Electric Room Heaters - How to Utilize Convection Heaters to Reduce Heating Costs

Portable convection heaters offer an effective source of instant heat or are an excellent way to heat up a small to medium sized room over an extended period. One of the keys to using portable heaters effectively is to not expect to heat your entire house, but rather just heat the room or space within a room effectively. With a basic understanding of the types of portable furnaces on the market it is easier to make decision on the type of heater to purchase based on the intended application.

 Almost all portable electric space heaters fall within two primary categories. They either are convection or radiant heaters. Convection heat transfer occurs when room air placed in contact with a heated surface. Forced convection heaters use a fan to move the air while passive convection heaters such as oil-filled space heaters rely in the natural movement of air within a room.

 Small ceramic fan heat blowers are an example of a forced air convection heater. For short- term heat like warming up a bathroom for showering and dressing in the morning a ceramic box fan heater is the best choice. The heating coils heat up instantly and with the fan you will have an immediate source of warm air. In my opinion, forced air convection heaters are less than ideal for heating up a room throughout the day.

The fans tend to be noisy and they have a tendency to dry out the air in the room. For clean quiet heat over several hours or all day a passive heater, for example an oil filled heater, is your best bet. Once the oil and heater surface is heated they will produce an even supply of heat and are safe around children because the surface temperatures are modest