How Home Heat Loss Affects Space Heater Performance

Author: Sam Streubel

Author: Sam Streubel

Although 4 million consumers rely on Consumer Reports to inform their buying decisions there's no substitute for reading product reviews from people who actually own the product and operate it under a variety of conditions and circumstances.

I always ignore all the good reviews and head straight for clunkers. As far as electric space heaters go, the number one complaint is noise but that's a subject for another day.

What I'd like to draw your attention to is the number two complaint: Disappointing performance, or to put it another way, lack of heat.

What drew me to this subject was a review I recently read by the owner of a typical 1,500 watt heater who complained that it failed to adequately heat his un-insulated, glassed-in porch in freezing weather.

This got me to thinking about the importance of factoring heat loss into the space heater decision making process.

No matter how well your home is "buttoned up" some of the heat is still going to escape. And if your home or apartment is poorly insulated and weatherized your heating dollars are literally flowing through the cracks.

Most households use their heater for "zone heating" by dialing back the master thermostat to a temperature in the low 60's and use the space heater to take up the slack, let' say 8 degrees, and restore the temperature in the room they occupy to a comfortable level.

To illustrate how dramatically home heat loss affects space heater efficiency I've put together the table below. The room size for the example is 200 sq. ft.

Insulation Level/Air Leakage

Watts Needed to Raise Temp 8 Degrees/Number of 1500 Watt Heaters Needed

Good Insulation /Tight Leakage

800 watts - 1 heater

Avg. Insulation/Avg. Leakage

1600 watts - 1 heater

Poor Insulation/Loose leakage

3200 watts - 2 heaters

No Insulation/Outside

8000 watts - 5 heaters

It's obvious from the table that a single space heater doesn't stand a chance at heating an un-insulated outside porch.

But it does illustrate how effective a few cans of expanding foam insulation, some weather stripping, and a little window film would be at reducing home heat loss and increasing the efficiency of your space heater.About the Author:

Find the perfect electric space heater and learn how to weatherize your home at Alternative-Heating-Info.com

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