Electric heaters are an important component in keeping our homes warm. They are available as many different types of heater, each of which serves its own purpose in heating. Among these include electric water heaters, space heaters, wall heaters, baseboard heaters and tankless heaters.
Electric water heater
Heating water by electricity is usually achieved using an immersion heater. Most domestic immersion heaters run on the domestic supply of electricity. Because heating water can consume as much as 15% of the total energy budget in a home, the on-demand water heaters are becoming very popular as a way to save energy and money.
Electric space heater
An economical way to heat a room is using electric space heaters. These aren’t meant for large areas as they are designed as being an alternative to turning up the heating around the whole house. Electric space heaters are effective at warming one room at a time, but there are a number of safety tips to consider.
- Ensure there is appropriate guarding over the heating coils.
- Some space heaters may have auto turn-off safety settings in case the heater is knocked over.
- Find out if the space heater has an overheat protection to avoid dangerously high temperatures.
If you are after portable electric heaters then the space heater type might be ideal. Most are easy to carry, but look for the lightweight models if you are going to constantly move it from room to room.
Electric wall heater
Nowadays there are much better alternatives to electric wall heaters, although they are still sometimes used in homes where there are cold spots. Although you won’t want to be covering your whole house with electric wall heaters, they still might come in useful for heating outbuildings.
Electric baseboard heater
Electric baseboard heaters are often placed beneath windows to counter the heat loss that occurs through glass. By using convection, these heaters draw cool air in which is then warmed by fins and coils.
Electric tankless water heater
As the name suggests, tankless water heaters heat water without the use of a storage tank. This means that the heat loss encountered with storage water heaters is avoided. Whereas the storage tank needs to fill with water and then heat up, electric tankless water heaters use an electric element to deliver a constant supply of hot water. Before buying and electric tankless heater ensure that you can support the amperage and circuit demands of the heater.
