As an engineer, I have always felt that the idea of an efficient space heater is a misnomer. Space heaters consume a tremendous amount of energy without producing enough results. Even electric space heaters, where almost all of the energy is turned into electricity, manage not to heat rooms very efficiently. Kerosene space heaters are even worse. In addition to the normal dangers of space heating – the risk that something will bump into the heater, causing a fire – there is also risk from the kerosene fumes. Basically, heating spaces should be done with central heating if at all possible. Even baseboard heating is often a bad idea.
The one time that portable heaters are a good idea is if you live in a house that is too large for you. I have a friend in that situation, and he uses portable heaters all the time. Basically, he has one space heater in every room. He lives alone, and tends to spend long periods in one room or another. He will turn on space heaters in whatever room he is in and turn them off in the rest of the house. He even has a central control panel from which he can tell what rooms are heated and what rooms aren't.
Of all of the electric heaters available, he says that radiant heaters are the best. When I first heard that, I thought he was being ridiculous. I couldn't picture a radiant space heater being that efficient. You see, without doing that much research into it, I had always assumed that the old-fashioned electric space heater was the best choice. All they had was a heating element and a fan, which was really all they needed. The indoor heaters would produce heat in their coil, and then blow it into the air with a fan. It seemed like a perfect system to me.
My friend claims, however, that radiant space heaters are much more effective. He says that they work better because they maintain their warmth for longer. Although it takes a while for radiant space heaters to warm up, once they do, they stay warm. This means that they keep the room at a constant temperature. Other kind of electric space heaters heat up too quickly, and don't distribute the heat well. With radiant space heaters, however, the heat slowly radiates all over the entire room, keeping the temperature pretty constant.
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