How to actually pick the right infrared heater for your bathroom
If you’re looking at infrared lamps for your bathroom, your first instinct might be to just grab the one with the biggest number on the box. Don’t do that. It’s not about raw power. It’s about how much heat you actually need for the size of your room and how much steam you’re dealing with. For bathrooms or outdoor wet rooms, you want short-wave lamps. These are great because they don’t waste time trying to heat up the air—they go straight for your skin and the surfaces around you. It’s that immediate, cozy feeling the second you step in.
Getting the wattage right
I usually break it down into three simple sizes. If you’ve got a tiny powder room (under 4m²), a single 400W to 600W lamp is plenty. It keeps the chill away without turning the room into a sauna. For a standard bathroom (between 4m² and 8m²), you’re looking at 800W to 1200W. Then you have the big master baths or open wet rooms over 10m². For those, you’ll want 1500W or more—or better yet, a few smaller lamps spread out so there aren’t any cold spots. Here’s the thing: if you put too much power in a small space, the heater will just click on and off constantly. That wears out the gear and kills your electric bill. But if you go too low? You’re just standing there shivering, waiting for a warmth that’s never coming.
Dealing with the steam
Since we’re talking about bathrooms, water is the enemy. You need a housing with a proper IP rating. We use tempered quartz glass and tight gaskets to make sure steam doesn’t sneak into the electrical parts and fry everything. But there is a catch. A perfectly sealed, waterproof box traps heat inside. If you cram a high-wattage lamp into a tight, sealed enclosure, things get hot—really hot. Just make sure the housing is made of stuff that won’t warp or change color when things heat up.
A few tips to save money
Want to get more out of your heater? Mount it at a 45-degree angle. It spreads the heat across a wider area, which means you don’t have to buy a massive, power-hungry lamp to feel warm. And please, don’t just use a manual switch. Wire it into a motion sensor or a timer. There’s nothing worse than realizing you left the heater running for six hours while you were at work. Doing this can knock about 30% off your energy bill.