Author Topic: Best room heater  (Read 862 times)

Bibimbap

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Best room heater
« on: December 04, 2021, 08:52:01 AM »
Hi all,

I'm looking for a fast heating, efficient heater for a room of about 200sq feet. I get a lot of sunlight in the room and I don't need to heat the room all the time (maybe 3 or 4 hours every other day or so), so I was hoping that there would be something solar I could use but it doesn't seem like it. Does anyone have any idea what would be the best heating solution in my case? I started looking at Vornado heaters as that's what the internet seems to recommend.

Thank you!

innkeeper77

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Re: Best room heater
« Reply #1 on: December 04, 2021, 09:04:51 AM »
ALL electric space heaters are exactly the same efficiency- 100% of power turns into heat. The differences are in noise, size, longevity, etc- and some may have better controls so it isn't just full on / full off, and some may have more surface area to reduce hot spots in case they get touched. All will be limited by max power draw for a normal 15 amp circuit unless you get a fancy 240v unit and run a new circuit, but that would be overkill for 200sf. You could easily but probably not cheaply do this with a solar powered space heater,

I'd recommend just getting a space heater you like, that isn't too flimsy, but I'd also recommend something like a black blanked at the other end of the sunbeam to absorb and release the sunlight more effectively.

You CAN also make a solar heater if you can put things outside your window, the "black painted cans" is a tried and true option. This may take some fiddling, but you can build something nearly free. I've seen these a lot, but here is a random google search result I found to match what I remembered. I cannot vouch for this actual blog, it was just the first result. http://www.reuk.co.uk/wordpress/solar/make-a-simple-solar-air-heater/

Additional options here potentially worth looking into: https://homestead-and-survival.com/14-ways-to-heat-your-home-for-free-with-passive-heating/ -- you will still want a cheap space heater for nighttime use, but they do use a lot of power for what you get. (Remember 100% electric efficiency is rather poor compared to the 300% you can get with a heat pump, and isn't great for the climate or your wallet)
« Last Edit: December 04, 2021, 03:19:59 PM by innkeeper77 »