How to stay warm
Just purchased a 2016 Forest River Rockwood 2304DS and almost froze last night. Temps are 27degree and furnace will not even get close to keeping us warm. Purchased a 1500watt Oil electric heater tod...
Forum Discussion
Jaycocreek writes “As an example of how the new box type infared heaters with a fan work, from Heaterlab.com.I own a SunHeat and it does a much better job of heating either my travel trailer or motorhome than any standard portable electric I have ever owned..I use mine in the house also.
Quote:
One more great infrared heater by the LifeSmart brand. LifeSmart Power Plus is designed for heating rooms with up to 1500 square footage. This unit equips 6 quartz infrared elements. Each one is wrapped in a metal coil that acts as a heat exchanger. Having 6 elements it produces more heat.”
Marketing double speak.. AND a PACK OF LIES..
Just because it has “6 elements” does not mean it makes MORE heat.
Just because those “elements” are “wrapped in a metal coil” does not mean that this design makes more heat.
A watt is a watt and a BTU is a BTU.
A watt of energy only can create a certain amount of BTU..
Typically accepted definition is 1Watt is 3.41 BTU per hr..
1500W heater can DRAW 5115 BTU (typically rounded up to 5200 BTU)
PORTABLE electric heaters ARE energy limited devices, they are not allowed to exceed 1500W DRAW which is 12.5A at 120V.. Which happens to also be 80% of a 15A circuit for CONTINUOUS POWER DRAW.
So, your amazing infared box heater cannot supply any more than 5200 BTU per hr of heat, it CAN however supply LESS than 5200 BTU..
Since a portable electric heater is LIMITED to no more than 1500W (12.5A at 120V) power draw that means the heating elements AND the fan motor CAN NOT EXCEED 1500W!
So if the fan motor draws 100W on high speed the heating elements CAN NOT EXCEED 1400W or 4774 BTU!
That means your amazing infared box heater can only DELIVER a MAX of about 4800 BTU since the FAN will consume about 400 BTU worth of energy..
I will also add that I am being very “generous” in my calculations..
In reality since your amazing infared box heater is actually attempting to “convert” infared energy into heat, there IS a CONVERSION loss in the process (PER YOUR QUOTE of the LIFESMART BRAND which states .. “This unit equips 6 quartz infrared elements. Each one is wrapped in a metal coil that acts as a heat exchange”).
That “heat exchange” CREATES AN ENERGY EFFICIENCY LOSS.
Is it “possible” to heat 1500 square feet with a 1500W electric heater?
NO..
Life Smart has OVER EXAGERATED their claims of heating 1500 square feet! Looks to me like they have added an extra ZERO to mislead potential buyers into thinking it IS more powerful than the competitors product..
Per HERE
"A watt is an SI (metric) unit of power equal to one joule of energy per second. In terms of wattage, almost all 120 volt space heaters are rated up to 1500 watts at the maximum setting, and there is a 10/1 ratio of watts to square feet heated. Therefore, a 1500 watt space heater (120 volts) will be able to heat an area of 150 square feet, and a garage heater rated at 5,000 watts should be able to comfortably heat an area over 400 square feet.
In terms of BTUs, or British Thermal Units, this is also a unit of energy that is used globally in heating and air conditioning industries, but is not commonly used scientifically. Nonetheless, in North America, the term BTU describes the energy value of fuels, and is also used to describe the power of heating and cooling systems such as heaters. When used as unit of power, BTUs per hour is the commonly used term, and refers to the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit. To convert watts to BTUs and vice versa, here are the conversion ratios:
1 watt = approximately 3.41 BTU/hour
1000 BTUs/hour is approximately 293 watts"
Life smart also left the “conditions” of their “test” which lead up to their claimed 1500 square feet.. Conditions such as outside temp, inside temp, insulation ect all play a huge effect to how well a heater will perform.. heck for we know they tested it on a balmy 68 degree day and was using to maintain 70 degrees.. ANY 1500W heater could do that..
Do some heat loss calculators.. You will find that A RV will need MORE than 1500W or 5200 BTUs to maintain temps at very low outside temps.
Here is a great place to go to for REAL information on how to properly size your electric heating requirements..
HEATER SELECTION TIPS
"General rule of thumb
The Wattage Selection Guide recommends approximately 6 watts per square foot for newer homes and 10 watts per square foot for older homes. If you live in a higher altitude or colder climate, we recommend adding 2 watts per square foot."
Quote:
One more great infrared heater by the LifeSmart brand. LifeSmart Power Plus is designed for heating rooms with up to 1500 square footage. This unit equips 6 quartz infrared elements. Each one is wrapped in a metal coil that acts as a heat exchanger. Having 6 elements it produces more heat.”
Marketing double speak.. AND a PACK OF LIES..
Just because it has “6 elements” does not mean it makes MORE heat.
Just because those “elements” are “wrapped in a metal coil” does not mean that this design makes more heat.
A watt is a watt and a BTU is a BTU.
A watt of energy only can create a certain amount of BTU..
Typically accepted definition is 1Watt is 3.41 BTU per hr..
1500W heater can DRAW 5115 BTU (typically rounded up to 5200 BTU)
PORTABLE electric heaters ARE energy limited devices, they are not allowed to exceed 1500W DRAW which is 12.5A at 120V.. Which happens to also be 80% of a 15A circuit for CONTINUOUS POWER DRAW.
So, your amazing infared box heater cannot supply any more than 5200 BTU per hr of heat, it CAN however supply LESS than 5200 BTU..
Since a portable electric heater is LIMITED to no more than 1500W (12.5A at 120V) power draw that means the heating elements AND the fan motor CAN NOT EXCEED 1500W!
So if the fan motor draws 100W on high speed the heating elements CAN NOT EXCEED 1400W or 4774 BTU!
That means your amazing infared box heater can only DELIVER a MAX of about 4800 BTU since the FAN will consume about 400 BTU worth of energy..
I will also add that I am being very “generous” in my calculations..
In reality since your amazing infared box heater is actually attempting to “convert” infared energy into heat, there IS a CONVERSION loss in the process (PER YOUR QUOTE of the LIFESMART BRAND which states .. “This unit equips 6 quartz infrared elements. Each one is wrapped in a metal coil that acts as a heat exchange”).
That “heat exchange” CREATES AN ENERGY EFFICIENCY LOSS.
Is it “possible” to heat 1500 square feet with a 1500W electric heater?
NO..
Life Smart has OVER EXAGERATED their claims of heating 1500 square feet! Looks to me like they have added an extra ZERO to mislead potential buyers into thinking it IS more powerful than the competitors product..
Per HERE
"A watt is an SI (metric) unit of power equal to one joule of energy per second. In terms of wattage, almost all 120 volt space heaters are rated up to 1500 watts at the maximum setting, and there is a 10/1 ratio of watts to square feet heated. Therefore, a 1500 watt space heater (120 volts) will be able to heat an area of 150 square feet, and a garage heater rated at 5,000 watts should be able to comfortably heat an area over 400 square feet.
In terms of BTUs, or British Thermal Units, this is also a unit of energy that is used globally in heating and air conditioning industries, but is not commonly used scientifically. Nonetheless, in North America, the term BTU describes the energy value of fuels, and is also used to describe the power of heating and cooling systems such as heaters. When used as unit of power, BTUs per hour is the commonly used term, and refers to the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit. To convert watts to BTUs and vice versa, here are the conversion ratios:
1 watt = approximately 3.41 BTU/hour
1000 BTUs/hour is approximately 293 watts"
Life smart also left the “conditions” of their “test” which lead up to their claimed 1500 square feet.. Conditions such as outside temp, inside temp, insulation ect all play a huge effect to how well a heater will perform.. heck for we know they tested it on a balmy 68 degree day and was using to maintain 70 degrees.. ANY 1500W heater could do that..
Do some heat loss calculators.. You will find that A RV will need MORE than 1500W or 5200 BTUs to maintain temps at very low outside temps.
Here is a great place to go to for REAL information on how to properly size your electric heating requirements..
HEATER SELECTION TIPS
"General rule of thumb
The Wattage Selection Guide recommends approximately 6 watts per square foot for newer homes and 10 watts per square foot for older homes. If you live in a higher altitude or colder climate, we recommend adding 2 watts per square foot."
