Shopsmith Forums

reible wrote:We have a room that doesn't heat well in the winter and I'm wondering how one of these would work to fix that. Not many watts but perhaps that would be fine. At least it is cool enough to not have to worry about starting a fire........ And it it were to give a boost of a few degrees on the really cold times.

We have forced air heating so another thought would be to have one in the bed room and let the rest of the house cool a bit more at night.

http://www.eheat.com/envi-high-efficien ... r-hh1012t/

Ed

Hey Ed,
Yes, that type of heater does a decent job. I had a similar, but cheaper style(I paid $45 each) in the garage for a while (uninsulated at that time). The two I had were directional, space in front was heated well, to the sides not so much.
They are fragile. The two I had were easily broken when my cousin put his stuff into the garage and against each.
Not sure if these are any sturdier. They are very simple to install.
Hope that helps.

Be well,
Ben

Ed, a few years back, our propane furnace went out in moderately cold weather, and it took about a week for the replacement part to come in. So I went to HD and bought a couple of thermostatically-controlled ceramic heaters for about $30 each. They worked great, so I bought another. 4500W, all told, and they kept the whole house reasonably comfortable. And whatever rooms we put them in were downright toasty.

These ones, to be specific, but I think they are discontinued now.

Years later, we still use them whenever the need arises. One of them lives more-or-less permanently in my walkout-basement workshop. It has the exact problem you describe -- tail-end Charlie on a too-small duct, and poorly insulated to boot. A duct fan helps a bit, but not a lot. And even less with our new furnace with variable-speed blower, which stays on low most if the time. But I can fire the little ceramic heater up on weekends, and set the workroom temp to whatever I want.

Our propane cost per BTU was about 80% of the cost of electric resistance heat, so the wallet-impact was negligible. But last fall, we finally got natural-gas service in our neighborhood (which explains the new furnace), cutting our heating bill by about 2/3. Now that the electric heater is expensive in comparison, and I might finally get motivated to properly insulate my workshop.

Anyhow, I think almost any compact ceramic heater would solve your localized problem. But I do get tickled at the "high efficiency" claims they like to make ... ANY resistance heater is 100% efficient at turning electrical power into heat!

[quote="BuckeyeDennis" ... ANY resistance heater is 100% efficient at turning electrical power into heat![/quote]


As long as it has no 'fan'.

JPG wrote:

BuckeyeDennis wrote: ... ANY resistance heater is 100% efficient at turning electrical power into heat!

As long as it has no 'fan'.

And what becomes of the kinetic energy of that fan-blown air?

(Hint: entropy always increases.)

We use two ceramic heaters in our house, one in the upstairs bathroom and one in the downstairs bathroom. The ones we have are a much older design but still the same function. They are not used except for when taking a bath/shower.

They do have fans but they also are heat limited by airflow designs so if the air flow is blocked the heat output drops off, the thermal control works very well. Before we started using them I performed a test by blanketing one with newspaper to see what would happen. They did not catch fire. The worry was what if say your towel dropped off the rack while in the shower and happened to land on the heater......
They are however noisy, and can take up to 1500W. I'm looking for something without a fan and about a third of the power. The ones in the link claim case temperatures of no more then 90 degrees, not even warm to the touch.

As so far as insulation, there are 6" bats covered with a 12" off loose fill above. Two exposed walls with full insulation. One smaller window that is thermal glass and heavy thermal curtains. It is small room and it sets over the garage with 6" of insulation between. I don't see me changing any of those factors.

Ed

BuckeyeDennis wrote:Ed, a few years back, our propane furnace went out in moderately cold weather, and it took about a week for the replacement part to come in. So I went to HD and bought a couple of thermostatically-controlled ceramic heaters for about $30 each. They worked great, so I bought another. 4500W, all told, and they kept the whole house reasonably comfortable. And whatever rooms we put them in were downright toasty.

These ones, to be specific, but I think they are discontinued now.

Years later, we still use them whenever the need arises. One of them lives more-or-less permanently in my walkout-basement workshop. It has the exact problem you describe -- tail-end Charlie on a too-small duct, and poorly insulated to boot. A duct fan helps a bit, but not a lot. And even less with our new furnace with variable-speed blower, which stays on low most if the time. But I can fire the little ceramic heater up on weekends, and set the workroom temp to whatever I want.

Our propane cost per BTU was about 80% of the cost of electric resistance heat, so the wallet-impact was negligible. But last fall, we finally got natural-gas service in our neighborhood (which explains the new furnace), cutting our heating bill by about 2/3. Now that the electric heater is expensive in comparison, and I might finally get motivated to properly insulate my workshop.

Anyhow, I think almost any compact ceramic heater would solve your localized problem. But I do get tickled at the "high efficiency" claims they like to make ... ANY resistance heater is 100% efficient at turning electrical power into heat!

I play cards with some buddy's we had some of the same problems you are talking about. The owner bought one of the heater\air condition units from samsung i think. look up room heaters\ AC the ones they use overseas Its does a great job heating and cooling the room. AC bonus !! Cheers DOWeaver Indianapolis IN

Very Sorry Mitsubishi !!!
DOWeaver Indianapolis IN
on the edge of the great plaines