electric radiator

[GINO]

Went in to buy an electric heater for the cottage, it gets pretty cold up here and it would only be on to maintain a semblance of heat during those frigid nights. Was looking at 110 volt heaters , 1000 to 1500watt. asked for some help. Home Depot associate informed me to go with a 240 volt heater as it is more efficient!

Am trying to figure out how this could be? 1500 watts is 1500 watts. one way or the other, it's the same power consumption, isn't it?

He went on and on, but I was blocked on the numbers. Does anyone know about this and if there is different logic to it?

Thanks,

GINO

[GINO]

Went in to buy an electric heater for the cottage, it gets pretty cold up here and it would only be on to maintain a semblance of heat during those frigid nights. Was looking at 110 volt heaters , 1000 to 1500watt. asked for some help. Home Depot associate informed me to go with a 240 volt heater as it is more efficient!

Am trying to figure out how this could be? 1500 watts is 1500 watts. one way or the other, it's the same power consumption, isn't it?

He went on and on, but I was blocked on the numbers. Does anyone know about this and if there is different logic to it?

Thanks,

GINO

[GINO]

Went in to buy an electric heater for the cottage, it gets pretty cold up here and it would only be on to maintain a semblance of heat during those frigid nights. Was looking at 110 volt heaters , 1000 to 1500watt. asked for some help. Home Depot associate informed me to go with a 240 volt heater as it is more efficient!

Am trying to figure out how this could be? 1500 watts is 1500 watts. one way or the other, it's the same power consumption, isn't it?

He went on and on, but I was blocked on the numbers. Does anyone know about this and if there is different logic to it?

Thanks,

GINO

[louie]

Volts x Amps = Watts

so a 240V /1500watt heater will draw about 7 amps (rounding upwards) instead of 14 amps drawn by the 110v version. That's the only advantage I can think of. The disadvantage is that the 240V heater will require that a special outlet be installed and wired to the electrical panel. I don't know that efficiency has anything to do with it, though I'm far from an expert at this.

[buffalobill]

free convert software to change watts to btu. if you need 50,000 btu at 5000 btu per 110v heater have 10 separate circuits available for heat.

[Joseph Meehan]

All resistance electric heater are 100% efficient. A heat pump can be over 100% (depends on temperature and design) and all fuel fed heaters are less than 100%.

The only way I can think of to suggest that 240 may be more efficient than 120 is if you had a long run for the electricity outside the heated area with marginal wiring.

[m Ransley]

120- 240 doesnt matter you pay for what you use.

[mm]

An electric blanket is far more effective for much or far less electricity.

Remove NOPSAM to email me. Please let me know if you have posted also.

[barry]

Stuttering fits, eh? :')

Resistive losses are as square of current.

Running high current continuously through std 15a. plug is a fire hazard.

For any sort of heater, you really want connections hard-wired. (Screw terminal or such) IMHO.

J

[Pop]

Jeez, what a load of crapola and ignorance you got for answers so far! A watt is a watt, so you're right. 1500W from 120 or 240 is the SAME amount of heat; you're right.

I suspect you're being punished for your multiple posts. Don't do that.

Unless your cottage is tiny though, I wouldn't think 1500W would do a whole lot to keep much heat flowing but then you didn't say where you were or what "cold" means to you. Cold here is below zero. Cold in Fl is more like 60 above zero.

HTH,

Pop

[John W]

Even when you're sitting on the toilet :-)

[Mark Lloyd]

The resistance of a 240V 1500W heat element is 4 times that of a 120V

1500W element.

Energy lost because of resistance becomes heat.

An electric heater is not 100% efficient (just close to it). Some of the energy is lost as EM radiation (such as visible light).

BTW, a 99% efficient heater could be thought of as a 1% efficient lamp.

[George E. Cawthon]

No, there may be a reason to go with 220 rather than 120 but 1000w is 1000w whether it is 12 volts or 220 volts. About the only advantage of 220 volts is that you can use smaller wire for the same wattage and the probably get heaters with higher wattage. But their is no change in efficiency.

[GINO]

thanks for the help. the multiple posting was an accident as my server was not responding.

It gets cold, down to -25, this heater would just be a minimal source for the night when the fire goes out. didn't expect it to heat the place up much. I thought you were right about it being the same power either way but that guy ( home depot) was pretty convincing we had an audience.

thanks to all of you.

gino

[Stormin Mormon]

He's mistaken. The only advantage is that you can use smaller wire to hook it up, as the amperage is lower.