Winter is categorically here: early morning frosts twinkle across the fields as autumn colours fade and temperatures drop. It’s the time of year that horses and livestock are brought inside to hunker down in the hay and enjoy a few evenings of shelter from the freezing darkness. They might be safely inside, but how warm are they? Agricultural buildings have a reputation for being tricky to heat – as poorly insulated open-plan layouts, with a mix of sheltered and unsheltered spaces, can often amplify chilly draughts and create random air movement. With few conventional rooms in farmyard buildings, maintaining an adequate level of heat can be difficult – and almost impossible for conventional heating systems. For effective farmyard heating, with four-legged creatures accounted for, there’s only one viable option: infrared heat.
Stables & courtyards
Often exposed, or at least partially exposed, stables are an ideal location to consider an infrared heater. Infrared heat naturally overcomes many of the issues associated with heating high ceilinged barns or draughty agricultural spaces. There’s also a range of outdoor infrared heaters that produce a softer, less intense heat that’s ideal for keeping animals comfy. For horse or livestock heating, we have the perfect infrared product that will keep your stables, and animals, comfortably warm all winter long.
The Herschel Summit
One of our newest products, the Herschel Summit is an elegant 2600w infrared heater that can be used to provide comforting warmth for animals of all kinds, in agricultural environments big or small.
The Summit uses far infrared, a softer and less intense type of heat that won’t feel too harsh or uncomfortable for your animals. For us as well as animals, infrared heat is absorbed into our skin, vibrating our molecules to create heat – in exactly the same way the sun does.
Different types of infrared are absorbed into our skin with varying success. Shortwave infrared, the type of infrared found outside bars or restaurants, is the least effective at being absorbed and provides a surface level of warmth that can feel too harsh for animals. Far infrared, however, is the most effective at being absorbed, providing a deep and natural sensation of warmth without causing irritation. Far infrared is the type of heat that we emit ourselves, and it’s so gentle that it’s used in incubators for infant animals and even new-born babies. In fact, one of our past customers even rigged up a far-infrared panel heater to provide heat for some prematurely born calves. Not that we’d recommend an improvised panel heater for permanent installation, nevertheless, the gentle far infrared worked its magic and the calves survived to tell the tale – as you can see below!
For maximum safety, the Summit’s heating element is encased within a lightweight aluminium housing – producing zero light or noise when in use. Which means your animals can have peace and quiet as they enjoy winter in the comfort of their newly heated barn. The Summit also comes with an adjustable mounting bracket, perfect for keeping the heater out of reach of inquisitive animals. The mounting bracket can be used to adjust the size of the Summit’s heat reach and intensity. Mount the Summit lower down for focused warmth, or higher up to cover every hay-filled corner of your animal enclosure – with a maximum reach of 16m², the Summit will have no problem warming the loftiest of barns this winter.
The Summit’s IP rating means it’s suitable for outdoor use – so you can heat an exposed shelter just as comfortably. Persistent wintery breezes might affect the Summit’s maximum heat reach – so it might be worth keeping that in mind when positioning your heaters.For agricultural applications, far infrared is ideal for warming horses, chickens, dogs, or any other livestock you may have hanging around.
Smaller enclosures & pens
For smaller agricultural spaces, like animal pens or hutches, it might be worth your while opting for a slightly less powerful far infrared heater. Discreet, lightweight, and providing the same gentle far infrared heat as the Summit, the Herschel Advantage IR2 is the obvious choice.
The Herschel Advantage IR2
The IR2 uses ceramic heating elements that produce zero light and sound, peacefully heating animals as they enjoy their winter night’s snooze. Infrared doesn’t rely on the air to transfer its heat. So, the IR2 won’t be affected by open or draughty spaces – making it the ideal choice for use in animal shelters or agricultural areas that can be exposed, or partially exposed, to the weather.
For the occasional splash in a barn courtyard, the IR2’s IPX4 rating offers enough protection – suitable for sheltered areas that see their fair share of mud, wind, or drizzle. For permanent use in really exposed outdoor areas, it’s always best to opt for an outdoor heater with a slightly higher IP rating, just to be on the safe side.
The Advantage IR2 can reach an area up to 9m², a respectable area large enough to adequately heat several chicken coups or an average sized pig holding. Like most ceramic heaters, the IR2 takes a few minutes or so to warm up before its heat can be felt. Once it gets going though, the IR2 can be used all day for uninterrupted heating. Requiring zero maintenance, all that’s needed to keep your IR2 functioning effectively is the occasional dust-down with a dry cloth.
Controlling your infrared heaters
To get the best out of your infrared heaters throughout the winter months, and to ensure you’re not overspending on your heating bills, we recommend pairing them with an additional controller. Controllers can be used to set temperatures, select different heater modes, create a heating schedule, and turn the heater on and off without having to ascend a ladder and press a button on the heater body.
Depending on what sort of agricultural environment you have at your disposal, you can opt for either a comprehensive digital thermostat, that accurately measures temperatures, or more basic controls that offer a simple on/off timer function.
If you have a modern barn or barn conversion, Herschel infrared heaters can be controlled with the Herschel iQ system. The iQ system consists of a receiver, a thermostat, and a central controller. The receivers are designed to be hardwired into your heater, the thermostat then controls the receiver, and the central controller controls the thermostat.
For single room use, the T1 thermostat is more than ideal – allowing you to command an unlimited number of receivers for complete control of your Herschel infrared heaters. For modern barns, a thermostat is the preferred method of achieving efficient and economical heating.
For multi-room use, the WH1 Central Controller is the best option. The WH1 can be used for heater zoning – allowing you to control several heaters across several areas from a central point of use. If you’re thinking of installing heaters across an entire agricultural building, the WH1 is the way to go.
To control infrared heaters within a working barn, or one that’s been around a while, digital thermostats are unlikely to be effective due to the potential for gusts, breezes, and draughts to interfere with accurate temperature readings. For these farmyard environments, you can purchase a remote-control version of the Herschel Summit – allowing you to adjust the heater settings and turn the heater on and off. However, the Advantage IR2 doesn’t come with integrated controls due to its hardwearing nature. Often, the IR2 will outlive the electrical components used to control it, so any integrated controls would need to be uninstalled too frequently. Instead, a simple push-button timer can be used with the IR2 – providing basic on/off control and a handy timer function.
For farms and agricultural buildings of all kinds, infrared heaters are safe, efficient, and versatile. For small or large areas, enclosed or unenclosed, redeveloped or old, there is an infrared product to suit every occasion. This winter, make sure your animals keep out of the cold and provide them with a warm and cosy shelter that keeps the pre-Christmas frost at bay. For further information on our product range, don’t hesitate to get in touch or visit our website.
Sources
http://www.herschel-infrared.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/PR-36951-Equine-PRM.pdf
Images
Farmyard animals, credit: Rob Macinnis
http://pixdaus.com/family-photo-by-rob-macinnis-www-mymodernmet-com-profiles-bl/items/view/290836/
Stables, credit: I-HT Ltd
https://www.cctvinstallation-uk.com/equestrian-cctv/
Small animal enclosure, credit: Pinterest
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/a1/79/47/a17947ebde84d7f81db0684d6078af5b.jpg