If you are planning to buy a new infrared heater or wondering how much electricity your existing infrared heater is consuming then this article is for you. In this article, we will calculate the power consumption of an infrared heater and also look at how much it costs to use one.
Also by the end, you will learn to calculate the power consumption of any infrared heater using a simple calculator.
Infrared heaters are normally rated between 500 watts to 2000 watts. A 1500 watt infrared heater running for 4 hours in a day will consume around 6 kWh of electricity in a day. This adds up to around 180 kWh of electricity in a month.
This would roughly translate to a monthly electricity cost of $ 46.44 in Los Angeles, £ 64.80 in London, and Rs 1,800 in Mumbai.
Infrared Heater Power Consumption:
The power consumption of an infrared heater (for that matter any electrical appliance) depends upon two main things,
- First is the wattage of your infrared heater,
- And second is the electricity tariff in your area.
Before we jump into calculating the power consumption of your infrared heater let’s see what these terms are and how you can find out your infrared heater’s wattage and the electricity tariff of your locality.
If you already know these terms and just want to use the calculator then please scroll down to use the calculator.
What is the Wattage of an Infrared Heater:
Infrared heaters are rated between 500 watts to 2000 watts, the higher the wattage, the quicker it can heat, and the higher the power consumption.
You can find the wattage of your infrared heater by reading the label on it or just look for your infrared heater on amazon and you will find its wattage in the description section.
(If you don’t have time to do this, then don’t worry I have put together a table at the end that shows the power consumption of a range of infrared heaters with different wattages.)
If you don’t know what a watt is then here a quick explanation,
Watt is the unit of power. It means the rate at which electricity is consumed or produced by a device. For example, a 50-watt TV consumes power at a rate of 50 watts per hour, it does not mean that the TV consumed 50 units of electricity, it means it will consume power at a rate of 50 watts every hour.
So in short, the wattage of an infrared heater lies between 500 watts to 2000 watts and you can find it by looking at the label on it. With that out of the way, let’s look at what is electricity tariff.
What is your Electricity Tariff:
In simple words, electricity tariff is the amount your electricity provider charges you for one unit (kWh) of electricity. I live in Mumbai, India here the electricity tariff is Rs 12/kWh.
(What is a Kilowatt hour (kWh) – Kilowatt hours or units of electricity is the energy consumption of a device. For example, a 50-watt table fan running for 50 hours will consume 50 watts x 50 hours = 2500-watt hours = 2.5-kilowatt hours of electricity = 2.5 units of electricity. (1 kWh of electricity = 1 unit of electricity))
To find your electricity tariff, just look into your previous month’s electricity bill and find out your monthly electricity consumption, then just divide your monthly electricity consumption by your total monthly electricity bill, the figure you get is approximately your electricity tariff.
I have put together the following table that shows the electricity tariff of a few countries.
Electricity Tariff Around The World:
| Country | Electricity Tariff | Country | Electricity Tariff |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | $ 0.154/kWh | India | Rs 6/kWh |
| United Kingdom | £ 0.27/kWh | Germany | € 0.44/kWh |
| Canada | C$ 0.30/kWh | Philippines | ₱ 9.70/kWh |
| Australia | A$ 0.32/kWh | South Africa | R 2.558/kWh |
You can also check out the following resources to know your electricity tariff:
- https://www.globalpetrolprices.com/electricity_prices/
- https://www.statista.com/statistics/263492/electricity-prices-in-selected-countries/
Calculate Infrared Heater Power Consumption:
With these two pieces of information in hand, you are ready to find the power consumption of your infrared heater.
Let me show you an example,
I have selected a 1500 Watt infrared heater listed on amazon. As you can from the above image, this infrared heater has 3 power modes, 900 watts, 1200 watts, and 1500 watts.
Let’s assume we will use the heater at 1500 watts every day for 4 hours throughout the year.
Hence, we will calculate the daily, monthly, and annual power consumption of this 1500 watts infrared heater.
With the knowledge of your infrared heater wattage and your electricity tariff, just use this simple formula to calculate power consumption.
Power consumption of an appliance = Wattage of the appliance X operational hours
Cost to run an appliance = Power consumption of the appliance X electricity tariff
(Operational hours is basically the number of hours you are using your infrared heater)
Now let’s calculate,
How Much Power Does An Infrared Heater Consume:
In our case, wattage is 1500 watts and operational hours are 4 hours in a day, 120 hours in a month, and 1,460 hours in a year.
Hence by using the above formula.
Power consumption of a 1500 watts infrared heater in a day (4 hours) = 1500 watts X 4 hours = 6 kWh
Similarly, Power consumption of a 1500 watts infrared heater in a month (4 hours/day @ 30days) = 1500 watts X 120 = 180 kWh
And Power consumption of 1500 watts infrared heater in a year (4 hours/day @ 365 days) = 1500 watts X 1460 = 2190 kWh
Now that we know the power consumption just multiply it by your electricity tariff and you will get how much it will cost you to run your infrared heater.
let’s calculate how much it will cost to run this 1500 watts infrared heater for 4 hours every day for an entire month in Los Angeles, London, and Mumbai.
- In case of Los Angeles, the electricity tariff in Los Angeles is around 25.8 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh), hence it will cost around $ 46.44 (180 kWh X 25.8 cents) to run this 1500 watts infrared heater for 4 hours every day for an entire month.
- In case of London, the electricity tariff in London is around 36p/kWh, hence it will cost around £ 28.80 (180 kWh X 36p/kWh) to run this 1500 watts infrared heater for 4 hours every day for an entire month.
- In case of Mumbai, the electricity tariff in Mumbai is around Rs 10 per kilowatt hour (kWh), hence it will cost around Rs 1,800 (180 kWh X Rs 10) to run this 1500 watts infrared heater for 4 hours every day for an entire month.
How Much Does it Cost To Run A Infrared Heater:
For your reference, I have calculated the cost to run this 1500 watts infrared heater for 4 hours daily throughout the entire year in Los Angeles, London, New Zealand, Canada, Australia, and Mumbai, India.
| Country (Tariff) | Daily Power Consumption of an Infrared Heater | Monthly Power Consumption of an Infrared Heater | Annual Power Consumption of an Infrared Heater |
|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles (25.8 c/kWh) | 6 kWh, $ 1.54 | 180 kWh, $ 20.64 | 2190 kWh, $ 565 |
| London (36p/kWh) | 6 kWh, £ 2.16 | 180 kWh, £ 64.80 | 2190 kWh, £ 788 |
| New Zealand (NZ$ 0.304/kWh) | 6 kWh, NZ$ 1.82 | 180 kWh, NZ$ 54.72 | 2190 kWh, NZ$ 666 |
| Canada (C$ 0.156/kWh) | 6 kWh, C$ 0.94 | 180 kWh, C$ 28.08 | 2190 kWh, C$ 342 |
| Australia (A$ 0.32/kWh) | 6 kWh, A$ 1.92 | 180 kWh, A$ 57.60 | 2190 kWh, A$ 700 |
| Mumbai (Rs 10/kWh) | 6 kWh, Rs 60 | 180 kWh, Rs 1,800 | 2190 kWh, Rs 21,900 |
If your country is not on the table, then just note down the power consumption and multiply your electricity tariff to get the running cost.
The above figures show the approximate power consumption of a 1500 watts infrared heater, however, the actual power consumption can be 5 % – 10 % on either side.
Also, most of us use the infrared heater only during winter which lasts for 2-3 months in most places. Hence, your annual power consumption will be much less.
Electricity consumption for different Wattage Infrared Heaters:
For your reference, I have made the below table that shows the power consumption of a range of infrared heaters having different wattages. I have assumed 4 hours of daily operation for an entire month.
| Infrared Heater Wattage | Daily Power Consumption (4 Hours) | Monthly Power Consumption (120 Hours) | Annual Power Consumption (1,460 Hours) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 500 watts | 2 kWh | 60 kWh | 730 kWh |
| 750 watts | 3 kWh | 90 kWh | 1,095 kWh |
| 900 watts | 3.6 kWh | 108 kWh | 1,314 kWh |
| 1200 watts | 4.8 kWh | 144 kWh | 1,752 kWh |
| 1500 watts | 6 kWh | 180 kWh | 2,190 kWh |
| 2000 watts | 8 kWh | 240 kWh | 2,920 kWh |
As I said before, you can use the power consumption values from the above table and multiply your local electricity tariff to get the running cost.
Now go ahead and use the below calculator to find out the power consumption of your infrared heater.
Just type the wattage of your infrared heater, hours of usage, and your electricity tariff, and let the calculator do the math for you.
Infrared Heater power consumption calculator:
If you are not happy with the approximate results and you want to know the exact power consumption, then I would suggest you buy a cheap Kill-A-Watt Meter from amazon.
Calculate the exact power consumption of any Heater using Kill A Watt Meter:
Kill A Watt Meter is a simple device that gives real-time data on the power consumption of any device.
You can check it on amazon using this link – Kill A Watt Electricity Usage Monitor
To use a kill-a-watt meter to calculate the power consumption of your infrared heater, first, connect your infrared heater plug into the kill-a-watt meter and then plug the kill-a-watt meter in your wall socket and you are good to go.
Then start using your infrared heater and you can see in real-time how many kWh (units) of electricity it is consuming.
Does Infrared Heater Consume More Electricity Than Other Space Heaters?
The answer is No, Infrared heaters are more energy efficient and they consume much less electricity than other space heaters. The reason for this lies in how they work.
You see a normal electric space heater uses electricity to heat a coil, cold air surrounding the room is fed over the heated coil through an inbuilt fan, thus the temperature of air increases and this makes the room warm.
Hence, the larger the volume of the room, the more air the heater has to heat, hence, more power consumption.
On the other hand, an infrared heater instead of heating the air inside the room heats the object in front of it. Hence, the size of the room (volume of the air) does not matter at all as long as you are sitting in front of the infrared heater.
Hence, if you sitting in a cold room and want to get the temperature high, a small-size infrared heater will get the job done easily but you would need a considerably larger-size electric heater (convection heater) to get the same heating effect.
That doesn’t mean convection heaters are bad, both have their own application.
Convection heaters are good to heat a room that will be occupied by a lot of people.
Whereas Infrared heaters are a good option if there are only 1-2 people in a room or you want to use a heater in outdoors. (In the outdoors you can’t heat the entire air hence, you heat yourself).
You can check out these articles to know more about the power consumption of space heaters, and the power consumption of garage heaters.
Check out the following articles to know the power consumption of other appliances:
- Power consumption of an electric blanket.
- Power consumption of an electric kettle.
- Power consumption of an electric fireplace.
- Power consumption of an electric water heater.
- Power consumption of an electric immersion heater.
- Power consumption of a refrigerator.
- Power consumption of a dehumidifier.
- Power consumption of a washing machine.
You can check out this article to know more about the power consumption of common household appliances.
Check out my articles on solar power for home and how it can help you save your electricity bill.
Thank you for reading.
Aavjo 👋
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References:
- https://www.globalpetrolprices.com/electricity_prices/
- https://www.statista.com/statistics/263492/electricity-prices-in-selected-countries/
- https://www.researchgate.net/publication/284122938_Energy_efficiency_of_electrical_infrared_heating_elements
