we need to install electric heat in a 12×12 room with 12′ high ceiling. The room is well insulated. what are your thoughts on oil filled elements? pros con
Also 6’or8′ baseboard for this room
Thanks joe
Edited 1/24/2008 7:28 pm ET by jpeeks
we need to install electric heat in a 12×12 room with 12′ high ceiling. The room is well insulated. what are your thoughts on oil filled elements? pros con
Also 6’or8′ baseboard for this room
Thanks joe
The "She Build" initiative is empowering women in Seattle, WA by ensuring they have safe, healthy homes.
"I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K.
Get home building tips, offers, and expert advice in your inbox
Fine Homebuilding
Get home building tips, offers, and expert advice in your inbox
© 2024 Active Interest Media. All rights reserved.
Get home building tips, offers, and expert advice in your inbox
Become a member and get instant access to thousands of videos, how-tos, tool reviews, and design features.
Start Your Free TrialStart your subscription today and save up to 70%
SubscribeGet complete site access to expert advice, how-to videos, Code Check, and more, plus the print magazine.
Already a member? Log in
Replies
The only advantage of oil filled elements is that they achieve a more even surface temp than other radient heaters. All electric resistance heating is 100% efficient. But still electric resistance is usually the most expensive option to operate.
Dan
I know electric is $$ to run but this is a part time room for the h/o cats(hey you pay Ill build) and to get a run to the boiler would require opening up alot of the house. I thought the oil heat element gave more of a feel of a hot water system,without the hot spots and very dry heat you tend to get with reg. electric heat. would you agree?
No.
If your view never changes you're following the wrong leader
The one argument in favor of the oil-filled units is the cats. Cats like to rub up against warm things, and the oil-filled units would be a more uniform temp and probably less apt to collect cat hair.
If your view never changes you're following the wrong leader
Cats like to rub up against warm things
Put some 3" wide double stick tape (or the similar product from the petstore) across the fins about whisker-high, and that will stop. Mostly.
Probably could just rub the radiator with suitable cloth and change its static charge enough to "loose" the cat fur, too.Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
Hmm. Just glanced over at the wedged cat..so, yer saying a Bounce sheet will repel the body, or the fur? :)Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
"Success is not spontaneous combustion, you have to set yourself on Fire"
ditto Dan...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
There seems to be an extremely wide range of opinion regarding the 'efficiency' of electric heat. I, for one, cannot accept that anything is "100%" efficient is any measure. I have also found that electricity is invariably the most expensive way to heat things. If you're choosing electric heat, it's for a reason other than efficiency.
To answer your question, though ... I like the idea of a comparatively small heating element being encased in a large container of liquid, with a very large surface area. In short, I like the oil-filled radiators.
Why? First, because I'm heating the insides only marginally warmer than the temperatures I desire. If I'm trying to heat the room to, say,72 degrees .... heating anything in it to 1000 degrees is simply wasteful. At that point, I'm not just making heat - I'm making light too. Might as well heat the place with light bulbs.
I like the liquid (oil) bath, because any liquid will transfer that heat much more efficiently than air. The element only gives away heat when something touches it .... and that's what a filling of 'thin' liquid does.
This leads us to the outer face of the radiator. having a large surface area allows for a better transfer of heat from the radiator to the air.
Want to improve things further? First, have better air flow. A fan blowing air across the fins will make a huge difference. Second, to improve the 'radiant' part of the equation, have the radiator a dark color.
(DeLonghi, a maker of such radiators, has data suggesting that a dark finish results in a 10 degree lower fin temperature for the exact same heat output).
I also like the radiators for a safety reason; unlike many other types of heaters, these will not burn you, or start a fire if someone drops a blanket on them.
> heating anything in it to 1000 degrees is simply wasteful. What do you think is going on inside that oil-filled unit? > At that point, I'm not just making heat - I'm making light too. Might as well heat the place with light bulbs.And that would be 100% efficient too, if you blacked the windows so no light could escape.
If your view never changes you're following the wrong leader
Are you sure you ever took any science classes? If so, I'd look into getting a refund. Let's use a more readily repeatable 'experiment.' Many of us have those electric charcoal starters. Plug them in, the coil gets red-hot, it lights the coals. Seems pretty straightforward.
Since the metal is red-hot, we can safely conclude that the metal is over 1000 degrees. Indeed, there exist instruments that measure temperature simply by inferring it from the color of the light emitted. Now, take that same appliance, and put it in a pail of water. Believe it or not, an element of this sort, used in this way, is a common method of heating up your coffee in many parts of the world. Before long, you have boiling water - and the element never gets red-hot. Not even close. Same energy used (check your amp draw), nowhere near the final temp.
Nor can it .... refer to your thermodynamics book for an explanation of boiling, etc. Since you have the thermodynamics class ... perhaps it's time for the next step - take the 'heat and mass transfer' class. Though, if you REALLY want to understand these things, trash the engineering curriculum, and enroll in your local community colleges' HVAC program. Really, I expect better from someone who claims a higher education. You questions are little more than cat-calls, and suggest the attitudes of an insecure person, who likes to lord it over those he sees as "peons." Now, a return to "Physics 101." There are different types of energy. "Different" means they are not the same. "Heat" is one form; "Light" is another. I can power up all my fluorescent lights, pipe all that light into a "Suzie Homemaker" oven, and not bake a single brownie. Place one ordinary lightbulb in there, and 'baking happens.' Since the purpose of a heater is to ... make heat? .... any light generated is energy wasted.
I am with you on all points, we have/use the Delonghi type rads with excellent results. Well, except for that little thermostat problem the old units had..they Could and would short out.
Currently I have 2 of those, and 2 forced air milkhouse designs, and 1 quartz tube radiant type..each has a specific need and each does it job, expensively on ele? Maybe..but the weight on the scale is comfort.
An Oil filled rad is the GO TO when we need a supplement in a room..the quartz would have you staring at it like a campfire, move two feet away, and ye back in the woods.
At 4cents a KWH here, I can dig it.
They do have a wireing issue tho'. Or did.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
"Success is not spontaneous combustion, you have to set yourself on Fire"
Please, before you rant any further, define "efficiency".
If your view never changes you're following the wrong leader
> I like the liquid (oil) bath, because any liquid will transfer that heat much more efficiently than air. Explain that to me in technical terms. Remember, though, I only had one semester of thermodynamics, so try to keep it simple.
If your view never changes you're following the wrong leader
Better go back to your textbooks .... starting with 'density.'
"There seems to be an extremely wide range of opinion regarding the 'efficiency' of electric heat. I, for one, cannot accept that anything is "100%" efficient is any measure."The definition of the usefull energy out (for example for lights we are measuring light output and the heat is unuseful energy) divided by the energy input. For energy used in the home the only way to measure is the energy at the meter."Electrical heat is almost 100% effecent. There might be a 0.01% or 2 loss in wiring run through unconditioned space."I have also found that electricity is invariably the most expensive way to heat things. If you're choosing electric heat, it's for a reason other than efficiency."Effectiveness to a specific application is important. For something like this it is both operating cost and captial cost. But any comparision at this point is completely meaningless. We don't know what his electrical cost are. They can vary from less 5 cents per kWh to over 20.And we don't know what the cost of other fuels are, in fact we don't even know what the alternate fuel would be." I like the liquid (oil) bath, because any liquid will transfer that heat much more efficiently than air."If it is not 100% eff where does the extra energy go?.
.
A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.