in this video we're going to compare three different types of electric heater
so here you can see we've got three kinds of heater we've got a fan heater a panel heater and
this oil filled heater from ascot electric heating now we've made a few videos on the subject of this
particular range of heaters including a really detailed review so if you're interested in the
subject please do go and check those out now often when we start to discuss the subject of electric
heating we'll get people wading in to extol the virtues of heat pumps and there's no denying
they are a very important part of the plan for efficiently heating homes in the future however
they're not suitable for every application and many properties will still require a heating boost
in the form of instant electric heating or maybe like i've done in my studio here you just want to
quickly add some additional heating to a room that doesn't have an existing conventional rad
so what are the benefits of an oil filled heater over these other two well to answer
that we need to understand a bit about heat it comes in three forms which you probably remember
from your school days conduction convection and radiation for the purposes of this video
we're going to ignore conduction because you don't usually hope to get warm in a property by putting
your hand directly on a radiator convection is where a gas or a liquid is heated up and as it's
heated the warm substance expands becomes less dense and moves upward in the tank or the space
radiation is when heat is transferred without affecting the intervening space it's how heat is
transferred from the sun to the earth and you can experience this by stepping outside on a warm day
if you stand in the shade and then step out into the sunshine you'll instantly start to
feel warmer on your skin and clothes even though the air temperature in and out of the shade are
the same that sensation of increased temperature is because the radiant heat from the sun is now
hitting you directly so how do convection and radiation feature in these heaters we're looking
at the simplest heating device here the panel heater it's got a filament in the bottom of it
and when electricity passes through it it heats up the air inside the heater gets warm and rises
up and out of the vents at the top end and continues to rise into the space it's in
then the cold air in the room sinks and because the warm air is exiting the heater at the top
it draws cold air into itself through the bottom grill which then gets heated and moves up and out
of the heater and the cyclic process of heating the room continues through the process we just
referred to as convection now this is all well and good however the astute among you
will realize that most of the heat in the room is now floating around at the ceiling and cold air is
moving towards the heater at a lower level meaning that the benefit of the heat is above head level
and cold drafts are making your feet and ankles cold in other words convection is not the best
method of heating a room up the fan heater works in a similar way there's an element inside there
that gets hot but then instead of relying on the natural process of convection it's given a
helping hand by means of a fan that draws cool air in the back and simultaneously blasts the
heated air out of the front kind of like the panel heater on steroids but once the heat has left the
front and the effect of the fan has been reduced we're back to the same issue with the panel heater
where the heat mainly collects at the top of the room and the cold air is at the bottom just with
the added bonus that you can get toasty ankles if you stand in the airstream at the front of the fan
now this oil filled radiator is the ascot electric heating graphite radiator similar to those we've
reviewed on the channel previously click the link in the description below to see that and this
heater has the added advantage that it doesn't just rely on convection to heat up space it also
has an element of radiation about it as well this is because the heating element doesn't directly
heat the air around it it heats up a reservoir of oil inside here which is then transferred to
the metal fins now because these metal fins are the part that are in contact with the outside air
two heating effects take place one is convection in the manner which we've already discussed
and you can see the fins are formed in such a way as to draw air vertically through them and
move the heat into the room but they also radiate heat meaning that if you're sitting across from
the heater a significant amount of heat will transfer from the metal panels to you without
heating up the intervening air bringing greater comfort this radiant heat is also transferred
to the fabric of the building which will then dissipate the heat back into the space gradually
even after the heater turns off leaving you with a more temperate more comfortable environment
the oil filled heater from massacre also has the advantage of having a lower touch temperature
making it safe for children to be around as well as reducing the risk of setting something on fire
like a piece of clothing if it's left over the panel heater or if you place something in front
of the fan heater although it's advised that you don't put anything over the oil
filled heater anyway another great advantage to this heater is the intelligent control it
features something called a proportional input derivative or pid thermostat which is a bit
technical for this video but basically means that it learns how quickly the room heats up
and over time becomes more accurate getting the room heated to the right level without overheating
it it's much more accurate and therefore energy saving than the old bi-metallic strip stats that
you'll most likely find in these other heaters so there we go that's a quick overview of some of the
different types of heater if you're interested in learning more about electric heating please check
out the videos we've made on this ascot electric heater and as always we'd like to hear from you do
you think the future of heating is electric heat pump hydrogen or perhaps a blend of the three
have you been installing electric heaters recently whatever your thoughts or questions
please leave them in the comments section below and as always thank you very much for watching
you