Feel radiant this winter
Home » The Good Guide » Heating & Insulation » Heating & Insulation » Radiant heatersDesigned in Spain, where people know a wee bit about heat, Farho takes radiators to the next level
Radiators are a great option if you get sick of that ‘caught in the hairdryer’ feeling created by some heating systems. And unlike old-fashioned column heaters, which are generally made of steel, Farho radiators are constructed from lightweight aluminium, like many water-heating systems, which transfer heat more easily.
Inside is a patented ‘thermo-fluid’, which is specially formulated to conduct heat efficiently and consistently. Its low density means the radiator can hold more fluid, further increasing its efficiency.
When you flick the switch the fluid heats rapidly and expands to fill the whole radiator, which quickly reaches working temperature. From then on, it only needs an occasional pulse of power to keep radiating the same level of heat out into your home. Natural convection does most of the work by circulating the heat, with warmer air rising to where your head is and cooler air dropping down to heater level to be warmed.
This design, combined with a programmable thermostat, can make for a pretty economical solution.
From a health point of view, this gentle form of heating means dust and other airborne particles aren’t being blasted around the room. The air in your home isn’t dried out or drained of oxygen—a risk when burning wood, gas or coal, which can cause headaches and drowsiness.
“Since we’ve had Farho it’s lovely to spend time at home. My children play comfortably, without any extra clothes. The house is cosy with a very soft and natural warmth. We can now say that our place is not just a house, it’s our home”
There are no fumes, odours or smoke, and radiators have got to be one of the safest heating systems out there for those with children in the home, or people who are unsteady on their feet. The unit’s flat surfaces don’t get hotter than 62°C and they come with overheat protection.
Farho radiators come in three flavours, differentiated by what sort of thermostat they have on board. The top of the range Xana XP Series comes with a digitally controlled thermostat that allows you to programme time and temperature settings and gives you complete 24-hour, 7-day-a-week operating control. The Elegance TDE Series has a digital thermostat that displays room temperature at any given moment (useful for those arguments with the kids about whether it’s warm enough). And the Alexandria AN Series has an easy-to-use analogue thermostat—you simply turn the dial to select your desired temperature.
Julia Haddrell, from Greenlane, Auckland, loves hers. “My children play comfortably, without any extra clothes,” she says. “The house is cosy with a very soft and natural warmth.”
Farho is a good choice if you don’t want to go into a DIY frenzy just to get warm. There are no boilers, ducting, piping networks or chimneys to install. All you need are the supplied wall brackets, a standard power source, and a friendly qualified electrician wire to her up. That’s ace for a retrofit or renovation, and even renters can consider it as an easily removable step up from inefficient mobile units.
The company itself has some pretty admirable credentials, which prove it sweats the details when it comes to heating design. Farho holds the ISO 14001:2004 Certificate in Environment Management Systems and the ISO 9001:2000 Certificate for Quality Management Systems.
Andrew Higgs, general manager of Parex, which supplies the Farho range in New Zealand, says: “Traditionally New Zealanders have tended to under-invest in home heating, resulting in unacceptable health and wellbeing outcomes in a modern world. Parex is delighted to return to the space heating market with such an innovative product. Customers tell us that the healthy natural warmth from the Farho system is even better than expected!”
Xana
XP Series
The top-of-the-range model comes with a digitally controlled Chrono thermostat and the added benefit of programmable time-related temperature settings. This means complete 24-hour, 7-day-a-week operating control of the heating system
Elegance
TDE Series
This model is almost identical to the AN series except the thermostat is controlled by digital technology with a high-precision NTC probe (+-.02°C) that displays the room temperature at any given moment
Alexandria
AN Series
This model has analogue thermostat control that is easy to use: simply turn the dial to select your desired temperature
