Does anyone use infrared heaters for the grooming/tacking up area. As it starts to get colder, it gets harder to stay warm during grooming and ride preparation. Barn owner was thinking of installing one of these heaters, but nobody here knows much about it.
Have they worked for you?
Tips on how/where to install?
Safety issues?
I had a pair of infrared heaters installed in my wash stall in my former barn. They worked very well to keep me and the horses warm during grooming or clipping and were even warm enough that I could bathe a horse in winter and leave them under the heaters to dry. When I moved to my current property, I took my heaters with me, but my new barn did not have a place to put them so I never even unpacked them. I truly do miss having them when I am grooming or clipping in the winter. My farrier and vet always appreciated the heaters on really cold days, too.
Btw, the company I purchased my heaters from, (Kalglo, I think) recommended a pair of the heaters, placed parallel and one on each side of the horse. I remember them stating that the heaters did not heat the air, but rather heated where the light touches, so you needed the light on both sides. The idea is that they heat like the sun heats. Someone standing in direct sunlight is much warmer than a person standing 5 feet away under the shade of a tree. That is the affect of the infrared rays touching you. My heaters were installed something like 10 feet from the ground.
Feel free to PM me to ask any more questions and I will do my best to answer.
Yes, Sunlight is the exact analogy (because it also heats by infrared wavelengths).
Much more effective to heat the object directly vs heating all the air around it and eventually the object gets warm too.
I don’t have in my barn yet but have IR heat in my bathroom and mudroom, and absolutely love it.
I got one earlier this year. Love it (and so does my farrier)! Its just me so I didn’t want to spend a bunch of money… AND I didn’t want to have to hard wire it. I bought this one and it works fantastic:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002R686FQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I have it mounted directly over my cross ties. I’ve considered getting another one and installing them on either side but frankly, this one throws plenty of heat so I’m not sure I need it.
I have been at barns that had them in the wash stall.
DH has one in the garage right above where he would stand when working on an engine. They are nice. The one is the garage is a plug in one. The ones in the wash stalls were hard wired.
I have a pair over one of my grooming stalls. I like it for drying off horses, though, if you leave them under it too long, they start to sweat and get wet again!
The ones I bought are intended for patios. I wish they were maybe a little longer/wider to cover more of the horses’ backs/hindquarters. However, the ones I have cover the majority of their necks and backs, well enough for how I intend to dry off/keep warm trace clipped horses.
I have two in my wash/groom stall. I like them well enough, and they are way better than nothing at all. But maybe mine are too small to really do a great job. It’s definitely warmer under them than not, but still not really hot and toasty.
Mine are hardwired in, and I do use them for tacking/untacking in winter, drying (with coolers too) after a cold-weather bath, and the farrier likes them.
I will get the brand posted later, we have an IR heater that is rated for direct exposure to water.
We were sold when the salesman at the horse expo sprayed water on it throughout the day, said it was OK with garden hose volume.
They have a 1500 watt plug in and a 2500 watt that I think is hard wired.
Would probably need 2 1500 units for a wash rack in colder climates.
If you already have a light socket in the area you can just replace the bulb with an infrared bulb.
I once heated an entire foaling stall with just one bulb on a freezing march night when baby was born. It was so toasty I fell asleep holding the foal wrapped in a wool blanket.
Husband took the regular floodlight out and swapped it with the infrared bulb. A few days later he swapped them back.
I’m only suggesting this because it might be a cheap and simple way to check out using infrared heat.
I have 8, they were here when I moved in. You can get the bulbs at Walmart and they just go in a normal can light. They don’t heat quite as warm as the professional ones do, but they are much cheaper and when it is 30 degrees out and I’m doing barn chores under them I have to take my coat off or I will start sweating. Also because of the low cost I have them throughout my barn isle.
I have 2 of the Kalglo heaters in my wash stall. about 9’ up and about 4’ apart. They are on separate hardwired circuits, can turn on 1 or both of them. Absolutely love them.
I’m intrigued. I work out of a boarding barn, so don’t want anything hard-wired. Are brooder-type fixtures decent enough to help dry a horse post-work/keep groom warm?
[QUOTE=StormyDay;8956000]
I have 8, they were here when I moved in. You can get the bulbs at Walmart and they just go in a normal can light. They don’t heat quite as warm as the professional ones do, but they are much cheaper and when it is 30 degrees out and I’m doing barn chores under them I have to take my coat off or I will start sweating. Also because of the low cost I have them throughout my barn isle.[/QUOTE]
What kind of light do they give off? Curious. I am having the 4 foot lights installed in the aisle and will keep the jelly jar lights in the stalls. Do they give off a lot of light?
Thanks. 
I boarded at a barn with the long IR heater over the horse. It was lovely in cold weather and for tacking up, etc.
Then my horse – he was midteens at the time so should have known better – spooked at some horses running outside, reared in the X ties, hit the heater and fell down. he was scrambling and panicked for ages. one end of the heater fell off its chain onto him when he fell which made everything worse. it was 60 seconds of horsey nightmare.
He finally got up and had just scraped his hock and was otherwise OK. but it could have gone SO much worse.
that little episode cost me several hundred dollars as I replaced the heater for the BO without question, since my horse broke it. he also tore a few of those rubber I pavers and I paid to fix that too. This was about ten years ago so I don’t recall the exact figure but it was not cheap. I was just happy I didn’t also have a vet bill to pay!
If I did them here I would do them to the side and not directly above the horse.
The ones I used don’t give off any light, they just radiate? it doesn’t have anything to do with being able to see better.
The one I have in my house next to my shower gives off a porn-star red glow that makes my bathroom look vaguely inappropriate but it does feel good!
[QUOTE=Pennywell Bay;8956834]
What kind of light do they give off? Curious. I am having the 4 foot lights installed in the aisle and will keep the jelly jar lights in the stalls. Do they give off a lot of light?
Thanks. :([/QUOTE]
They do give off a red glow. Its kind of like a twilight. Enough to see, but not enough to read a book.
So there’s no danger or fire hazard of an infrared heater if there’s hay around?
[QUOTE=grey_mare;8957552]
So there’s no danger or fire hazard of an infrared heater if there’s hay around?[/QUOTE]
As I understand it, no more risk than a normal lightbulb. Make sure you clean them so they aren’t dusty and you should be fine, as long as all your wiring was done correctly.
We had hanging infrared fixtures over the indoor groom/wash stalls, they are great. But…if you are looking to install them in a boarding barn, installi a timer switch to shut them off. They can get expensive if regularly on for long periods of time. Pretty good idea even if it’s just your private barn. Think ours were set for 30-40 minutes, long enough to cool out or dry one and not pay to heat empty groom stall. Need more time just turn it back on. We had them over the viewing area too.
Throw a lot of heat just where you need it over a specific enclosed area very safely and relatively inexpensivly compared to heating a much larger area.
