Getting the Heater Wattage Right for Your Bathroom
Here is the thing about infrared heaters: they don’t actually warm up the air in the room. Instead, they go straight for you and the surfaces around you. It’s a different kind of heat. Because of that, you can’t just guess the wattage. If you cram a high-powered lamp into a tiny powder room, you’re going to overheat the space—or worse, burn out the element. But if you put a weak lamp in a massive master bath, you’ll be standing there shivering, wondering why it isn’t working. Picking the right power It mostly comes down to how much floor space you’re dealing with. For those tiny bathrooms (under 4m²), a 250W to 400W short-wave lamp usually does the trick. It’s a concentrated beam of heat that hits you the moment you step in. If your bathroom is mid-sized (between 4m² and 8m²), you’ll want something in the 600W to 800W range. You can go with one powerful lamp, but I usually suggest splitting it between two smaller units. It stops those annoying “hot spots” where one side of you is roasting while the other is freezing. Anything over 8m²? You’re looking at 1000W or more, or maybe setting up a few different heating zones. The distance factor Since this is radiant heat, distance is everything. The further you are from the lamp, the less you feel it. Now, tiles and mirrors actually help because they reflect the heat back at you. But don’t rely on that too much. You still need the right wattage to bridge the gap. A couple of things to watch out for Higher wattage means the room feels warm faster. That sounds great, but keep an eye on your electrical panel. These lamps draw a decent amount of current. If you overload a single circuit with too many high-wattage heaters, you’ll be tripping your breaker constantly. Not a great way to start a morning. And check your ceilings. If yours are higher than 2.7 meters, a standard 400W lamp might lose its punch before the heat even reaches you. In that case, you’ll need to bump up the power or find a lamp with a tighter reflector to keep the beam focused.