Stopping the Shivers in High-Ceiling Changing Rooms
If you’ve ever stepped into a drafty workshop changing room in the middle of January, you know the feeling. It’s freezing. You try to blast the heat, but because the ceilings are so high, all that warm air just floats up to the rafters where it does absolutely nothing for the people standing on the floor. It’s a waste of money and a pain for your crew. The trick is to stop trying to heat the air and start heating the people. That’s where infrared heaters come in. Instead of blowing hot air around, these units send out waves of heat that go straight through the air and hit solid objects. Think of it like the sun on a cold day. The air is still crisp, but your skin feels warm the second the light hits you. Why it actually works The best part? It’s almost instant. You flip the switch, and the heating element glows. There’s no waiting an hour for the room to “warm up.” We set these up to target the “living zone”—basically the first six or seven feet from the floor. Everything above that stays cold, but the people and the benches stay toasted. It just makes sense. Getting the setup right You can’t just slap one heater in the middle of the room and call it a day. Since the heat travels in a straight line, you’ll end up with “cold spots.” If a guy stands behind a tall locker, he’s basically in the shade and will be shivering again. To fix that, we lay them out in a grid. We overlap the heat patterns so there’s nowhere to hide from the warmth. One quick heads-up on the electrics: these things pull a lot of power when they first kick on. Make sure your panel and breakers can handle the load, or you’ll be spending your morning resetting switches. A couple of things to keep in mind Just remember that these units get seriously hot to the touch. You don’t want anyone bumping their head or reaching up and getting a nasty burn. We usually mount them at least 8 to 10 feet up. It keeps everyone safe and gives the heat a chance to spread out properly before it hits the floor.