7 Facts Before Selecting a Heater

Before selecting a heater have you also worried about how to select a good and suitable one out of a number of them in the market?

With winter approaching at the end of the year, heaters are a fundamental necessity that is frequently purchased online without much thought and installed as seasonal equipment.

Not as a “Just heating” utility, but also included the number of conditions you have to be concerned about before selecting a heater.

From today’s Know Your Facts we are going to talk about 7 key facts you should concern about before selecting a heater this Christmas season. Read and enjoy.

Before Selecting a Heater Check:

With the raising chilliness in winter, heater selection is a major requirement even more than food. But can we select a random heater from the outer shape, with good performance reviews?

Here are 7 major concerns you need to check before selecting a heater this winter season.

1. What is the Heater Type

2. Calculate Room Size

3. Worry About the Safety

4. What are the Other options?

5. How heating impacts you and your home

6. Your Budget

7. Check the Design

Let’s check them out one by one.

1. What is the Heater Type

There are a number of available heaters types in the market which fulfill different ranges of your heat-up needs.

If you visit an internet store or a market, you can find numerous heater options. Numerous brand names and variants.

However, before you select an analysis for each of these categories, you must analyze them individually. The following market categories are based on their functionality.

1.1 Convection Heater

These heaters employ convection heat currents to circulate air and distribute heat around the space.

The air particles serve as a medium for the transfer of heat to the surface, while the cold particles are re-heated by the heater airways, which maintain the circulation process.

There are primarily three types of convection heaters available on the market.

1.1.1 Fans with Heaters

Although they consume significantly more electricity than standard heaters, fan heaters are a significantly more efficient method of rapidly heating a whole space.

1.1.2 Oil-Filled Heaters

Oil heaters utilize the high heat capacity and high boiling point of the oil to transfer heat through convection.

These heaters are relatively pricey and are frequently used in bedrooms despite their modest heating capacity.

1.1.3 Panel Heaters

Panel heaters are types of convection heaters that are frequently used as budget heaters. They release the hot air to the exterior through a window panel. Most panel heaters are appropriate for not often used rooms.

The majority of convection heaters include timers that can be readily programmed. Some of them contained an integrated thermostat, allowing them to be activated according to the indoor temperature.

1.2 Radiation Heaters

Another type of heat transport is radiation. These heaters emit far-infrared (IR) electromagnetic radiation.

These waves are able to transport heat as energy along their route. Therefore, if you are in front of a heater and experience heat without a breeze, it is likely a Radiation Heater.

living room — Radiation Heater – Before Selecting a Heater

There are mainly several types categories of this heaters type.

1.2.1 Radiant Panels

Unlike convection heaters, these radiant panel heaters use infrared rays to heat the object from the panel. Practically, they are recognized as one of the safest heaters on the market due to their superior design.

They are ideal for outdoor heating processes since they may function in a specified area as opposed to the full space.

1.2.2 Gas-Fired Heaters

A gas-fired heater is a heating system that extracts air from the outdoors through a vent. It heats over a gas flame before recirculating it around the home.

This is an efficient method for heating your home rapidly and at a lower cost than other available options.

Due to the fact that they are electromagnetic radiation, they move through invisibility with no energy loss and can easily traverse most mediums. From these two options, a convection heater is a superior option for space heating.

However, convection can easily move through the surface, and heat can escape through any crack. Therefore, it must be used in a well-lit room. Otherwise, you can see a smile after receiving the electricity bill.

Radiant heaters are effective and efficient for localized heating. It is difficult to heat a space with a home radiation heater.

Radiation can only heat objects one at a time, and it can be used outside, unlike convection heaters. Consequently, you can choose any of them based on your requirements.

2. Calculate Your Room Size

Similar to air purifiers, you must determine the size of the room where the heater will be placed. Here is easy guidance to calculate your room size.

Add a heading 2 — How to measure the area of my room – Before Selecting a Heater

Typically, 10 watts of heat is sufficient to warm up one square foot of space.

Room Area (sq.ft.s) x 10 watts = Required Heater power (watts)

The following table shows the power of the heater with respect to your room size.

Room Area (sq. ft.s)	Required Heater Power (Watts)
100	1000
150	1500
200	2000
250	2500
300	3000
350	3500
400	4000
450	4500

Heater’s required power vs Room area – Before Selecting a Heater

In addition, this calculation is primarily based on rooms with 8-foot ceilings. Any ceiling height beyond 8 feet must account for the following calculations.

Room Area (sq.ft.s) x Ceiling Height (ft.s) x 1.25 = Required Heater (watts)

Before purchasing a heater, a room calculation is essential. Because the majority of purchased heaters take a longer time to heat up a room or add additional costs throughout the heating process.

3. Heater Safety is Compulsory

Unlike air purifiers, a heater’s safety characteristics must be considered before purchase. The absence of safety elements always results in a variety of hazardous circumstances, such as house fires and flesh burns.

emmanuel ikwuegbu 2AlIm F6pw unsplash 3 — Safety with heaters first – Before Selecting a Heater

Consider the heater’s availability of the following safety measures before placing your order.

Flame Rollout Sensor
Flame Proving Sensor
High-Temperature Limit Control
Flue Exhaust Pressure Sensor
Fan Limit Sensor
Heater Tip-over protection
Plastic face protection

Most commercially-approved heaters on the market include these safety measures. Alternatively, when handling a heater in any location, be sure to adhere to primary guidelines for safety.

4. What are the Other Options

Other than the above-mentioned features check the followings before buying a new heater.

1. Portability

Heaters should be relatively moveable according to your requirement. As opposed to a central heating unit, you cannot promise with absolute certainty where it will be installed.

Therefore, portability up to a certain degree is highly advantageous.

2. Heating Elements

Before choosing a heater, it is important to determine the total number of heating elements it possesses. A greater number of elements will result in an increased rate of heat production by that utility.

3. Temperature Control Settings

Temperature-controlling settings are required to be mandatory, just like the presence of safety sensors in the utility.

Heaters’ temperature control is compulsory – Before Selecting a Heater

In order to reduce the amount of electricity used by appliances that have high power consumption, it is best practice to turn off the heater’s feature once it achieves the temperature target that was previously established.

4. Low Noise

Due to the significant drop in temperature during the middle of the night, the majority of heaters are often on all night.

Also, because nights are significantly quieter than days, the noise level of these heaters must be lower than everything else.

Therefore, when choosing a heater, consider those that produce the least amount of noise both at night and during the day.

Other characteristics of each heater may differ based on its production and design. Additionally, additional validity is added to other certifications.

5. Heater Impact On Other Utilities

When you purchase a heater, it has a direct effect on other domestic utilities. For example, sensitive technology such as computers requires cooler indoor temperatures for optimal performance.

Therefore, when choosing a heater, you should also consider this.

Remove or reduce the use of heat-sensitive appliances before installing a heater.
The heater can readily affect combustible objects such as furniture, bedding, and drapes. Calculate this before selecting a heater.
You cannot use heaters in close proximity to paint, gasoline containers, or matches like flammable components
Variations in heater temperature weaken your immune system and increase your susceptibility to a variety of medical issues, such as nosebleeds and rashes.
The effects of a sudden drop in humidity on your home pets and plants vary. Before purchasing a heater, you should also consider this influence.

Apart from these indoor temperature developments arouse indoor air pollutants and allergens as well.

6. Budget Behind a Heater

The price of a heater varies starting from $10 to $ 1000 more often. But most of the standard space heaters vary below $ 100 which advantage compared with other electronic utilities. Also, heaters are not often used equipment like air purifiers.

Therefore, they operate for more than 15 years with proper maintenance. But due to the heater power consumption process, they stay on top of the bill in the winter season which cannot be complained about.

Let’s calculate how many kWh each heater consumes in a given period of time.

*Time – Per day (10 hours of heater consumption)
**Annual – 5 Months period winter season

Watt consumption (kWh)= Heater power (Watt) x Time period (hours) / 1000

Heater Power (watt)	kWh (per month)*	kWh (per Year)**
1200	360	1800
1300	390	1950
1400	420	2100
1500	450	2250
1600	480	2400
1700	510	2550
1800	540	2700

Heater electricity consumption vs time ( Before Selecting a Heater)

Assuming average house owners use 1500-watt powered heaters in their winter season. Let’s calculate the cost for the heater per month and per annual consumption in selected states.

*Time – Per day (10 hours of heater consumption)
*Annual – 5 Months period winter season

State	Per kWh cost (cents)	Per Month Cost** (USD)	Annual Cost** (USD)
North Dakota	12.72	57.24	286.20
Minnesota	15.12	68.04	340.20
Michigan	17.9	80.55	402.75
South Dakota	13.03	58.64	293.18
Wisconsin	15.79	71.06	355.28
Iowa	15.25	68.63	343.13
Nebraska	11.73	52.79	263.93
Maine	21.18	95.31	476.55
Illinois	16.99	76.46	382.28
Ohio	15.08	67.86	339.30
Indiana	15.64	70.38	351.90
Montana	11.55	51.98	259.88
Alaska	23.73	106.79	533.93
Massachusetts	26.66	119.97	533.93
New Hampshire	27.47	123.62	618.08
New York	21.20	95.40	477.00
New Jersey	17.35	78.08	390.38

Energy consumption by heaters (Source – Energy Information Admiration (August 2021))

Depending on the state in which you reside, the cost per kilowatt-hour of your electricity bill will vary. Consequently, additional costs for the heater will be modified.