Submitted by Substantial-Elk-1259 t3_zr3y03 in BuyItForLife
Bananachips1300 t1_j12azlx wrote
Reply to comment by Aloe_Therea in Does oil filled heater takes much longer than the fan heater? by Substantial-Elk-1259
Electric heaters turn electrical energy into thermal energy and are 100% efficient. So using less energy means it’s just not creating as much heat. It’s 1:1, and the different between radiator and fan+coils is the rate at which they heat.
Aloe_Therea t1_j12qkha wrote
I think the main disadvantage is that the 1500w fan heater has to be running 100% of the time to both heat up my room and keep it warm. Once I turn it off the temperature immediately begins dropping. The oil heater only needs 700w to heat the room and keep it warm. If I then turn it off, it can still give off heat from the hot oil for a few hours. Even taking into account that the oil heater takes longer to get hot, I’ve been saving money.
DaveyPhotoGuy t1_j12rpx4 wrote
That is 100% reasonable. I use an oil filled radiator for the same reason.
limpymcforskin t1_j12w87k wrote
This isn't really correct. A 1500 watt heater will heat the same space with the same thermal load in half the time as a 750 watt heater. The oil heater if it only takes 700 watts is going to take over double the time to bring the room to temperature compared to the fan heater. This is because of the thermal load of the oil itself plus having half the power of the fan heater. The only reason you are thinking you are saving money is that it's off but in reality you paid for that heat energy that is being released by the oil. If both have decent functioning thermostats they will both use the same exact amount of energy to heat the same space to a desired temp.
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There are advantages to oil heaters like being quieter but saving your money isn't one of them.
Aloe_Therea t1_j15d8pl wrote
I would be happy to break this down as I really recommend oil heaters! Of course, your mileage may vary if you live in a warmer climate and/or have better insulation. Let’s say I want to have my room at about 22C for 6 hours though.
The oil heater does take some time to get really hot, about 1 hour. If I run it for a total of 5 hours at 700w that’s 4 hours of heat. Then after unplugging it, the hot oil can keep my room warm for 2-3 more hours. Being conservative, let’s assume 2. That’s 6 hours of heat for 5 hours running time at 700w. The fan heater on the other hand heats up the room pretty quickly. I only need to run it for half an hour at 1500w to get to 24C. But to maintain it, it has to stay running. If we assume the low 750w setting is adequate to do so, that’s 6 hours of heat for 5.5 hours of runtime at 750w. Plus the half an hour of 1500w. In my experience the oil heater pulls ahead even more but again, in optimal conditions it may not be something you personally notice. I’ve noticed savings already though and these will only add up more significantly throughout the year.
limpymcforskin t1_j15j3k3 wrote
This will explain it.
Aloe_Therea t1_j15qz2m wrote
I’m not sure what you think needs to be explained at this point but regardless I’m certainly not going back to a fan heater that costed me more and didn’t perform as well.
limpymcforskin t1_j15smjm wrote
Once again they cost literally the same to run. That is my entire point lol. Electric resistive heat is 100% efficient. If it's the same room in the same conditions there will be no difference in the cost to heat said room to the same temp for the same amount of time.
You are mistaking the oil heater being more efficient when in reality it just has a larger thermal mass which will let heat off after you turn it off. It still took the same amount of heat to heat that thermal mass up.
Oil heaters are nicer for bedrooms since they are quiet. I'm simply trying to correct that last sentence you said where they are cheaper to run. They aren't.
Aloe_Therea t1_j15z5r2 wrote
My dude, my point is in your first sentence. If I can run the heater less often, I am saving money. You can check out my break down again if you want. Pretty sure my electric company wouldn’t lower my bills if I was just mistaking it being cheaper to run though.
limpymcforskin t1_j16372b wrote
Once again you aren't factoring in the extra energy to heat the extra thermal load of the oil.
Also correlation does not equal causation. There are a multitude of other variables that will effect your electric bill.
Aloe_Therea t1_j18rq0t wrote
Yea man, I literally did. You know people don’t live in a vacuum under these so called perfect conditions right? There’s a multitude of factors why the oil heater is cheaper to run for me but you’re free to choose whatever works best for you personally.
EDIT: Less kilowatt hours used = lower electric bill. Nobody is arguing thermodynamics lol.
empathetic_asshole t1_j1tt46l wrote
Thermodynamics can be non-intuitive some times, but the rules are quite simple and don't depend on any "perfect conditions". Anyone who paid attention in a college physics class is rolling their eyes at your willful ignorance. If you're using electricity to heat your home the only things you can do to improve efficiency is improve insulation, selectively heat the rooms you are in, or switch from resistive heating to a heat pump. The fact that your electricity bill went down around the time you made a change to your setup doesn't undo basic scientific facts.
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