Basement Heaters

Basement heaters are a cost effective way of adding heat to the basement area and are quite common in intensely cold climates. Basement heaters are available in various types and models. Propane space heaters, baseboard heaters, ceramic heaters, fan heaters and heavy duty electric heaters are a few types worth mentioning.

Propane space heaters, ideal for a 300 square foot basement area, radiate heat using propane gas as fuel. This kind of heater is vent-free and requires no electricity. The advantage of a propane space heater is that it warms people and objects before heating air. Natural gas heaters with specially designed double-wall vents help to take in outside air for heating and directly exhaust all the byproducts of combustion.

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The heating element in a baseboard heater warms the air passing through it. As the warm air rises up the heater, colder air is pulled down. This process is continued until the air in the basement reaches a specified temperature. Ceramic heaters are also used as basement heaters. Air is pushed over the hot ceramic heating element with the help of a fan. The advantage of a ceramic heater lies in its ability to warm up a larger area using a huge grill that oscillates the twin heating elements. A built-in air filter, overheat sensor, foot switch, anti-freeze setting and tip-over switch are special features. In fan heaters, as the name implies, a fan is used to push the air over the hot heating element. All these basement heaters consume electricity.

A heavy duty electric heater is used to heat a larger area. It is capable of heating a room to over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Oil-filled radiators powered by electricity use special thermal oil sealed in the heater. The heating element heats the oil, which in turn heats the air surrounding it. The heater is safe to touch, as there are no exposed elements. It is also easy to handle and economical.

As technology advances, the facilities added to basement heaters also increase. Basement heaters are efficient, secure and easy to use. Installation can be done with the help of user manuals, though a skilled professional is recommended for maintenance.

Basement Heaters

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Are Electric Infrared Patio Heaters Any Good?

There are a wide variety of types of patio heaters besides the traditional cone designs. Even then there are also a variety of types of fuel sources for each. One type of heater is the electric infrared patio heater. It offers some advantages that others do not.

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Infrared heat tends to work a bit differently than other forms of heat. Infrared heat will head up the objects that it's pointed at. This means that if you are sitting within line of site of the heat source, you will start to feel warm. Others types of heaters will heat up all the air. In a patio setting infrared heat makes sense especially if you have lots of wind that would blow the warmed air away.

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Infrared patio heaters can come on stands or can even be hung on the wall. Look for ones that have both options giving you the best of both worlds.

Since these types of heaters run on electricity there is no need to go out and buy fuel tanks or worry about gas leaks that other heaters can cause.

Certain models can even be used safely indoors but it's best to check and be completely sure it's made for home indoor use first.

The disadvantage of an outdoor infrared heater is that the heat won't be circular like with other patio heaters. It will have to be off to one side pointing the heat in one direction as opposed to going in all directions. Another disadvantage is that the bulbs at some point in time may have to be replaced. Many bulbs work for about 4000 hours which is the equivalent of two working years meaning the heater will probably wear out before needing a new bulb, but it's still a good idea to know where you can buy a replacement bulb.

Are Electric Infrared Patio Heaters Any Good?

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Electric Baseboard Heaters Energy Saving Tips

Is your energy bill rising for no apparent reason? Your home might be the problem, not the appliances. Your electric baseboard heaters may be working properly, however; 31 percent of the warm air escapes through floors, walls, and ceilings. Other places where air may be escaping include ducts, plumbing fixtures, through the fireplace, and around doors and windows. Ensuring you have proper sealing and insulation can help the effectiveness of electric baseboard heaters.

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You can save additional energy by ensuring that your thermostat on your heaters is set properly. If you are out of the house or sleeping at night turn down the thermostat to a level you and other occupants can live with. Do not turn off your heater completely, because your heater has to work twice as hard (and use twice as much energy) when you turn it on in the morning. If you are on vacation, set the heater to manual and leave it at a reasonable degree, such as 60.

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When you are trying to save money and eliminate waste, ensure that your heaters are clean and free of dust. Anything blocking the vents or exhaust can cause the unit to use more energy. Ensure that your heater is Energy Star compliant. Consider using the anti-freeze function, which will turn the heater on if the room gets below an uninhabitable level.

Energy Efficient Heaters

Electric baseboard heaters are energy efficient because they keep a room at a certain level, the Fahrenheat PHH15002 Oil Filled Electric Baseboard Heater, is ideal for keeping rooms up to 150 square feet warm. The PHH15002 offers a variety of safety features, making the unit perfect for bedrooms, offices, or even the living room. The heater has two heating levels with a built in electric thermostat. The heater is easy to install and does not add much bulk to the area.

If you have a large area that needs to be kept warm, consider using the Marley PLF504 Electric Hydronic Baseboard Heater. The unit measures 28 inches long ad blends in perfectly with other furniture. The PLF504 can be mounted on the wall and elevated from the floor to allow for vacuuming underneath. The electric baseboard heater uses proprietary technology to keep rooms warm by the use of a freeze-proof liquid

In terms of energy efficiency, it makes no sense to heat up a room when nobody is in it. The Dayton UG01 Portable Electric Baseboard Heater solves this problem and can bring cost effective heat to any room in the house. The unit is compact and stylish, which blends in with any decor. The unit offers a wide array of safety features, including auto shutoff and tip-proof mechanisms.

When selecting an energy efficient heating system for your home, it is important to identify the delivery mechanisms your house supports, as well as the area you need covered. In order to avoid cold winters, it is best to find a system that can offer long term benefits, such as electric baseboard heaters.

Electric Baseboard Heaters Energy Saving Tips

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Heat Your Whole House Using Charmglow Heaters

Homes get chilly at the starting of the fall season. If you are seeing for a new heater, it's a good idea to consider the Charmglow range of ventless heaters. Charmglow heaters heat your whole house throughout the fall and winter season and provide a favorable and price worthy option. It's important to choose a heater that heats the house evenly, looks good, and is easy to install and maintain.

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Even Heating Of The House

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On a cursory look, all approved heaters look the same, but a closer investigation reveals subtle differences. One of the problems is that the heat does not spread throughout the home. The best heater is the one which is affordable, spreads heat in all rooms, and lasts long. A Charmglow heater has all these advantages and more.

Charmglow Is Fitted With Electric Blower

A Charmglow heater comes with an electric blower which helps spread the warm air in the whole house and does not concentrate the heat in just one room. The outer face of this heater does not get too hot, so it's safe to keep the heater in a room with children. Ventless heaters give you the same heat as that of a fireplace.

If the blower's noise disturbs you, switch off the blower for some time. But, to heat other rooms, you must switch on the blower which comes with the Charmglow heater.

You can purchase this ventless heater from market like Lowes, Home Depot, or any other hardware store. With professional help, you can install and enounce the heater easily.

Buying a Charmglow heater satisfies your family's need of a warm and cozy home. These heaters are affordable and have high quality. They have high performance which lasts several years.

Heat Your Whole House Using Charmglow Heaters

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Energy Efficient Electric Heaters

When purchasing an electric heater for either your home or your garage you are looking for a way to heat the area in the most energy efficient way possible. If you need an electric heater you are probably looking to heat or warm a specific area of your home and by doing so you are already becoming more energy efficient.

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This is true because using a portable type of electric heater gives you the ability to raise the thermostat on your home's main energy sources such as central heating. Because with a central heating system you are heating the entire home and not just the rooms you and your family are occupying. So even by raising the thermostat 3 or 4 degrees can make a huge impact on your overall energy use and consumption.

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By implementing an electric heater you can move the heater as you leave or enter a specific room. So how do you make sure that an electric heater you use in your home or garage is energy efficient? Start by finding the correct size heater for the specific room you will be heating. For example if you are going to use an electric garage heater there is no need to purchase a heater that will heat 900 square feet if your garage is only 500 square feet. More is not better in this particular case it is just a waste.

Next take a look at what type of features the heater offers. Many of the newer models offer either a built in thermostat or a programmable thermostat. This will help you to maintain a comfortable temperature by alleviating any fluctuation of temperature in the room. A feature like this can also help you to turn off the heater when it is not in use by setting a specific time for the heater to turn off.

This can be an especially useful feature in electric garage heaters as often times we may forget that they are running and may run unnecessarily. Another thing to consider when making your purchase is how the heated air is circulated throughout the room. Once the air has been heated it is important that it be effectively distributed in the room so look for a heater that has a built in fan that helps distributes the air properly. Even distribution alleviates some of the problems associated with older models that gave the rooms hot and cold spots.

One thing you should also know about energy efficient electric heaters is that almost every manufacturer has now take the time to build in several types of safety features. Almost all of them incorporate some sort of automatic shut off system if the heater should actually be knocked over and some, if not most, also have an overheating shut off which will turn the heater off it is blocked or just overheating from non recommended continuous usage.

Energy Efficient Electric Heaters

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Electric Tankless Water Heaters - The Shocking Truth

I have recently been doing some pretty intense research into Electric Tankless Water Heaters.  I did a 2 part series about Tankless Water Heaters in general a while back, but I didn't talk much about Electric tankless except to say that they don't seem to make much sense.

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Well, at the risk of making all the Electric tankless manufacturers mad, what I found out in my research just confirmed that they really don't make much sense.  I just have more information now as to why not.  Since tankless water heaters are being marketed so heavily right now, I wanted to give you the bottom line on what the marketing may not tell you.  Then at least you will be able to make an informed decision if you are considering tankless.

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Tankless Basics

First of all, it is important to understand the basic operation of a tankless water heater.  All tankless heaters, whether electric or gas, use the same basic process to heat water.

1)When a hot water faucet is opened this causes water to flow through the tankless unit.

2) When the volume of flow is enough to trigger the unit to come on it begins heating water.

3)The amount of water that the heater allows to flow through is regulated by the desired outlet temperature.

4)This is, in turn, affected by the temperature of the incoming water.  The colder the incoming water the more heat the heater has to create.

Temperature Rise and Gallons Per Minute

That's why the performance of tankless water heaters is measured by how many gallons per minute (GPM) the heater will deliver at a desired Temperature Rise.  The greater the desired Temperature Rise, the less Gallons per Minute of hot water can be produced.

How many GPM a tankless heater can deliver is entirely dependent on how much energy (either electric or gas) the unit has available to heat the water.  If you want more hot water you have to use more energy.  In a gas tankless this means more BTUs.  In an electric tankless this means more kilowatts, which also means a bigger amperage draw.  There is no way to get around this, it's just the way it is.

Electric vs. Gas

Since we are talking  about electric tankless, the only thing I will say about gas models is that they almost always have better performance than electric models.  The "largest" electric tankless heaters can't match the output of a "standard" gas tankless unit.  For the record, "regular", tank type water heaters have the same differences.  Gas units just heat water faster than electric, tankless or otherwise.

How Much Hot Water Is Enough?

Now that you know the basic concepts, here's why I don't think an electric tankless is a good idea:

The largest unit I could find is only capable of delivering around 5 GPM (gallons per minute) at a modest 50° temperature rise.  At a 60° rise this drops to 4.3 GPM.  By the way, the only people I know who recommend using a 50° temperature rise when sizing a heater are the tankless manufacturers themselves.  Every plumber I know uses 60° as a minimum, real world figure.  Another thing to keep in mind: the Plumbing Code requires "hot water" to all fixtures for "bathing, washing, culinary purposes...etc.  The Code defines "hot water" as "greater than or equal to 110° F".

OK, if all of these numbers are making your head hurt here's the bottom line.  A standard shower head uses at least 2.5 GPM (gallons per minute).  The biggest residential electric tankless can deliver less than 5 GPM at a realistic temperature rise.  That means if two shower heads are running at once they will have less than full flow.  Since one of the most common complaints I hear is that the showers don't have enough pressure already, this is just a recipe for dissatisfaction.

But that's not all.  This lackluster performance comes with a price.

How Much Electricity Is Enough?

Electric tankless water heaters require an enormous amount of electricity as compared to any other equipment in the home.  The largest models require a whopping 160 amps. With most new homes having a 200 amp electrical service, that's 80% of the total electrical capacity of the home.  Many older homes don't even have a large enough electrical service to power the tankless, much less the rest of the house.

In case you think I'm just ranting, I'm not alone.  Electric Utilities hate electric tankless water heaters.  Since they make money selling electricity you would think they would love them.  It seems that they use so much power that they can overload the system.  Check out this excerpt from one power company's website on tankless:

"o  The new load of a tankless water heater can sometimes equal the load of an entire new home!

o  ...if a customer installs a tankless water heater, the increased electric demand may exceed the design specifications of the system and require an upgrade of the cable and transformer. ... will be charged directly to the customer. & If a customer installs a tankless water heater, the customer is required by approved tariff in both the Carolinas and Florida to pay the full cost to upgrade their facilities (including cable and transformer) to meet the need.

o  Customers complaining about a voltage fluctuation or flickering lights may be seeing the impact of a tankless water heater in their neighborhood. It is important to note that this voltage fluctuation may be noticed by other customers in addition to the customer with the tankless water heater - since several customers often share a single transformer. An investigation of all customers on the transformer may be necessary to determine the source of the problem.   If voltage problems exist because of a tankless water heater and a facility upgrade is necessary, the customer with the tankless water heater is required to pay the full cost to upgrade prior to construction."

I don't know if this is actually enforced but it is pretty plain to see that this Power Company is definitely trying to discourage the use of electric tankless water heaters.

Look, I do not have an axe to grind against the electric tankless industry.  There are even a few situations where a small electric tankless might make sense.  I just don't think they are a good choice for a whole house water heater.  I also want to make sure that you can count on me to give you the real, no hype truth.  And, in this case,  I think electric tankless water heaters are a bad choice in most cases.

Electric Tankless Water Heaters - The Shocking Truth

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Gas Vs Electric Water Heaters

When considering gas vs. electric water heaters, you need to understand a few of the basic performance differences that will impact the timing and temperature of hot water delivered to your house through the internal plumbing. While most homeowners already have an established connection for either gas or electricity as their fuel source, you might have to choose one or the other if you're building a new home. You might also find converting from one type to the other improves the reliability of water temperatures and availability in your home.

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On average, the lifetime of a the water household heater, whether gas or electric, is about 13 years. This means that owning a heater is a significant long-term investment. Consideration about the fuel usage and water wastage become more dramatic when you think of them in this longer time perspective, yet that's how to find differences between gas vs electric water household heaters.

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Water heaters: purpose, function, and process

Even though they can be substantially different in cost, the way gas and electric heaters operate is pretty much the same. They heat up through a heat exchange. A traditional heater has a tank that stores heated water until it's needed, while tankless heaters don't store hot water, instead producing hot water on demand.

The size of the heater depends on the size of the house or facility and the number of people where it will be used. Therefore, apartments tend towards using tankless heaters, while large households tend to use the storage tank style heaters.

Installation Cost

Generally, installation costs of a gas or an electric water heater are pretty much the same. The price differs depending on access to gas and electric service, and the quality of pipes and valves need for water delivery to and from the heater. Therefore, installation of a water heater can cost you anywhere from US0 to US0.

Operation cost

Water heaters have differing operation costs. A gas heater generally costs a homeowner between 0 and 0 to operate for a year. While an electric water heater tends to cost between 0 and 00 to operate. These are rough estimates for the cost of fuel. Then there is also the cost of water, which varies in price depending on location, but doesn't make much difference in choosing between a gas vs electric water heater.

Efficiency A gas water heater has an 80% efficiency rate in turning fuel into hot water, compared to a 95% efficiency rate for an electric heater. This may seem like a small margin, but a 15% difference in efficiency is significant if you use a lot of hot water.

Gas Vs Electric Water Heaters

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Electric Fireplace Heaters - Make the Best Choice

An electric fireplace heater is an easy and cost effective way to add welcome additional heat and a touch of elegance to any room.

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What you won't be getting is the smoke, potentially deadly CO2 fumes, and the mess associated with a conventional fireplace.

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Prices for an electric fireplace start at 9 and can skyrocket to ,300 for a combination fireplace/home entertainment center. However, there are many well made, attractively designed models in the 0 - 0 range.

The heating unit, or electric insert, includes the blower, log set and controls. Depending on the model, heat output varies from 1,350 to 1,500 watts. This is enough power to comfortably heat 150 square feet.

In general, the electric insert accounts for roughly 0 (retail) of the total price. So whatever you end up spending over 0 will be for decorating and romance, not additional heat.

Fireplace Styles
In addition to the standard fireplace design, corner units are available to make excellent use of wasted space. Other models offer enhancements such as book shelves, curio cabinets or home entertainment centers. The mantel piece itself can be constructed of finished wood, wood with tile inserts, or expensive cast marble.

Fireplace Sizes
Electric fireplace heaters are usually advertised in three sizes: 33", 28" and 23". This measurement represents the width of the fireplace insert at the front; the larger the insert, the larger the log set and flame display.

Usually, a larger insert means a larger mantelpiece. But different combinations of insert and mantel sizes are available to match the size and scale of your room.

The compact design of an electric fireplace makes it well suited for smaller homes, apartments, condos and even RVs.

Quality of Construction
When you shop online for an electric fireplace you're forced to judge the quality of the merchandise by examining a photograph. Most of the time it's easy to spot a piece of junk, but sometimes it isn't.

A sure way to judge the quality of a fireplace is by its shipping weight. All things being equal, you could reasonably assume an electric fireplace weighing 210 pounds [http://www.alternative-heating-info.com/ProComs_Best_Electric_Fireplace.html] is built to a higher standard than one weighing 120 pounds.

Standard Features and Extras
Standard features on most electric fireplace heaters include the mantel, electric insert, 2 speed blower, on/off remote control, and log set. All models plug into a standard 120V receptacle and are completely portable. Also, the flame feature can be enjoyed at any time of the year with or without the heater.

Some of the available extras include hand carved glowing logs, deluxe trim, bi-fold glass doors, dimmer control and thermostat.

No matter which electric fireplace heater you finally decide to buy, it's important to read the complete product description to find out exactly what's included in the price and what's going to cost extra.

Electric Fireplace Heaters - Make the Best Choice

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