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Heat is a necessity that you can’t live without as temperatures drop. This requires you to use a heating source within your home to provide adequate amounts of warmth. The type of heating source that you can use varies. Many heating sources function in different ways. A convection heater is a unique way to heat your home and allows you to heat your home without the use of a traditional heater. Before you use a convection heater in your home, it is essential that you understand how it works to produce heat.
Here are just a few basics about how a convection heater actually works:
Convection Basics
A convection heater can be used to generate heat in pretty the same way that an electric oven does. This means that both an electric range and a convection heater rely on the process of convection to produce heat. This involves electricity moving through a resistor. A resistor can be described as a material that inhibits the flow of electric current. This electric current that begins to move through is converted into heat energy by the resistor. This hot air that is produced is then moved throughout the space to provide heat. All convection heaters work in basically the same way with only minor differences. Some have more features and rely on conduction to force the air out.
What is Convection?
This process is easier to understand by breaking it down into simpler terms. If a hot object exists is a room, it normally only heats up the air that is directly above it. This results in the expansion of air, which causes it to rise. When the warm air begins to rise, it will produce a vacuum-like suction the moves in the cool air that surrounds it. As the air begins to heat the process continues until all the air in the space is sufficiently heated. The result is a convection current that circulates warm air continuously in an entire space.
What is Conduction?
When it comes to explaining how a convection heater works, conduction is another term that must be understood. Not only do most convection heaters rely on the process of convection, but the also employ conduction to provide heat. As an object becomes warm, the molecules that this object are made from begin to move rabidly as a result. If the object in question is a solid, the molecules that begin to move rapidly will hit nearby molecules. This passes heat from one object to another. There are some objects that materials can be made of that are better conductors of heat than others. Metal is one of the materials that has the ability to move heat around rather quickly from one object to another.
How Does Conduction Work in Convection Heaters?
The process of conduction comes into play with a convection heater due to the size of the heater. A convection heater with more surface area has the ability to heat more air at one time. This is pretty straightforward to understand. For this reason, the shape of most convection heaters is similar to a steam radiator. Most convection heaters have fin-like features that extend out from the main body of the heater, which enables them to heat all of the air in between the fins. The result is convection currents that extend into larger areas of space and provide more heat allowing it to spread faster.
Convection Heaters and Forced Air
As stated before, not every convection heater works in exactly the same way to provide warmth in any space. Some heaters offer other features that allow the production of heat to be enhanced. Some convection heaters have forced air features that can make a difference. Convection heaters that are smaller than normal rely on forced air to help speed up the production of heat instead of traditional convection currents. These types of convection heaters often have a blower fan that disperses the cold air in the room onto the hot coil. The result is hot air being moved throughout the space as it becomes heated.
This type of convection heater is preferred by many because it not only distribute heats faster than those that don’t have a blower, but it also heats up large spaces even though it is small in size. Thos type of convection heater does not have to take up a lot of space to adequately heat a room. The one downside to using this type of convection heater is that they have the potential to be dangerous. This is due to the fact that the heating element on this heater is exposed. This means that they have the potential to result in a possible fire if left to close to a flammable object. This means that you should always use caution when using a convection heater to provide heat in your home.
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