How Does An Electric Radiator Heat A Room?

This article has been generously donated to InfoBarrel for Charities.

BobHander | Sep 23, 2010 |

0 Comments | Rating: 0

Electric radiators are convection heaters. They do not heat single objects in the room but rather they heat up the air in a room. This makes them ideal for rooms where you need to raise the temperatures several degrees overall. It also means they are not the best type of heater if you need some sort of instant quick heat in the room or if you simply want to sit in front of the heater and warm your feet.

They are very good for heating up large living areas and bedrooms. Many of these heaters have a thermostat which will keep the temperature even once it reaches optimum levels. They also have a timer which can be set to turn the heater on in advance before you are in the room. If your electric radiator has a timer it is probably a good idea to set it to turn on an hour before you go into the room in order to warm it up first.

Understanding how an electric radiator heats a room is important as that will help you determine whether or not an electric radiator is the best choice. It is usually used to provide additional heat in a room that is already centrally heated or it can be useful for providing a steady level temperature in the room throughout the day or evening.

If your room is poorly insulated or if you have a constant flow of traffic through the room with doors opening and closing you may find that this is not the best type of heater to use. This is mainly because all the warm air will simply leave the room every time the door is open to and then the heater will have to work extra hard to bring the temperature up to a decent level again. For these reasons they usually not the best type of heater to run in the kitchen, a garage or a workshop. In rooms like these you would probably do better with a small radiant heater that has a built-in fan.

Most of the newer models of electric radiators have built-in safety mechanisms whereby they will switch off if the heater burns out or over heats. They are usually made to switch off if the heater is accidentally tipped over also. These portable electric heaters area great to use in rooms where you have pets as even if your cat or dog accidentally brushes up against the heater their fur will not be burnt. They're also good to use if you have small children running around the house.