your radiators to accommodate.

Infrared panels on the other hand can be bought for under £200 per panel. For an average sized, 3-bedroom semi-detached house, a full home install can very easily be done for less than £2,000.

So even if the running costs were the same (spoiler alert: they’re not), you’d still be massively ahead purely based on upfront costs.

Make The Switch

As gas boilers are being phased out, heat pumps refusing to come down in price, and every other type of heating compromising you on efficiency, infrared is a very solid route to go for, costing less up front, using less energy, and requiring no maintenance.

If you are interested in making the switch to infrared, just get in touch with our team on 0116 321 4124, or send an email to sales@suryaheating.co.uk.

You can also drop us a DM on our Facebook or Instagram pages too. For more information, check out our YouTube channel for all things infrared.