It is impossible to ignore the cossie livs issue and it’s impact. The bad news are everywhere, from cost of groceries to utilities, everything is a blood bath. Making sacrifices to make ends meet is the norm.
With still a few weeks before winter officially kicks in, I am already feeling the cold early mornings. But being usually the only person at home, it simply does not make sense to run any of the home’s heating options. I just throw more clothes on which is a bulky but economical option to run with.
This is where Stoov comes in with their personal heating options to save the day, and your wallet, using longwave infrared technologies.
First Impressions
I didn’t really get a Stoov for myself. It was coming up to Mother’s Day and our friends at Stoov offered me a generous discount so I got one for my mum and one for the mother of my children.
Given that they can both sit for hours working on their interests, the last thing I want is for them to be in the zone, only to slowly turn into icicles because they ignored they were getting cold. I went with the Big Hug XL in the woolly fabric and the large battery option.
The Stoov Big Hug XL came rolled up and held in place with an attached elastic loop. The loop doubles to go over the back of a chair and comes with a clip to make it shorter if necessary.
The battery pack comes with a short length of cord which connects to the switch inside the Stoov. You have to twist the connector to lock it into place.
A nice big unmissable orange tab on the side is where you can plug in to recharge the battery, turn on the main switch as well as set one of three levels of heat.
The Big Hug XL measures 45 x 135cm (compared to the Big Hug at 40 x 110). This is more than enough to cover the back and the seat area of my HM Aeron with overhangs both sides.
For my better half, her Alex Zanda Zephr has a very high back and the Big Hug XL is just long enough to reach the top of the back, and cover the seat area. Whilst having the battery pack hang over the top lip of the chair helps keep the Stoov in place, the elastic can also go around the chair back to keep it largely in place.
What is long-wave infrared and the why?
You know the rainbow colours? Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet? Infrared is the range of freqency on the lower end of the spectrum, below the visible red colour.
There are three categories of infrared – shortwave, which is adjacent to red on the frequency spectrum. Mediumwave and also longwave which is closer to the microwave spectrum.
In a nutshell, shortwave infrared emits temperatures of 1300°C up to 2600°C and a bright visible light. In operation this wavelength will heat the skin, but inefficiently as most of it will be reflected away. What is left can penetrate into the subcutaneous layer of the skin and potentially cause adverse health effects especially over long exposure. Think sunburn, or tan til your skin is leather.
Longwave infrared is much cooler in comparison, with emitted temperature in the range from 100 – 500°C and has no visible light. Given the human body is 80% water, this is the wavelength where the absorption of heat is highly efficient. Further, the penetration depth is limited to around the epidermis layer.
If this sounds confusing, then consider this. Longwave infrared as I said earlier, is adjacent to the microwave spectrum. The microwave you have in your kitchen works by causing the water molecules in the food to vibrate, which causes friction and in turn heats up your food, unevenly. The invention of the microwave for heating food is one of those fun accidental discoveries too, but that I digress.
Longwave infrared doesn’t try to cook you from the inside though, which prolonged exposure to microwave can.
In Use
It doesn’t take long to get the Stoov going. Hook up the switch cable into the battery pack, slot the battery pack into the dedicated compartment at the top of the Stoov. It’s bright orange in colour so you can’t miss it.
Stoov has handily printed the instructions inside the Big Hug itself, it is right there when you unzip the cover at the back. They also provided a quick start guide so it really takes next to no time to get yourself set up.
The way it works is that the Stoov is directly heating you, the user, with long-wave infrared rather than the traditional method – heating the air around you and as a secondary effect, you feel warmer. With the direct heat from the source to target comes the efficiency gains, rather than losing a percentage of the heat generated in the transmission process.
With the longwave infrared, what I feel was a slower but gentler heating of my body parts that is in contact with the Stoov. If you picture touching the side of a mug of hot water, the heating is instant along with the sting of the burn. With the Stoov, the feeling of warmth is much more gradual. Fun fact, long infrared is the type of heat we radiate ourselves.
Over a period of time, I feel that I never got comfortably toasty (or hot) like I would in front of an open fire or a heating element, but there was a satisfying regulated warmth which took a little time to get to.
For testing, I left the Stoov on (not the gas type cos that’s just irresponsible) for a bit without me sitting on it. The thermometer on my Pixel 8 Pro registered a temperature range from 25°C to 29°C, and the ambient temperature was 16°C. Despite this differential, sitting on the chair does not provide immediate warmth. It takes a few minutes for it radiate through. That said, it’s a warmth that I miss as soon as I get out of the chair. But if I am sitting down for a long duration, it’s actually very comfortable.
Having the woolly fabric helps trap some of the heat, but if you are constantly getting up and out of your chair, there is no avoiding the latency in warming yourself up.
In comparison, something like a heated car seat cranks up much faster, and will feel warm as soon as you sit on it.
Other Features
There are three levels of temperature with the Big Hug. How warm you want to be comes at a cost of battery life. Below is a table of estimates by Stoov.
The Stoov Big Hug is really an infrared heating pad, wrapped in a removable outer layer. So if you are worried about getting your Big Hug dirty, then don’t stress. You can just strip it out, clean it and put it all back together.
Conclusions
The Stoov solution is tailored to individuals. Be it a cushion, or the Big Hug in my case, it’s a seating for one. The Big Hug is designed to fit into an office chair, or dining room chair, or that little one outside when you want to enjoy the evening watching the Aurora Australis from the comfort of your backyard sipping a cup of tea.
The Stoov heating solutions are not cheap with a starting price of $144, but compared to running gas or electricity for a whole house when you don’t need to, the savings would be apparent fairly quickly. The Big Hug XL with the woolly fabric and large battery has a RRP of $294. But if you go with the standard battery which is half the capacity and original fabric, the RRP is $239. That means you can get it with the cost of living energy rebate from the 2024 Federal Budget with some spare change!
Now could someone kindly bring me an omurice so I don’t have to relinquish the warm embrace of my Big Hug?
