The thing that people tend to miss in this kinda discussion is temperature gradient: heat flows from a higher temp towards a lower temp, and the higher the gradient between the both temps the more heat will be exchanged.
Lets look at this from another vantage point:
2 x 600w leds, one has a seriously beefy heat sink that only heats up by 5° above ambient, another has a small sink that heats up 40° above ambient. Both have the same wattage, which one do you think will heat up the space more?
If a watt is a watt is the whole story then why do we have different types of heaters and radiators?
I mean a micro wave oven is about 1500w, we could simply use the microwave instead of a heater if this was true.
Thermodynamic principles are very easy to grasp in theory but one of the hardest subject matters to bring to practice when it comes to doing real predictions.
both heatsinks will heat the space up the same just the smaller one (with less surface area) will take longer for it.
THIS given were in a enclosed system with a perfect insulation, were not as we exhaust the warm air normally.
so the beefier heatsink should heat the space better, the smaller one even having a higher temp gradient is limited by its lack of surface area, heat exchange capabilities.
like using several smaller wattage room heaters with more surface area compared to one with more watts and a smaller surface area to heat a room.
given we use the same energy and leds (efficacy) the BTU will be the same otherwise we could create a impossible perpetuum mobile by limiting the heat sink surface area and create a higher temp gradient.
practically the better cooled leds will work a tad more efficient and therefore give less heat, but that shouldnt be that much so we may skip that point here.
a microwave heater would likely be a quite efficient heater for the home its just hard to control.
"The
heating effect of
microwaves destroys living tissue when the temperature of the tissue exceeds 43° C (109° F). Accordingly, exposure to intense
microwaves in excess of 20 milliwatts of power per square centimetre of body surface is harmful. "
so we better stick with infrared heaters, which HPS are quite good ones.
if you want a more efficient heater go with a HPS.
a watt is still a watt here, but the heat is directly delviered to the surface, skin, foilage.
Considering buying an infrared heater? These are great as additional space heater but read about the energy efficiency of these radiant heaters. Save some money
www.heatingcoolinghome.com
"The best part is that radiant heaters do not require you to turn them on for long periods of time before you start to feel the warmth provided. Since they work in a different way entirely, radiant heaters begin emitting warmth right away and can be felt almost instantly. This is due to the fact that the heat you are feeling is not due to convection, but actually relies on direct absorption. You can think of a radiant heater in the same way as a campfire in the sense that the heat can be felt right away. Radiation is the key to what makes a radiant heater so energy efficient. Since convection heaters work by heating the air in a space, they take a much longer time to provide warmth and use up much more energy. However, radiant heaters work to radiate heat right away and do not require the waste of energy to function. "
so in a non isolated room, which were working with, this kind of heat is working well, see the campfire example.
a watt is a watt, but there are different forms of heat.
