Heaters are… Heaters
I did a deep dive into electric space heaters today and confirmed that:
- They’re all efficient (assuming that they work at all). “Electric heaters are 100% efficient at point of use as they convert every watt of electricity taken from the wall into usable heat, meaning there’s zero waste”.
- A 1500 watt ceramic heater is a 1500 watt ceramic heater. One might be a “tower” selling for $120; the other, from the same brand, might be much smaller and cheaper-looking (and sell for $25). But they produce equal amounts of heat. This leads us to…
- Heaters are marketed based on how much space they can heat. But that’s all smoke and mirrors. The box may say that one is for “large rooms” and other is a “desktop model” for “small rooms.” But the heat output per watt is the same.
- They can differ in other respects; an oil filled heater is safer, but slower (but keeps heating after you turn it off); a ceramic heater heats the air; a mica heater heats objects which then radiate heat into the room.But they all ultimately produce the same amount of heat.
- I don’t really even need a space heater 🙂 My house stays toasty. So I’m not sure why I got so interested in them. But it’s nice to know these things.