EEVblog #1187 - Room Heater Technology Explained

A comprehensive tutorial on room (space) heater technology and their effectiveness and efficiency in heating rooms and homes.
The different types of heat transfer are discussed, along with the different types of heater technology available and how they apply to room and object heating. The 2nd law of thermodynamics, and the impossibility of new graphene technology in the Solus Kickstarter project.
Infrared panel heaters, Infrared IR radiation heaters, and convection heaters. The BTU and power equivalence is explained. And a demo of thermal heat through glass.

#Graphene #Heating #Thermodynamics

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[zusurs]

I made a Scam report on that fake ass Solus radiator on Kickstarter, including also link to Dave’s video, and few other engineers busting those fake ad pitches. Unfortunatly, as expected, they sent an answer to me today saying, “thanks, we appreciate your feedback. We looked at the engineer’s video that you sent, but we still don’t see Solus promising something that they can’t deliver”. Like what the F*CK Kickstarter?! I provided you with all the evidence necessary to close down on such scams, but they did nothing to step it. I guess money doesn’t stink, regardless of where it’s coming from - Kickstarter craving that sweet % of all donations...

[TinyTaimi]

Technology Connections just did a video about space heaters also.

[dhpbear]

I would LOVE to see power resistors marketed (?) using the phrase "100% Efficient" ;)

[seancsnm]

As my thermodynamics professor said, at the end of the day a refrigerator is just a slow space heater.

[thetechq]

This is the best video on space heaters I've seen from a theory perspective. It covers in appropriate detail what is typically only covered in many other videos. Thank you.

[woksrandomchannel]

I know very little about electronics. Still, when a new video drops, I watch it. Why? Super fascinating and educational.

[santopino]

About a month ago, an ad claimed 85% saving on your electrical bill using their electrical "radiator", I answered "Bullshit".
I was banned, but I still recieve thumbs up notifications, they forgot to delete my message. :P

[bostedtap]

Heating tip!, Invite a group of friends, or down and outs to heat your house, when it gets warm, your odour sensor will kick in.
On a serious note, excellent tutorial/refresher.
Thanks for sharing.

[niceguy]

I'm surprised that heaters are even known in Australia 😁

[LarryKapp]

venting the attic area below the roof is also to vent moisture as well as keeping the roof surface cold so that there is no condensation on the bottom structure of the roof which can turn all moldy and rot wood and stuff like that ( for those of us who live in the cold countries ) .

[donnyduggan]

Man, that radiator scam must have gotten you... really heated. (I'm sorry)

[jacksoncroyce]

Infared heaters are used in the UK for smoking shelters in the winter, they're typically up high pointing down and will near set your hair on fire but everything else remains freezing.
Now i know why :)

[mindaugasvaskevicius]

This is exactly the material I missed in your previous video, and that's exactly what cought my ears when you kept repeating: radiant heater... radiant heater...radiant.... Good timing for this video. There's a whole field of forced/natural convection hydronic heating that has not been even mentioned, and let's keep it that way(it's an endless rabbit hole).

[tokeeptrackofrandomsubs]

Radiated heat has been quite useful in my experience, especially when my granny was visiting at my parents. The elderly often prefer a much higher room temperature placing her chair 1.5-2m away from the glass window of the wood burning stove burning during the winter. A good way to keep them comfortable without cooking the rest of the guests.

As for ways to heat a room, I've always been partial towards floor heating giving a nice evenly heated room and no cold feet even on stone tiles. But it's far from the cheapest things to install I guess, especially if it's not a new situation and you have to take your existing floor material out. The cat we had during my childhood used to love the floor heating in the bathroom, she'd often claim some spot where someone left a used but by now fairly dry towel on those heated tiles.

[Alaakso]

EEVblog the new HVAC channel. Good video! The distinction between efficiency and effectiveness is really important. There really a lot more to it when it comes to heating / cooling any space.


Couple notes:

BTU is a unit of energy and Watt is unit of power. There is a fundamental difference. I think you should have made that distinction. You're fine with BTU but not fine with W/h? Consumption in manufacturers brochure indicates used electrical energy. That type of indication is pretty common since people are charged by the kWh/h of the electricity. That's why electricity "consumption" is the the used energy, not power. Energy consumption tells more about the heating solution than the power, since it also gives an idea, how effective heater it is. Also it makes easy to compare different heating solutions.

Natural convection heaters are usually placed under windows, where the losses are greater, to enhance to the convection effects.

Comfortable living space. Good you brought that up. That is the thing that matters when designing a heating solution. The room might be really tall but usually you only need to heat the air in the space where people can sense it, lets say 0-2m from the floor. Skin is very good at detecting flowing air that is in different temperature. That is why one must always try to minimize air movement but also make sure that air mixes well enough to provide equal comfort in every part of the room. And all that with minimum energy usage.

By saying that "get a forced convection fan heater" it won't be true for all situations. When you live in a place (like here in Finland) where you need to heat you house constantly around the clock for 10 months of the year you just need a solution to keep up the temperature. In those cases natural convection is better because you lose the fan noise, unnecessary air movement and the also the itty bit of fan power consumption. Fan heaters are good for spaces that you need to heat up occasionally and quickly.

Also some heating methods have some practical limitations. Floor heating is one of them. You might think that pumping a lot of power into the floor heating is way to go. Well, many floor materials (structural and finishes) won't like temperatures over lets say 40 degrees C. Also going over that is starting feel too hot for you feet (imagine hot sand in the beach). So this temperature limit is the limiting factor in floor heating.

[ballagheorghe]

There is a term Dave should have mentioned that is thermal confort. It is more confortable to warm up in a room with good air temperature that staying outside under a an IR heater getting your head overheated. So for indoor use the conventional convectors win. If we are trying to heat up a really cold room with cold walls, a fanned heater is the way to go. You can heat up the air in a cold room in a couple of hours, but the cold walls will be a source of cold for as long as a day. The fanned heater will mix up the cold air that settles with the really hot air up top giving you a better thermal confort. As of for staying outside the only feasable way to get warm is IR, because the warm air around you just rises up and gets lost. Warming up your back or hands around a campfire gives you that little extra thermal confort you were lacking at an outdoor grill. ;)

[TheScarvig]

glad you clearified the terminology after your last video

[PaulSteMarie]

You'll get some blackbody radiation off the oil convection heaters, just not a lot. At 40°C, 313°K, the peak is going to be around 9μm, and you'll get about 550W/m² of radiated heat. The IR radiators are probably more like 2000°K at the heating element, and about 900kW/m². Of course, the area of the heating element is much smaller.

As far as the efficiency goes, you'll get some miniscule losses from RF frequency emissions being lost, but that's pretty tiny.

[braincruser]

I think you should have spent more time explaining Air conditioners in this video. Efficiency ratios of 2 - 5X are easily achievable in ACs so it is important to be mentioned in a video in which you say that no heater can achieve more than 100% efficiency.

[HassanDibani]

They mostly use argon in doule glazed windows, not just air.