On 11/28/2011 2:20 PM, Bob F wrote:
DerbyDad03 wrote:
Disregarding the specific situation regarding my shop, are oil-filled
heaters cheaper to operate than fan-based heaters since the oil
retains/emits the heat even when the element is off?

The only difference might be a slight difference in how often they cycle on/off.


If you only examine BTUs per KWH, the oil-filled heaters convert a
larger percentage of total energy to heat than to fan-based heaters
because with the fan, you are using some electricity to blow air rather
than using all of it to generate heat. That said, a fan-based heater
may be cheaper to operate if your specific requirements include rapid
heating of a volume of air (e.g., an entire room) and no prolonged
heating after the room has warmed.

For example, if I want to take a shower in a warmed bathroom, I would
need to turn on the oil-filled heater well before I undressed and
entered the shower to let the heater warm and then warm the room. With
a fan-based heater, the room might get comfortable in only a few
minutes. Also when I was out of the shower, the oil-based heater would
continue to provide heat to the room long after I was dressed and out of
the room. The fan-based heater stops generating heat almost
instantaneously when turned off. Therefore, even though an oil-based
heater will be more efficient in converting electricity to heat, the
fan-based heater, for that application, will use less electricity and be
cheaper to operate.