Bman31164
I live in an apartment that has electric radiant heat. The heating units are located in the ceilings (which makes no sense to me, but...whatever...) and my winter electric bills are astronomical. I try to turn down the heat when I'm not home, but it takes so long for the rooms to heat up again once I turn it back up that it's sort of impractical. I was wondering if it would be less expensive to buy a couple electric space heaters that have fans built in to blow the heat around and hopefully heat the rooms faster and more efficiently. I've seen some baseboard units and even some fake fireplace/wood stove units that are decent looking. If anyone has any experience with this type of thing, I'd appreciate your feedback. Thanks!
Answer
You can create some small degree of improved comfort by directing portable heaters to specific areas you use. But space heaters won't heat faster, and the abuse of your receptacle circuits may cause damage to those circuits and inconvenience of worn out receptacles randomly failing. Portable heaters should only be used a supplemental heat in areas that aren't served well by the engineered heating system. I will be blunt, not to insult, but just to make sure there is no misunderstanding.
Electricity displaces 3.412 btu's per watt used. Doesn't matter what it is, a light bulb, TV, computer, portable heater all displace 3.4 btu's per watt. So yes, a portable heater may create some instant comfort, but the cost to bring the whole hose to comfort level will be the same.
Your receptacle circuits were laid out to to supply 3 watts per square foot power to run all your TV's, computers, and lights. Separate wires were run to supply 7 to 10 watts per s.f. to the radiant heaters to supply that load, the radiant heaters weren't attached to the local receptacle circuits because the local circuits were spread too thin to handle it. Running a bunch of space heaters instead of using the radiant heaters is abuse of the electrical system, and it is possible you could be back here asking why some of you outlets don't work even though none of your breakers are tripped. All the power for those heaters will physically run through all the outlets that are ahead in the daisy chain, and the connections will become weak and the wires will come loose.
You can create some small degree of improved comfort by directing portable heaters to specific areas you use. But space heaters won't heat faster, and the abuse of your receptacle circuits may cause damage to those circuits and inconvenience of worn out receptacles randomly failing. Portable heaters should only be used a supplemental heat in areas that aren't served well by the engineered heating system. I will be blunt, not to insult, but just to make sure there is no misunderstanding.
Electricity displaces 3.412 btu's per watt used. Doesn't matter what it is, a light bulb, TV, computer, portable heater all displace 3.4 btu's per watt. So yes, a portable heater may create some instant comfort, but the cost to bring the whole hose to comfort level will be the same.
Your receptacle circuits were laid out to to supply 3 watts per square foot power to run all your TV's, computers, and lights. Separate wires were run to supply 7 to 10 watts per s.f. to the radiant heaters to supply that load, the radiant heaters weren't attached to the local receptacle circuits because the local circuits were spread too thin to handle it. Running a bunch of space heaters instead of using the radiant heaters is abuse of the electrical system, and it is possible you could be back here asking why some of you outlets don't work even though none of your breakers are tripped. All the power for those heaters will physically run through all the outlets that are ahead in the daisy chain, and the connections will become weak and the wires will come loose.
how to convert a wood burning fireplace to a gas fireplace?
Bryan G
Answer
You have two options.
The inexpensive / cosmetic option is to have the gas installer (usually a plumber) run a gas line to your fireplace, and use gas logs, but make no other changes. The gas logs will burn gas plus air from your home (like the wood burning fireplace) and exhaust up the chimney (like your wood burning fireplace). This solution is appropriate for people who do not need to use the fireplace for heat, and want to use the gas logs mostly for how they look - mostly, I suspect, people who live in apartments or in the South.
Up North, the more expensive, but much more energy efficient option is to install a direct vent gas fireplace insert. This is a metal box that slips into your existing masonry fireplace. Two 3 inch diameter flexible pipes run down your chimney and connect to the top of the insert. One of them brings in outside air for combustion, the other takes the exhaust back up the chimney. The front of the box is sealed so you can see the flame, but no household air is burned (and therefore doesn't go up the chimney). Heat is distributed into the house by circulating around the outside of the insert through louvers designed into the insert. Some inserts also use an electric blower to improve room air circulation.
In both cases (logs and inserts), you'll need the gas line run to the fireplace. If you use an insert with a blower, you'll need to run a electric outlet to the fireplace, too. The folks who sell you the insert can advise about permits necessary - in our part of the country the installer does the electric and the gas and no permit is required. Larger cities will have more stringent requirements.
You have two options.
The inexpensive / cosmetic option is to have the gas installer (usually a plumber) run a gas line to your fireplace, and use gas logs, but make no other changes. The gas logs will burn gas plus air from your home (like the wood burning fireplace) and exhaust up the chimney (like your wood burning fireplace). This solution is appropriate for people who do not need to use the fireplace for heat, and want to use the gas logs mostly for how they look - mostly, I suspect, people who live in apartments or in the South.
Up North, the more expensive, but much more energy efficient option is to install a direct vent gas fireplace insert. This is a metal box that slips into your existing masonry fireplace. Two 3 inch diameter flexible pipes run down your chimney and connect to the top of the insert. One of them brings in outside air for combustion, the other takes the exhaust back up the chimney. The front of the box is sealed so you can see the flame, but no household air is burned (and therefore doesn't go up the chimney). Heat is distributed into the house by circulating around the outside of the insert through louvers designed into the insert. Some inserts also use an electric blower to improve room air circulation.
In both cases (logs and inserts), you'll need the gas line run to the fireplace. If you use an insert with a blower, you'll need to run a electric outlet to the fireplace, too. The folks who sell you the insert can advise about permits necessary - in our part of the country the installer does the electric and the gas and no permit is required. Larger cities will have more stringent requirements.
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Title Post: How efficient are electric space heaters?
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Rating: 100% based on 99998 ratings. 5 user reviews.
Author: Unknown
Thank FOr Coming TO My Blog
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