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This video will be a little bit different
from most of mine.

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I’m revisiting a topic from my very first
YouTube days, long before this channel was

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a thing.

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At the end, I’ll link to a follow up discussion
on my second channel where I talk about why

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I’m making this again.

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But for now, here’s what we’re doing.

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In the Northern hemisphere, it’s winter
right now.

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At least, well, at least at the time of this
video’s upload.

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Winter means cold and cold means sadness.

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But thankfully, I have a friendly space heater
to keep myself warm and my spirits high.

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These electric heaters are a useful, if perhaps
dangerous and expensive way to heat a space.

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But, there’s been something that’s annoyed
me about them for years.

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And to show you, we need to go shopping.

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Alright, let’s see what we got here.

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We have, “Medium Room”, 1,500W for $31.99.

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Take a step over, and we have “Small Room”,

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1,500W.

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$12.79.

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Thi… that… that number’s the same.

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Why is that the same?

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Here’s a different one.

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“Medium room”, fif… fifteen hun..

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Five..

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Wha?

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OK...

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Here’s a different one, we got small…

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fif… hmmm.

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Well, store #2 is almost entirely out of heaters.

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Ugh, this is what I get for doing this AFTER
the Polar Vortex.

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Hmm.

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There we go.

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OK, so here we have an infrared quartz radiant
heater, which is being marketed as for medium

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sized rooms.

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Shocker of shockers; 1,500W. And also, this
is a radiant heater so really the size of

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the room isn’t as important as its application
but let’s move on.

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So here we have a personal desktop heater,
1,500W.

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This one is apparently some sort of genius,
um, don’t really get that

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but look at that.

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1,500 W.

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Let’s look at this guy here.

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It’s a ceramic heater.

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Uh, 1,500W.

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One of these 360 degree things.

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Oh, it’s 1,500W.

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As you no doubt noticed, at every store we
visited, many of the space heaters for sale

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were categorized based on the size of the
room that they would be appropriate for.

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And yet, they were all rated 1500 watts.

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Now first let me say that there are definitely
reasons to choose some heaters over another.

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For instance, this infrared radiant heater
will do a great job of keeping you warm even

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in a cold room, because the infrared radiation
it generates will directly heat your skin

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and thus body from a distance.

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They’re even useful outdoors because of
their transmissive style of direct heating.

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But if you want to heat a space, as in heat
a room and keep it warm, all of these heaters

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are doing the same thing.

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They’re heating the air around them and
are thus increasing the temperature in the

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room.

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With this goal in mind, literally any of these
heaters will work.

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And they’re gonna work just as well as any
of the others, with few exceptions.

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It all comes down to that 1500 watts.

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Let’s take a step back and think about what
heaters actually have to do.

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Heat is really just energy, and the temperature
of a room is a way of expressing how much

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energy is currently concentrated in that room.

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Now, energy always likes to spread out, and
if there’s a temperature gradient between

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one space and another, the more highly concentrated
energy in the warm place wants to exit the

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warm place and spread out into the cold place.

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Once it reaches equilibrium, energy transfer
stops.

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And eventually, this leads to the heat death
of the universe.

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*sound of party blower*

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Now, to keep a room warm when the outside
is cold, we have to keep releasing energy

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into it.

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And we need to add energy at least at the
same rate that it leaves through the walls

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and windows, which hopefully are well insulated
to slow that process as much as possible.

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The amount of energy leaving the room is called
the thermal load.

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Now, I’m going to use the BTU, that’s
British Thermal Unit, for much of this video;

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I’m sorry for picking that unit, please
write your complaints below.

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The heater’s basic job is to replace the
energy that’s leaving the room.

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So if the room is losing 4,000 BTUs per hour
through the walls, that’s the thermal load,

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and thus we need a heater which can produce at least
4,000 BTUs in order to maintain the current

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indoor temperature.

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We’ll need more than that if we want to
increase the temperature.

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And if we can’t produce 4,000 BTUs, the
room will gradually get colder until the temperature

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gradient is small enough that energy leaving
equals energy being added, and we hit equilibrium

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once more.

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You may be asking what this has to do with
space heaters.

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Well children, it turns out that watts and
BTUs are both units of the same thing!

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That’s energy!

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Hold on, no.

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Watts are a unit of power, and a watt-hour
is a unit of energy.

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BTUs makes this confusing because people often
say “BTUs per hour” which I’ve already

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said at least once but, anyway, it’s a mess.

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Let’s continue.

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1 watt equals 3.41 BTUs.

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Now, all of these space heaters are labeled
as using 1,500 watts.

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That means they all produce 5,120 BTUs.

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All of ‘em.

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Some of them are even kind enough to tell
you that.

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So then, I put forth to you dear viewer, how
is this heater more suited to a medium-sized

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room if it is producing the same exact amount
of heat as this heater which claims to only

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be suitable for a small room?

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Regardless of how much energy is leaving a
given space, both of these are capable of

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adding the same amount of energy back.

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That’s 5,120 BTUs.

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Now, we can argue as much as we want about
how these two heaters distribute the heat they create.

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But I do find it humorous that the one claiming
to be better suited to a larger room doesn’t

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have a fan to assist heat distribution.

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Instead it relies solely on the convection
currents that are created as the now hot,

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low density air rises up through it and pulls
cold, dense air from behind.

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This heater has a fan blowing air past its
ceramic heating elements.

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Surely it’s moving more air, you can feel
it.

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But honestly, it doesn’t need to do much
because of that little thing we call convection.

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No matter where heat is released into a room,
it will eventually spread out.

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Using a fan just speeds that process along.

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And for those who may want to point out that
the fan motor in this guy is part of that

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1,500 watts and therefore it must cause the
unit as a whole to release less heat, I’ll

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counter that in addition to the motor being
a negligible part of the heater’s energy

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consumption, all of that energy will eventually
be released as heat anyway, either through

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friction with air molecules, or through the
wasted heat created in the windings of the

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motor itself.

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The reason why I know without a doubt that
these two heaters are both doing the same

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work is that they are both electric resistive
heaters.

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This means they’re taking the electrical
energy from the wall outlet and releasing

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it as heat.

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This is 100% efficient.

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In fact, when we talk about efficiency of
various household devices like light bulbs

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or laptops, we’re really talking about how
much waste heat they avoid releasing as they

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do their work.

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An incandescent bulb releases a ton of waste
heat, because it needs a lot of electrical

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energy to produce a given amount of light,
the vast majority of which is simply wasted.

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An LED bulb releases much less heat, because
LEDs are a more efficient way of turning electricity

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into visible light, which means less electricity
is consumed by the bulb to do the same amount

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of work.

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But if our goal is to create heat, in other
words if the work we want to accomplish is

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to take that electrical energy and spread
it out into the room as heat, 100% of the

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energy being consumed will be directly released
into the room.

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There is no such thing as a more efficient
space heater.

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There are better and worse applications depending
on the type, such as infrared radiant versus

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oil-filled convective, but simply put, energy
is energy.

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If this “medium” heater can’t release
more energy into the room than it’s “small

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room” counterpart, then those labels are
nonsense.

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And they are.

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We don’t even need to rely on the labeling.

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If we use an energy monitoring device like
this Kill-A-Watt, we can see exactly how much

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energy each of them is using.

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And, shocker of shockers, it’s the same
amount, within a small margin of error.

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Well, some may argue that the margin of error
isn’t quite that small, but in any case

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it’s pretty humorous that the small heater
is about 90 watts more powerful than the medium

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heater.

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Many heaters have multiple settings which
will switch between different heating elements,

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therefore giving you the option of a more
tepid amount of heat output.

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And, nearly all of them have a bimetallic
thermostat, if not a digital one, allowing

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you to control the temperature within a reasonable
degree.

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You might be asking why so many of them are
rated 1,500W. It turns out that this is the

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maximum amount of power a device that continuously
operates is allowed to pull from a 15A circuit

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according to the national electric code.

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A normal 15A household circuit is technically
capable of 1,800Ws, but if a device is expected

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to run for a long time, like a space heater,
it’s limited to using 80% of that capacity.

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This creates a margin for error and protects
against fires caused by not-quite-up-to-snuff

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wiring, and it also helps prevent overloading
in general.

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But a device that’s only used intermittently,
like a hair dryer, is allowed to use the full

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capacity.

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Since heating elements are phenomenally cheap
and easy to make, pretty much all space heaters

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are gonna bump right up against that 1,500W
limit.

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Now, not all of them do.

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I’m a big fan of these little personal heaters
that only use a couple hundred watts.

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I keep this one on my desk and it’s a great
little comfort boost on a cold day.

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But most “General purpose” heaters will
go ahead and push out as much heat as they’re

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allowed to.

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Now what was pointed out to me the last time
I made this video was that heaters such as

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this one store heat in the oil and thus are
able to release heat even when the heating

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elements aren’t turned on!

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That’s great, but it doesn’t mean it’s
more efficient.

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It just means that the heat leaving the heater
goes through a buffer.

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If the heater is running at a 50% duty cycle,
it more or less is constantly releasing 2,560

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BTUs, when this heater would release 5,120
for 5 minutes, and then 0 for the next five

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minutes.

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The end result is the same, though, they both
release 2,560 BTUs over 10 minutes--this one

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may simply provide more consistent heat.

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If there’s one thing I’d like you to take
away from this video, it’s that any space

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heater that claims to be more efficient than
its competition is… well its lying.

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I’m particularly irked by these “premium”
space heaters that claim to save you money

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on your energy bills because of some new technology.

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One in particular rhymes with “Schmeeden
Glur”.

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Look, the way they save you energy is
by… simply being a space heater.

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That’s by turning down the temperature to
your whole house, and only heating the room

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that you’re in.

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Compared to any other space heater, this is
no more efficient and frankly, a waste of money.

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What’s worse is that electric heat is almost
always the most expensive kind of heat, in

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fact I made a video on why in cold climates
we usually burn fuels like natural gas for

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heat rather than use the electric grid.

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Yes, the heater itself is 100% efficient,
but electricity generation is not.

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At least not yet.

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And that’s kind of the space heater paradox.

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You can save money by using just one and lowering
the temperature of your central heating.

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But if you decide to buy a bunch of these
supposedly miracle heaters for every room

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in your house and use them instead of your
furnace, you’re gonna be spending a lot

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more on energy.

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But, let me be clear that the only reason
I know these are all the same is that we’re

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talking about resistive heat.

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If we venture into the land of heat pumps
or gas-fired furnaces, now there are efficiency

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comparisons to be made.

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Some heat pumps work better than others, and
condensing furnaces can release more than

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95% of the energy from their heating fuel
into the space, compared to only 80% for a

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conventional furnace.

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But any ‘ol electric heater is gonna be
100% efficient.

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Whatever energy gets pulled from the wall
goes straight into the room.

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So, the next time you need to buy a space
heater, go ahead and buy a cheap one.

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Those expensive ones are… well they’re
just not worth it.

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This $10 wire-element heater will do just
as great of a job heating a room as will a

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$200 Schleeden Clure.

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Now don’t get me wrong, this thing is ugly
and noisy and has a primitive thermostat--that

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red mark is where I like to set it--so I’m
not about to say that this is objectively

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as good as one of those fancy-pants heaters.

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But I can say with confidence that it heats
just as well, and the cost of that energy

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is exactly the same.

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I will add that if there’s a room that always
needs supplemental heat, like a certain bedroom

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in a certain house I grew up in, I prefer
the oil-filled type because they’re probably

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the safest.

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A fan-forced heater will quickly overheat
if the fan fails, and then you’ve gotta

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hope that the overheat protection cutout works.

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00:13:16,050 --> 00:13:19,750
These passive ones are pretty much immune
from that failure, and because the heat is

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spread out over such a large surface area,
nothing really gets that hot.

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Plus, they’re virtually silent.

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Which is nice.

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But, keep in mind that they take FOREVER to
get warm, so they’re really not great for

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short use.

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These baseboard style heaters are a nice compromise,
but their surfaces do get much hotter so my

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gut tells me it’s a little more dangerous.

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And allow me to express my bewilderment regarding
a companion product for a space heater that

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doesn’t seem to exist.

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As I said, pretty much all space heaters have
a thermostat built-in.

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But let’s be honest, they’re usually not
great.

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It does regulate the temperature, but it’s
more of a… let it run until the room’s

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as warm as you want, then slowly turn the
dial down until it shuts off.

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Not very precise, or consistent.

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And for those “Digital” heaters, having
the thermostat located within the unit itself

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(like this) means it will never get a very
precise temperature reading of the room.

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I’m surprised that you can’t just buy
a universal remote thermostat.

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I can imagine something like a 10 foot long
heavy-duty extension cord with a thermostat

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in the middle of it, letting you put it on
a table away from the heater itself, and set

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an actual temperature.

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You could actually build one yourself fairly
easily using a thermostat for baseboard heating,

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but it seems like a product that should just
exist.

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OK wait, it does exist.

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Look at that!

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An outlet thermostat.

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That’s actually a really good idea.

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Anyway, that’s it for now.

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Dishonest marketing departments and misleading
labels are some of the most annoying things

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we deal with on this planet, but thankfully,
with a little knowledge on how the world works,

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we can see right through them.

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Stick around a little longer for a few more
observations regarding my recent space heater

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00:15:04,851 --> 00:15:09,590
adventures, and be sure to check out the Technology
Connections 2 video about why I remade this

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00:15:09,590 --> 00:15:10,590
video.

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00:15:10,590 --> 00:15:13,520
As always, thank you to everyone who supports
the channel on Patreon, especially the fine

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00:15:13,520 --> 00:15:15,750
folks that are scrolling up your screen.

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00:15:15,750 --> 00:15:19,940
With the support of people just like you,
Technology Connections has gone from my hobby

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00:15:19,940 --> 00:15:21,600
to, this!

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00:15:21,600 --> 00:15:23,800
And I’m very thankful for your support.

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00:15:23,800 --> 00:15:27,540
If you would like to support the channel and
get perks like early video access, occasional

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00:15:27,540 --> 00:15:32,040
behind-the-scenes stuff, as well as other
Patreon-exclusive content, please check out

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00:15:32,040 --> 00:15:33,500
my Patreon page.

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Thank you for your consideration, and I’ll
see you next time!

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♫ swelteringly smooth jazz ♫

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Alright, so I was ready to buy a heater just
like this one for this video, as Pelonis was

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among my list of offending manufacturers who
categorize based upon room size.

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But, at least for oil-filled heaters, they’ve
dropped that.

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Now it simply says “whole room heater”.

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They’re apparently not quite out of the
woods yet, as this little thing is marked

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“small room” even though, you guessed
it, it’s 1,500 watts.

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But, I will give them credit for this very
handy and truthful guide to which type of

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space heater is appropriate for which application.

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Though there were apparently a few render
bugs when it comes to the illustrations.

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Comfort Zone is still happily slapping room
size suggestions on their products, but notably

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their oil-filled heaters, at least the ones
for sale here, have gotten smaller and are

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only rated 1,200 watts now.

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My guess is that this was a cost-cutting measure,
and if you reduce its physical size and thus surface

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area you’ll need to lower heat output, too.

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Both Comfort Zone and Pelonis used to rate
this style as for a “large room”, but

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perhaps as a result of the 300W reduction,
Comfort Zone has downgraded theirs to only

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a “medium sized room”.

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Which is actually even more humorous, because
this medium room heater produces less heat

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than this small room heater.

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Go figure.

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I find this example particularly egregious
because they’re suggesting that a physically

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larger heater, using the same ceramic heating
element technology, is better for a larger

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room.

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00:17:03,460 --> 00:17:05,030
It’s got two heating elements!

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Surely it puts out more heat!

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No!

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This is just yet another design that you can
pick from.

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And hopefully you pick the most profitable
one!

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Oh.

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These things.

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I wonder how many watts this uses.

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Well, 5,127 prototypes, that’s useful I
guess.

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I guess I’ll have to look that one up online.