Understanding What Kilowatt (electrical) Really Means
Electrical heating can be outlined as an electric appliance that converts electric energy into heat
. The only thing that drives me mad is that I see some electrical heaters publicized as twenty percent more effective than another electrical heater. The base line in all this is that the quantity of BTU's that may be produced from a KW of electrical is outlined by the laws of physics.
Take any kilowatt of electric and convert it to heat and you get 3415 Btu per Kw. This fact cannot be altered or changed. So for anyone to make claims of their electric heater being more efficient than the next guy's is totally false.
There are numerous paths to deliver the heat and the may make some difference in how you feel from the heat being delivered. Electrical heaters that use infra-red technology could make you feel hotter without basically heating the air surrounding you. Heaters that use oil to hold or ceramic to hold the heat may radiate heat even if the part isn't on causing you to feel warm although the component is not producing rather more heat. So there are several popular techniques to heat, but the final analysis is that the amount of BTU's produced by each on an equal basis will be 3415 BTU's per KW.
The exception to this is the modern heat pump. A heat pump is an appliance that uses an electrically-driven compressor to power a refrigeration cycle that extracts heat energy from the outdoor air or from the ground or ground water. The heat is then transferred to the space being heated. Heat pumps can be many times more efficient than electric resistance heating.
An alternate way to save a bit is a storage heating system that takes virtue of less expensive electricity costs. You use electrical during low demand periods such as overnite to build heat in a storage stone or water. This heat is then removed from the stone or water in the daytime when the electrical costs more.
When thinking about electrical heating always recall that a fossil-fuelled power plant may only deliver four units of electric energy for each ten units of fuel energy released. Even if you employ an one hundred percent efficient electrical heater, the quantity of fuel needed to make the level of heat required, is more than if the fuel was burned in a furnace or boiler at the building being heated. The quantity of electrical that's lost by substation transformers and transmission lines is just about two / three 3rds of what was at first produced at the power plant.
Electric heating can be good in some cases, but in many situations it is not a responsible use of our resources. Also, do not believe the claims that one electric resistance heater is more efficient than any other. One kilowatt of electricity will always convert to 3415 BTU's of heat.