On Nov 28, 2:10*pm, DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Nov 28, 1:17*pm, "
wrote:
On Nov 28, 12:29*pm, DerbyDad03 wrote:
I thought that all electric heaters were 100% efficient.
What is this site talking about when they say:
"During the process of converting electrical energy into heat energy a
great deal of it is lost. Therefore an electrical heater is left with
45% of the energy for heating purposes."
http://recomparison.com/comparisons/...ter-vs-ceramic....
Per the law of physics, they are obviously idiots. *The
electric energy you are paying for, as registered by the
meter, is almost all converted to heat by an electric heater.
The tiny, negligible losses would be as heat in the wiring going from
the meter to the heater. *And even that is converted to heat.
You don't need to know what you're talking about to put
up stuff on the web.
There are legitimate differences in how that heat then
reaches the person in the room, how it's dispersed,
etc. * For example, a radiant electric heater that directs that
heat directly at where someone is sitting is going to be more
economical to run than an electric heater
that tries to heat the entire room. *But if they both run at
1000 watts they both have the same 100% efficeincy in
converting the electric that goes into them into heat.
P.S. I'm back to struggling with whether or not I should use a
constantly running oil-filled heater (set on low) in my small workshop
or should I run a small electric heater with a fan only during those
times when I'm in the shop, usually a couple of nights a week and a
few more hours on weekends.
I have both, so the initial cost is not a factor.
IMO, the electric heater with a fan is the clear winner.
Why heat the shop when you're only there a small
percentage of the time? *Or buy one of the radiant heaters
with a dish that you can pick up at Costco or Walmart for $40.
The benefit to those, besides being energy efficient, is that
you get heat instantly. *Downside is that they are very
directional. *So, if you stay at one spot it could be good.
If you move around, soon as you're not in front of it, no heat.
"IMO, the electric heater with a fan is the clear winner."
Even though all electric heaters are 100% efficient, one type vs.
another could be cheaper to operate, right?
Sure if one is 1000 watts and the other is 1500 watts
and you leave then on only for the same amount of time.
On the other hand, they will both use virtually the same
amount of energy to warm the room from say 60 to 65. One will just
do it faster. By doing it faster it might use
a bit less energy because a little less will be lost from
the room while it's raising the temp. But that is a small
difference in the grand scheme of things.
Obviously 100% of 2 kW is going to cost less than 100% of 5 kW over
the same time period, but how does one compare the various types of
heaters to determine the operating cost?
I think the biggest difference is between a radiant type
heater and one that is going to warm the whole room.
Radiant warms mostly what is right in front of it. A
heater with a fan is going to warm the entire room.
Hence, if you can use a radiant, it's going to cost a lot
less to operate.
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?
Maybe. If you're sitting next to the oil filled heater, you
may have it cycling less. If you're trying to heat the
whole room, probably about the same.
If I wanted to determine how much it costs to run an oil-filled heater
"24/7" I'd need to know how often it actually cycled, which would be
based on the temperature of the space, which of course would vary over
time.- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -
Since you have two different heaters you could find out
how much they actually cost to run with a killawatt meter.
However it would have to be over the same period with
the same temp conditions, which is often hard to do.