Electric Space Heaters
Electric space heaters are one of the most popular types of portable heater. They are used in houses, garages and barns. Portable electric space heaters come in two main forms: a liquid filled heater and electric element heater containing a heated wire.
Electric Space Heaters
Electric element space heaters are relatively cheap. The inside of a heater has a hot wire or coil, and air is moved over this coil. The coil is heated by the electric current. The wire is usually a nichrome wire, which is made of nickel and chromium. The air is moved over the coil using a fan, which heats the air. This is then dispersed outside of the heater by convective currents.
Convective currents are caused by the increase in temperature of the air surrounding the electric space heater. The warmer air rises, causing cold air to move into the space left by the hot air. This cold air warms, and then rises. More cold air moves toward the heater and this creates a natural current around the room. Hot air rises, and when it cools it returns back toward the heater.
Liquid filled electric heaters create heat by warming water or oil. They are often shaped as a traditional radiator. An electric element heats the water or oil, and this creates natural convective currents in the room. Liquid filled heaters take much longer to heat up than electric element heaters, due to the time taken to heat the water or oil. These heaters can become hot to touch, and children should always be watched while the heater is on.
Electric space heaters can be used in living spaces, garages, barns cellars. They are often used in greenhouses to maintain a constant temperature, and to guard against sudden drops in temperature caused by frost. Electric space heaters can be used in industrial settings, such as in warehouses.
Electric heaters have some disadvantages. They are not very useful during a power cut, as they require mains electricity to run. Electric heaters containing fans are often quite noisy. They can also potentially cause a fire if left near flammable items, and should never be used to dry clothes.
Electric Element Heaters
Electric element heaters can also contain fans which disperse the air around the room. This causes the room to heat faster than it would with just natural convective currents. However, both the fan moving the air over the coil, and the fan dispersing air around the room can be quite noisy when an electric element heater is used.
Portable Electric Space Heaters
Portable electric space heaters are often encased in plastic, which reduces the risk of fire. They also usually have a mechanism turning off the heater if it is knocked over, although this is not the case in liquid filled electric heaters.
Thermostats
Electric heaters can contain thermostats. This means the user is able to adjust the air temperature, and the heater will attempt to maintain this. The thermostat controls the amount of heat generated by the electric heater.