Electric space heaters

coolmom42 wrote:

Bert the Welder wrote:
I'm interested in what type of heater you guys are running that has heated/melted your extension cords? Or what gauge cords you're using?

As for the OP. I look at my best bet being on a "bigger" name in the game as being "safer". Though I have little more than faith in that thinking. Howell, Sunbeam, Noma, Panasonic. Dyson if you like paying triple for the Gucci factor.

The overheating is not generally directly due to the heater load, but to poor connections with extension cords and plug strips, and the internal connections in the plug strips. Those connectors create hot points.

I've never found the wiring, plug, or outlet to be hot, during or after using a heater. Like I said, I just use the inexpensive little cube heaters. They are generally 1500 watts, which translates to 13.6 amps at 110V. So your circuit needs to be capable of handling that.

The only time I've ever tripped a breaker in a RV was when a heater kicked on while I was using a hairdryer. No big deal, unplug the heater and reset the breaker.

Coolmom,

Short quick bursts typically will not do any harm, even with extension cords.

The problem however with electric space heaters, they are not used in short quick bursts.

Hair driers are an example of a short quick burst, even if you had hair down to the floor, I wouldn't think it would take more than half hr to one hr at max power..

Space heaters on the other hand, can and often run for hours on end without shutting off and that is the problem and one of the reasons instructions on them specifically state to NOT use "extension cords".. But do folks listen to that advice from the folks who made the product? NOPE.

The plug and receptacle must conform to the absolute min specs of the electric codes for the circuit it plugs into (15A receptacle takes a plug designed to handle 15A). The problem however is many folks tend to be pretty cheap and buy the lowest cost extension cords. Often buying 16 ga extensions which now becomes the "fuse" for the system when you plug a 1500W device into it.

Granted you can pass 15A on 16ga wire, but it IS going to HEAT that wire severely to the point of melting insulation if you allow it to be used more than a few minutes at a time.

IF you MUST use a portable 1500W space heater as your sole means of staying warm 24/7 then make sure you have GOOD quality receptacles with good quality wire connections via screw down terminals which pretty much rules out any of the back stab all in one outlets.

If you must use the backstab outlets then REDUCE the heater to 750W and use several heaters set to 750W on different outlets. This reduces and spreads out the heat on the outlet wiring connection that comes from poor electrical connections.

Wiring fires are not fun, can happen in the middle of the night when you are deep asleep and in a RV WILL be deadly because they are a tinderbox and you have very few ways to escape and once a fire starts in a RV it will engulf it faster than you can blink an eye.

Don't be cheap with your life.