Most safety experts conclude that portable electric heaters are the
only ones that are safe for regular indoor use. According toe
Harvey Sachs of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy,
fossil fuel heaters, such as
kerosene or
propane heaters, add a large
amount of humidity to the air and could produce carbon monoxide if the
fuel doesn't burn completely. While this doesn't pose a problem if the
unit is used outdoors, it does clearly make the case for why we should
stick to electric space heaters for indoor use.
Aside from energy efficiency and fuel costs, many space heaters also
come with an additional safety feature - they immediately switch off if
tilted from the base. If your
space heater comes with this
feature, the slightest tilt in any direction will automatically shut off
the heater. This is especially useful if you have children or
pets.
Why Choose an Electric Space Heater?
Electricity is a relatively expensive fuel an energy source, it's
nowhere near as costly as natural gases which home heating units use to
create heat. An
electric heater may help you save money on heating if you use it just to
take the chill off a single room without having to crank up the heat in
the entire house.
After safety, money is the next deciding factor. With the cost of gas
heat going through the roof, the best way to heat your home for the
winter is to do it by only heating those rooms which you actually use.
This is a clever but simple strategy that should be put into effect,
especially if there's only one person in the dwelling or if only one or
two rooms are being used.
Space heaters also convert almost all of the electricity into heat.
Electricity, often created from gas, oil, or coal is usually only able
to convert to 30% usage - so if you switch on an appliance, about 30% of
the energy used is actually serving the purpose of powering the
appliance. While you probably wouldn't want to use electricity to
heat your whole house in a cold climate, it's often the most
cost-efficient method for heating your home - summing up at about 13
centers per hour.
Two Commonly Used Types of Space Heaters
Space heaters come in all different shapes, sizes and
varieties. A quick look at our
space heater buying
guide will help
distinguish between the various types and sizes. There
are two commonly used types of of electric portable space heaters: convection heaters
and radiant heaters.
Convection Heaters vs. Radiant Heaters
Most consumers make the mistake in thinking that
convection and radiant heaters are not electric space heaters - when in
fact they are.
Radiant space heaters heat objects
and people rather than just the air in the room. Radiant heat works the way the sun's rays do. When
you're in those rays, you're warm; when the rays are blocked, you get
cold. Consequently, you have to keep a radiant heater within your line
of sight to feel its warmth.
The U.S. Department of Energy says radiant heaters
are a more efficient choice than convection heaters on a case by case
basis. With radiant heating, also referred to as infrared heaters,
if you'll be in the room for only a few hours and can stay within that
line of sight. This is made possible since radiant heaters don't need to
heat the entire room - which is an advantage for these types of heaters
since there's no drafts from moving air.
Should you choose a convection heater instead, the
Energy Department recommends buying the type that contains a heat
transfer liquid such as oil. The electric element heats the fluid, which
stores some of the heat for gradual release into the room. That way the
heater can cycle less but the warmth from the heater remains more
constant. Convection heaters heat the air in the room, and aside from
the portable heater variety, they also come as baseboard and wall
heaters. Though baseboard and wall heaters are stationary units, they
are nonetheless space heaters as well.
One of the benefits of convection heaters is that you
can heat the whole room more quickly than a radiant heater since the fan
forces out the heater air. So convection heaters would probably be a
better bet if there are a lot of people in a room or if they were
constantly moving around or within the room.
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