Energy Efficient Space Heaters

With the winter approaching, many homeowners are looking for energy efficient space heaters to provide their homes with auxiliary heat, provide heating in rooms that are usually not heated, and to be a source of warmth in case there is a power outage.

What Makes Space Heaters Popular?
During winters, many people switch on their central heating system. This helps in warning the entire house. Thus, increasing the cost of energy used during the month. In order to cut down on the cost of energy bills, one opts for space heaters. These heaters are devices that help heating a smaller space and add to the warmth of the house. As they provide focused heat, they are useful to heat up areas where people spend more time. It is also portable and can be carried to rooms that require heating. Thus, you do not waste energy heating rooms or areas that do not need to be heated for the time being. This saves energy as well as your money.

In other words, a space heater is usually used to heat cold areas of the home, perceptibly increase the warmth in a single area, or as an energy-saving means of providing heating. There are different types of energy efficient space heaters available in the market. The various types include halogen based heaters, coil convection heaters, oil-filled heaters, and ceramic heaters. The most popular choice is the electric heater. It is free from fumes, carbon and other emissions. These heaters also do not make a lot of noise as compared to other heaters.

Given below is the description for some of the popular space heaters to help you to choose one that suits your need.

Types of Space Heaters
There are many categories of space heaters of which the electric heater is the most popular as mentioned in the preceding paragraph. They are portable, affordable and help save a family a lot of money. Thus making it one of the most energy saving heater. Apart from these heaters, other types include the following:

Ceramic Space Heater
These are considered to be safer compared to the usual, coil-based space heaters. Since the ceramic core is larger in size than heating coils, this space heater can be operated at a lower temperature, although it releases an equivalent amount of energy, which spreads over a greater area. So, are ceramic heaters energy efficient? Yes, because of the special properties of ceramic, this space heater is able to maintain the higher temperature for a longer period compared to a normal, electric heater. This results in making ceramic heaters energy efficient.

Oil Filled Radiators
These space heaters comprise a fluid that is contained in a sealed radiator apparatus. This heater does not to be ever topped off or refilled. The internal heating system in these heaters heats the oil inside, which then radiates it into the room. Many people often ask 'how energy efficient are oil filled radiant heaters?'. Oil-filled radiators are highly energy efficient since the heating element inside does not need to be on constantly. Once the oil is heated, it continues to release the warmth gradually keeping the room at a comfortable temperature even with the internal element turned off. Also, this space heater is free of noise, since they do not have a fan. The oil space heater energy usage is about 300 to 2400 Watts, with their length and number of columns is proportional to the power rating.

Coil-Based Convection Heaters
Fan-forced or convection heaters that are coil based utilize infrared wavelength advantageously by heating the metallic coils inside the heater. Infrared energy is released by the coils, which heats the air that passes through them, before the air is pushed into the room. These coil-based space heaters are equipped with safety meshes in order to prevent anything from coming into contact with the internal heating elements. Electric baseboard heaters are akin to coil-based heaters, except that they heat a larger area and the heat lasts for a longer time, making them energy saving heaters for home.

Halogen Space Heaters
Also known as reflective heaters, halogen heaters are the latest in heating technology. Using the energy efficient halogen bulb technology, these heaters use light to provide warmth to nearby people and objects instead of the air being heated; in much the same way as the sun gives us heat. This type of direct heating is far more comfortable compared to heating provided by older technologies, because it provides instant heating at the touch of a button. They usually have a cool touch cabinet, a double safety grill, and an automatic tip-over protection, making them ideal and efficient home space heaters, especially homes with pets, children and the elderly.

How to Choose Energy Efficient Home Space Heaters
With a variety of choice available in the market for efficient heaters, it becomes difficult to choose the right one for your home. Thus, it is important you have a look at the following pointers that will help you make the right choice in space heaters.

• The first point to consider is the size of space you need to heat. Always remember, the size of space is directly proportional to the size of space heater you choose. So a small bedroom will require a small heater and a large living room area will need a large heater or may be more than two heaters. If you purchase two heaters for a large room, place them at opposite ends of the room. Thus, creating a balance of heat around the room.
• Check whether the space heater, especially the electric heaters have thermostat. If the heater lacks this feature, it will continue to heat the room beyond the optimum temperature. Thermostat will also help save electricity as well as provide constant optimum temperature within the room.
• Another aspect to consider when buying space heaters is presence of children or pets in the house. If there are children or pets or both, you need to choose a model that does not have open coils. It may lead to burn injuries, if the child or pet happens to touch the hot coils. Also, place them in areas where the heater would not be accidentally bumped into or knocked down. These areas include those that do not receive a lot of foot traffic.
• Choose models that follow the current safety standards and have Underwriter's Laboratory (UL) label attached to it.

Important Fact:
You won't find ENERGY STAR qualified space heaters in the market. This is because the EPA does not label heaters as ENERGY STAR qualified product as of now. They have evaluated these heaters and have not yet decided whether to label them in future.

Space heaters are more energy efficient than central heaters and there is no doubt about it. Apart from lowering the cost of heating, these heaters are designed to suit any interior decor. So, this winter, choose an energy efficient space heater and say goodbye to exorbitant heating bills!