Keeping Poultry Warm When Things Get Damp
If you’ve ever tried to keep livestock warm in a damp environment, you know that just cranking up the wattage isn’t enough. You can’t just blast hot air and hope for the best. That’s why we use shortwave infrared. Instead of trying to heat up all the cold, soggy air in the room, this tech sends heat straight to the animal. It’s like stepping into a patch of sunlight on a winter day. One second it’s freezing in the coop, and the next, you’ve got a warm zone.
Why this works better than a space heater
Most heaters rely on convection. The problem? Heat drifts. In a drafty coop or a wide-open changing area, that warmth just floats away. Our infrared units work differently. They send out waves that only turn into heat once they actually hit something solid—like a chicken or a person. It’s instant. You don’t have to sit around waiting for the room to “warm up.” You flip the switch, and you feel it immediately.
Dealing with moisture (the real enemy)
Water and electricity aren’t friends. In a locker room or a chicken coop, you’re dealing with steam, splashes, and humidity. We’ve seen plenty of cheap units just give up and burn out because steam leaked into the housing. We stopped that by sealing the electrical junctions and using coated quartz glass. It keeps the guts of the machine dry and stops corrosion before it starts. For the lamps, we stick with R7s or SK15 connectors. Why? Because when a tube finally hits its end-of-life, you can just pop a new one in without replacing the whole rig. One quick tip: if you’re wiring these into a massive operation, keep an eye on your voltage drop. These arrays pull a lot of current, so make sure your wiring can handle the load.
A few things to watch out for
Here is the trade-off. Because shortwave IR is so intense, those lamps gethot. Really hot. You have to be smart about where you hang them. If they’re too low, you risk scorching your birds or burning your staff. If you hang them too high, you lose that concentrated beam of heat and waste energy. It’s all about finding that sweet spot. Play around with the height until the temperature feels just right for your animals.