Posted: 1/21/2012 4:49:23 AM EDT
|
Hello all, I did a search on these and electric fireplaces and only got one hit. I am looking for information from someone who has
used one of these, Amish Style or Bob Villa Infrared Heaters. I have used google and read the reviews just would rather hear from someone here. I finished my basement, doubled the insulation but finished concrete floors. My Geothermal heat system saves us money but the basement is always cool. The heat system draws that cool air into the rest of the house. I am looking at one of the infrared heaters to keep the basement between 62^ and 65^ just to take the chill out of the air. I will bump it up if I am using the basement. Wondering how they heat and if they are any more economical than your standard ceramic electric heater. Thanks in advance for the help. |
|
If you want the "chill out of the air" then you probably don't want an infared heater. Infared heat warms objects first which then slowly warm the room. An electric or gas forced air heater warms the air first which then slowly warms the objects. I've had decent luck with the oil filled radiator type heaters for brining the general level of heat up. There is no open heating element so the risk of fire is greatly reduced. If I had a warm a basement a few degrees in the winter that is what I would go with if you have cheaper electricity. Otherwise if you have gas you can get small wall mounted gas heaters that wouldn't cost much to run. |
|
Quoted:
You have a geothermal system and you want to use electrical resistance heat? Speak to a HVAC expert. I have ducts in the basement however they are all ceiling ducts. The basement temp never climbs up to the temperature of the house. In order for me to heat the basement the 1st floor would be a sauna. Plus the returns in the basement pull cool air into the system. That is why I want to just bump up the temp in the basement just a little bit. If I had done it right when I built the house I would have put radiant floor heating in the basement. Still might be an option down the road. Just looking for a stop gap measure. |
|
How many sq ft are you talking about? If the basement is large then space heaters of any kind won't do much except drive up your electric bill. A space heater might be bump up the temp of a 200 to 300 sq ft area. So if you have a 1,000 sq ft in the basement you are looking at 4 to 5 heaters, a 2,000 sq ft and you talking 10 space heaters. On high they will pull 12.5 amps each, so each one would need to be run on a seperate circuit. With 5 heaters on high it will be using 7.5KW/h. At 10 cents a kilowatt that is 75 cents an hour or $18 a day to run the heaters, which turns into $540 to run them on high for a month. Lowes currently has all their gas and electric heaters marked down right now. I have a 30,000 btu natural gas unit that I use to bump up the temperature of the 1,200 sq ft on my first floor. My bedroom is probably 250 sq ft, which is where I put the unit, and it will roast me out that room in no time if I crank it up. As a stop gap measure I still think that would be your best choice. If you don't have gas run to the house you can get a larger propane tank and install the propane version of the heater. |
|
Get yourself some electric hydronic baseboard heaters, or for aesthetics, get some of the mini wall heaters (they look like hvac vents, king electric makes them).
After that, depending on the basement size, you might actually find it more cost effective to get a mini-split with heat installed. |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
Scam. Check the power consumption. 1,500 watts is 1,500 watts. You can buy a heater that produces the same heat at the same efficiency for $20. This - there are only so many BTU's you can squeeze out of a watt. Quite true. Don't pay 400 or 300 dollars for something you can get at Home Depot for 50 dollars- or 20 dollars if you don't mind a cheap ceramic. |
|
I have one of those, it's actually what I use now. Wife is concerned about he 3 and 5 year old and how hot the system gets on the outside. She is also freaked out by propane heater in the house even though I have taken precautions with Smoke and CO Detectors. |