Disc furnaces vs ceramic heaters..

[thatguy]

I'm waiting for the heating equivalent of an LED.....heat your whole house with one AAA battery!

Chuck

speaking of LEDs - did you see the news article about now that a lot of cities went to LED stop lights they are having accidents at intersections when snow accumulates on the lenses. The LED do not heat up and melt the ice/snow off the lens like the old bulbs did..

brian

 

[thatguy]

Thanks for the thoughts.. At the time I bought the disc furnace (not heater mind you LOL) I thought I was getting something great - live and learn.. hehe

Brian

 

[Sigarms]

I was saddened to see that my elderly mother in law had gotten sucked into buying a $300 electric heater advertised in newspapers and magazines. I'm sure it is safer than some electric heaters, but no way worth that kinda $$.

Hey, it's handmade in a barn by Amish people who are known to do quality handmade work. Quality does not come cheap.

The farcical marketing of electric heaters is scientific absurdity.

I happen to think the same thing of portable room air cleaners.

I'm waiting for the heating equivalent of an LED.....heat your whole house with one AAA battery

I'm sure the technology will be available in the future that if you spend $500,000, you will be able to heat your whole house with one AAA battery. The question is how long will it take to get that 500k back?

 

[Steve C]

If what you refer to is electric, then there is no magic at all. It matters not whether one uses ceramic, quartz, oil filled, eden pure raz-ma-taz, etc.

Electricity is pure math. Buy a kilowatt from your electric server and resist it any way you want to, you get X amount of btu. The formula is available.
X amount of kilowatts produce exactly X amount of heat(btu)

All the hype is silly.

If you are referring to gas, then kindly disregard the above.

3.4 btu's per watt. 3,400 btu's per kw

 

[Steve C]

This is something I have been curious about. Watts are watts for sure, but does it make a difference as to the wavelength the heater produces and how that feels to your skin? Like a 250W food warming bulb compared to a resistance element. Or, is the bulb just focusing and directing the heat put out by the bulbs (resistive element) filament?

Never had a chance to make side by side comparisons. Lots of choices like oil-filled radiator, quartz, ceramic, etc. The Amish are known for having an electric heater in every room
Dave.

the bulb is putting out mostly radiant heat. Most box heaters with a fan put out convected heat, they heat the air and let the air heat you. Radiant heat feels great but you can only heat one side of your body at a time unless you have 2 heaters, one on each side of you

 

[Ken45101]

I'm waiting for the heating equivalent of an LED.....heat your whole house with one AAA battery!

Chuck

You can do that now. However, you have to replace the battery every 2 seconds.

The longer lasting one will be out in 3 months 12 days. Along with freeze dried water for backpackers

Ken
(hint, April 1)

 

[Matt_Jr]

Took me a second to get that April 1st thing. Pretty good.

 

[CurlyDave]

I happen to think the same thing of portable room air cleaners.

I can tell you from experience that the round ones about 18" diameter by 15" high with HEPA filters work really well. 20 years ago they saved my dog's life. GF and I decided to get a dog, and after about a week with the pup she discovered terrible allergies to dog hair.

One downstairs and another in the bedroom and all the sniffles and runny nose went away. Took about 20 minutes from the time we unpacked and turned them on.

They are pricey and a lot of people try to get by with fewer units, or smaller units than they need, so the things get a bad rap.

 

[Sigarms]

I happen to think the same thing of portable room air cleaners.

I can tell you from experience that the round ones about 18" diameter by 15" high with HEPA filters work really well. 20 years ago they saved my dog's life. GF and I decided to get a dog, and after about a week with the pup she discovered terrible allergies to dog hair.

One downstairs and another in the bedroom and all the sniffles and runny nose went away. Took about 20 minutes from the time we unpacked and turned them on.

I have no doubt that some people do feel better when they put in a portable air cleaner, and bottom line, I guess that's what you're paying for.

However, you have a couple of issues that the portable air cleaner have no control over, particularly in a residential household, the primary issue of air rotation.

Best bang for the buck? IMHO a 5" MERV 10 or 13 media air cleaner in your duct system.

Then you have the dust mite issue which some people are allergic to. Problem is, most people think it's the temperature that eliminates them, it isn't, it's the RH (which temperature can play a role in).

Ever notice that most portable room air cleaners are not made by major residential/commerical IAQ HVAC manufacturers? There is a reason for that. However, I can assure you, some of them (IAQ manufacturers) are kicking themselves in the head for not jumping on the marketing "bandwagon" (there is a HUGE market in portable room air cleaners).

Ironically enough, some of those same manufacturers who make portable electric heaters also make portable room air cleaners.

Guess we'll have to agree to disagree

They are pricey and a lot of people try to get by with fewer units, or smaller units than they need, so the things get a bad rap.

Going that route (mulitple units), spend the money and get a whole house dehumidifier and add an outdoor fresh air intake or go with a residential energy recovery ventilator, added with that MERV 10 media air filter. That's assuming you have a decent duct system.

 

[Steve C]

I have no doubt that some people do feel better when they put in a portable air cleaner, and bottom line, I guess that's what you're paying for.

However, you have a couple of issues that the portable air cleaner have no control over, particularly in a residential household, the primary issue of air rotation.

Best bang for the buck? IMHO a 5" MERV 10 or 13 media air cleaner in your duct system.

Then you have the dust mite issue which some people are allergic to. Problem is, most people think it's the temperature that eliminates them, it isn't, it's the RH (which temperature can play a role in).

Ever notice that most portable room air cleaners are not made by major residential/commerical IAQ HVAC manufacturers? There is a reason for that. However, I can assure you, some of them (IAQ manufacturers) are kicking themselves in the head for not jumping on the marketing "bandwagon" (there is a HUGE market in portable room air cleaners).

Ironically enough, some of those same manufacturers who make portable electric heaters also make portable room air cleaners.

Guess we'll have to agree to disagree



Going that route (mulitple units), spend the money and get a whole house dehumidifier and add an outdoor fresh air intake or go with a residential energy recovery ventilator, added with that MERV 10 media air filter. That's assuming you have a decent duct system.

All very accurate, but if you have a home with radiant hot water or steam heat it isn't practical to retrofit a whole house duct system to incorporate an air cleaner. Getting some of the chunks out can't possibly hurt.