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How Use Portable Room Heaters to Save Heating Energy Costs

By: Paul Eden

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With the economy in the tank, there is more interest than ever in saving money on winter fuel costs. Using electric room heaters can be a key component in an overall plan to save; one just has to have reasonable expectations. Electric space heaters are limited in heat output to 1500 watts or the equivalent of about 5000 BTU of heat per hour. Considering that many central heating systems are rated for at or more than 40,000 BTUs per hour, it is not rational to expect the same level of heating throughout a typical house with one or even several electric room heaters as with a central heating system.

One of the keys to using portable heaters successfully is to not expect to heat your entire house, but rather just heat the room or space within a room efficiently. There are two major categories of portable space heaters: convection and radiant. Convection is simply heat being transfered to room air coming into contact with a war object. Forced convection heaters implement a fan force the air across the surface while passive convection heaters make use of the natural air currentscaused by heat gradients within the room. Small ceramic fan heaters are an example of a forced convection heater. On the other hand radiant heaters do not heat the air in the room but rather transfer heat from a warm object to a cooler object such as furniture and occupants within the room. Many people find radiant heat a very pleasant form of heat as it warms the same way as the sun heats up your clothes and skin.

Once there is afundamental understanding of the physics behind the various types of portable space heaters it is easier to make a purchase decision based on your needs. For short- term heat like warming up a bathroom for showering and dressing in the morning a ceramic box fan heater is the best choice. These units provide quick heat and do not require a warm up period. In my opinion forced air convection heaters are less than ideal for heating up a room throughout the day. These fans are usually noisy and tend to dehumidify the air. For heating a room for anlonger period of time, we recommend a passive convection heater such as an oil filled heater. While these heaters require some warm up time, once they heat up provide an nice quiet heat source, and have the added advantage of being safe around children because of the moderate surface temperatures. For localized heat, try a radiant heater. Radiant heaters are great for warming an area at a work station or desk, where the heat is only required in a limited confined space.

Electric electric space heaters come in many different models. The primary concepts in using small portable space heaters to heat effectively is to realize that to save money using them requires a different mindset and making sure you select the most suitable design for any given task.

Article Source: http://depositarticles.com/

Paul Eden is a semi-retired mechanical engineer who enjoys investigating home-related products. He rercently researched electric space heaters, including oil filled heaters.

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