HVAC Contributor
For office employees or homeowners seeking for ways to remain warmer in the winter, space heaters can be a terrific alternative. When choosing a space heater, there are a number of things to take into account, including heat production, efficiency, and cost. In order to pick the ideal space heater for your needs, this article attempts to help you gain an understanding of the various types of space heaters.
Small, portable heaters called space heaters are typically used to warm up rooms or offices that are quite small in size. They come in a variety of styles and have varying heating capacities, providing for a wide range of functions. The most typical styles of space heaters are as follows:
- Convection Heaters
- Panel Space Heater
- Fan Space Heater
- Ceramic Space Heater
- Radiators Space Heaters With Oil
- Radiant And Infrared Heaters
- Portable Propane Heaters
When it comes to choosing a space heater for your house, you have a lot of alternatives. We’ll now look at a few of each sort of space heater’s features.
Panel Space Heaters
Costs for panel heaters can range from $80 to as much as $450. They are getting more well-liked as a result of their practicality and cutting-edge designs. These heaters use convection heating, where heated elements inside the panel generate electrical currents that warm the panel’s surface. It heats the air around it as a result, which causes it to rise to the ceiling of a room and warm it.
Instead of fully heating a drafty space, panels work best to take the cold off of it. These tiny heaters can be installed on the wall, let to stand on their own, or placed on a stand. Depending on the model, they might also have a fan included or not. Panel heaters’ top surface will get warm to the touch, but the remainder of the panel’s surface is chilly.
Given that they utilize just roughly a third of the energy that radiant heaters do, they are regarded as being reasonably efficient.
These heaters can be found in a variety of capacities, often ranging from 400 to 1,500 watts in power. Panel heaters have the drawback of being essentially “plug and forget it heaters,” giving consumers few options for extra controls or settings.
Fan Space Heater
Because they rely on convection, fan heaters operate similarly to ceramic heaters. The kind of heating element used in each of them determines how they operate most significantly. Metal coils found in fan heaters are used to heat the air. The warmed air is then blown over the metal coil by the fan, heating the space.
Compact and reasonably priced, fan space heaters are easy to store. With wattages ranging from 200W to 1,500W, they can usually be purchased for between $40 and $70. Fan heaters are less likely to catch fire than other kinds of space heaters since their housing is often cool to the touch. These heaters provide directional heat, so they definitely aren’t the ideal choice if you’re trying to heat a big room evenly.
The fact that fan space heaters provide immediate heat as soon as they are turned on is one of their main advantages. They may be fixed on a wall or placed on the floor and are also rather lightweight.
If you want to heat certain areas in your house, fan heaters are an energy-efficient choice because they need less electricity to run the fan.
One drawback of fan heaters is that they often only come with dial-type thermostats, making it difficult to control the temperature precisely. Another drawback is that the neighboring pieces of furniture in the space might quickly block them.
Ceramic Space Heater
The majority of ceramic space heaters cost between $40 and $120 to buy. Another kind of convection-based space heater is the ceramic heater.
This kind of heater has metal coils and ceramic plates. The plates heat up when electricity passes through these coils. More electrical heat is absorbed by the plates, but because it must go someplace, it is eventually discharged into the atmosphere.
Ceramic heaters quickly begin to warm a space as a result of this process, which happens pretty quickly. Ceramic heaters can be purchased with or without a fan. Usually, the heaters without fans take a little longer to heat up. These heaters are lightweight and compact, yet some could be taller than others (typically no more than 2-feet).
Particularly energy-efficient ceramic heaters are excellent for bringing a constant flow of warm air into certain areas in a house, such a bathroom or a bedroom. They can be found in wattages as low as 200W or as high as 1,500W and are designed to be portable. The surface temperature of ceramic heaters can reach rather hot, which makes them a fire hazard (especially when they’re put too close to flammable items or furniture). It is advised not to leave ceramic heaters unattended.
Modern ceramic heaters frequently include a digital thermostat, enabling precise temperature control, which is another big advantage. The ones with fans, however, can be a little noisy, which is a drawback.
Radiators Space Heaters With Oil
Oil-filled space heaters, often known as “radiant heaters,” are becoming more prevalent in homes because they offer consistent heat and are effective space heaters. They typically range in price from $40 to $130 and have a wattage of 1,500W. These tiny portable heaters resemble the old-fashioned iron cast radiators that are common in older homes.
Although they are small, these heaters typically have wheels and are a little bit taller than other kinds of space heaters. These heaters’ interiors are filled with “diathermic oil.” Oil travels through the space heater’s fins as it warms up. The surface temperature of the fins increases as they heat up, warming the air around them.
Since the outer metal surface of radiant heaters is sufficiently large to aid in the proper heat distribution, they do not include a blower fan, making them relatively quiet. Nearly 99% of the electrical energy used by radiant oil heaters is converted into heat. These heaters function best in compact spaces up to 150 square feet. or less, and numerous modern models include a digital thermostat for simple temperature control.
The drawback of these heaters is that they can get very hot to the touch and are heavier than most other space heaters (can weigh between 12- and 18-lbs). They may take a little longer than other types of heaters to heat a room because they can’t manage how quickly they produce heat.
Radiant And Infrared Heaters
Another excellent option for a space heater is an infrared heater, which is available in a number of designs that are suited for outdoor use. Price ranges for them range from $60 to $200. These heaters use electromagnetic waves to circulate through the air and heat any nearby physical items. They are electrically operated.
Their method is quite comparable to how the sun heats the surface of the Earth using radiation. Actually, these heaters heat items rather than the air (such as furniture, bodies, walls, floors, etc.). Since infrared heaters don’t need a fan to function, even though one helps hasten the heat-distribution process, they are available with and without blower fans.
These heaters are excellent for use during chilly weather outdoors and in sizable basements. The ability of infrared heaters to provide heat for extended periods of time, even while the unit is off, is one of their main advantages. By transforming all of their energy into heat, their design and technology make them excellent energy savers. They normally come in wattages of 500w, 1000w, or 1500W, and their settings often feature a range of power levels (along with a thermostat).
Many of the more recent versions also have carbon monoxide detectors, which, if they are activated, will turn the appliance off. Compared to other space heaters, infrared heaters can be a little heavier, and they frequently can’t be mounted indoors.
Since infrared heaters’ heating surfaces can grow quite hot, it’s essential to keep them away from flammable materials like furniture and small children while they’re in use (as with most space heaters).
Portable Propane Heaters
Propane space heaters are often more expensive than other forms of residential space heaters, with prices ranging from $30 to $200. They function similarly to infrared heaters in that they heat any nearby items by radiating electromagnetic waves through the air. Additionally, they are the only heaters that run without electricity.
Since they present a significant fire risk when used indoors, these heaters are typically used outside. They can be found in small portable sizes or larger sizes and function by using fuel to generate heat energy (which are often used on patios or beaches). You can pretty much carry them anywhere you go because you don’t need a power cord to use them.
Another advantage of these heaters is that they consume roughly 20% less energy than other types of heaters while producing the hotter supply of heat than any other sort of space heater. The option of a fan or one without one is also available for propane heaters.
Their heating capacity is expressed in British Thermal Units (BTUs), and ranges from 9,000BTUs to 60,000BTUs.
Conclusion
We sincerely hope you found this guide to space heaters of all kinds to be interesting. Remember that figuring out how many rooms and how frequently you want to heat them is the best approach to choose a space heater.
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