Bathroom Heaters

The ideal bathroom heater is going to do several things. Even, consistent heating throughout the whole room would be nice, as you don’t want one side of the room to be much warmer or cooler than the other side. An automatic thermostat would also be nice to help keep the bathroom at a comfortable temperature. Also, since there are likely to be clothes and towels strewn around the room, you don’t want a heater that poses any sort of fire hazard (not to mention the potential for burning exposed, um, body parts). And lastly, efficiency and convenience are never a bad thing when it comes to choosing a heater.

These criteria all point towards one particular type of heater that would make the ideal bathroom heater: an electric convection heater. Convection heaters do all of the things listed above: they provide consistent heat throughout all the corners of the room, they almost always come equipped with an automatic thermostat, they are designed to be cool (or at worst, warm) to the touch even when in use, and they are both efficient and convenient to use. The benefits of using electric bathroom heaters is pretty obvious too – you don’t have to worry about getting a gas or propane hookup in your bathroom, and you can just use the plugs that are already in there.

The type of heater that I’ve described here is most likely going to be a small, portable heater, which adds to its usefulness and convenience. You could use it to heat your bedroom at night and then use to heat your bathroom during the day. The only disadvantage to convection heaters is that they can take a while to heat a room, due to the way in which they work. One way to get around this problem is to use a fan heater, which is a type of convection heater that uses a fan to speed up the heating process. An electric bathroom fan heater will most likely solve all of your bathroom heating needs.

Bathroom Wall Heaters

Another option for bathroom heating, if you don’t want to use a portable heater, is to get a wall heater permanently installed in your bathroom. In this situation, since the bathroom wall heater will be in a permanent spot and will be positioned well above the floor, a radiant heater might work just as well as a convection heater. The big advantage to radiant heaters is that they heat a room much more quickly than convection heaters do, so you could turn it on when you step into the shower, and the room would feel nicely warm by the time you got out. The two main disadvantages to radiant heaters are that they don’t heat a room evenly – you’re going to feel much more heat closer to the heater than further away – and the heating elements of radiant heaters are usually exposed to give off more heat. If you were to bump into or accidentally touch a radiant heater, you could get burned.

If you don’t like the sound of all of that, you can get convection bathroom wall heaters as well. These will work in just the same way as portable convection heaters, but will be permanently mounted on your wall.

Also, if you have access to a convenient gas or propane supply, and prefer to use one of them for your heating, you can get either of these wall heaters in that variety. You may need to get a professional to install it, but a gas or propane bathroom heater would work just fine.

Bathroom Heater Light

One question that I’m often asked is some variation of “What’s that heater light I saw in the bathroom of my hotel?” That light is a specific type of electric radiant heater and is very similar to a heat lamp used for keeping food warm. The ceiling is a great place for putting radiant bathroom heaters, as they are in a good position to heat the room, and it’s hard to get close enough to burn yourself. If you want a heater light in your bathroom at home you’ll need to get a professional to install it, but they can be used in home bathrooms just like in a hotel.

Delonghi Heaters

Delonghi, which is based in Italy, was started back in 1902 as a parts manufacturer for small household appliances. They officially formed the Delonghi company in 1950 and have since expanded into making just about every small home appliance – from toasters, coffee makers and juicers to dehumidifiers, air conditioners, and heaters. Delonghi bought the well known British appliance manufacturer Kenwood Limited in 2001, and have since moved their manufacturing plants to Kenwood’s facilities in China.

Oh, and a quick note on the spelling, it is a Delonghi heater, not a Delongi heater.

Delonghi Oil Filled Heaters

Delonghi has a wide selection of oil heaters available. These heaters are convection heaters that use hollow metal “chimneys” filled with oil to emit heat. The oil is heated by a heating element and the thin metal columns allow for quick and efficient heat transfer to the surrounding air. Some oil heaters also come equipped with a fan that speeds up the heating process.

Some popular heaters in this category are the Delonghi TRD0715T oil filled radiator heater, the Delonghi TRH0715 oil filled radiator heater, and the Delonghi TRN0812T oil filled electric radiator heater. All three are excellent choices for home use, or for use in an office or workshop.

Delonghi Ceramic Heaters

Delonghi also has a strong line of ceramic heaters, which are convection heaters that use a ceramic plate as the heating element. Some experts believe that the ceramic plate heats up more quickly than the standard metal bar, and is more efficient in transferring heat. Delonghi’s line of ceramic heaters features several “tower” heaters, whose unique design allow them to be placed in a room without taking up much space. Delonghi also offers a digital ceramic heater, as you can see in the picture, that allows you to set exactly the temperature that you want for the room.

Some popular models among the ceramic heater line are the Delonghi MCH710T multi-position ceramic heater and the Delonghi DCH1030 ceramic heater.

Delonghi Space Heaters

In addition to their oil heaters and ceramic heaters, Delonghi also has a great line of standard convection heaters that work very well as space heaters. Several of these heaters are also fan heaters, which helps speed up the heating process considerably.

More Resources

You can read more about Delonghi products at their website Delonghi.com.

Oil Heaters

Oil heaters actually go by several different names, but all of the them refer to the same heater: oil filled heater, oil radiator, and oil filled radiator. All of these names refer to the same type of heater that is most commonly called an oil heater.

Oil heaters got their name because they are filled with oil, not because they use it to run on. In fact, just about every oil heater you come across is actually going to be an electric oil heater, which means it uses electricity to run. As you can see in the picture, oil heaters have tall, thin metal columns that are hollow. These cavities are filled with oil, and this is the mechanism with which the heater provides heat.

Oil heaters are a type of convection heater, which means that oil heaters use the thermal properties of air to heat a room. Let’s talk some more about how exactly they work.

How Oil Heaters Work

There are two main types of heaters when it comes to how exactly they work: convection heaters and radiant heaters. We’re not too concerned with radiant heaters right now so we won’t talk much about them. Convection heaters come in a a lot of different styles and flavors, but they all work in the same basic manner: electrical current is passed through a heating element, which is usually a metal bar or plate, and the heating element heats up in response to the electricity. The heat given off by the heating element is absorbed by the air surrounding the heater, and as we all know, hot air rises, so this air starts to rise and circulate around the room as it becomes warmer.

As the hot air leaves the vicinity of the heater, cooler air in the room is pulled down to the heater. This cool air begins to absorb some of the heat coming off of the heater and it too begins to circulate as it gets warmer. The cycle continues as long as the heater is producing heat.

Oil heaters work in this same manner. The electric current is run through a heating element, and this heat is then directed into the oil in the metal columns. The oil warms up and begins to radiate off heat which is absorbed by the surrounding air. The thin columns allow for efficient heat transfer and help the heater give off heat more quickly.

The main advantages to using convection heaters, such as oil filled heaters, are that they are excellent at providing an even, constant temperature throughout the whole room, and the heat that they provide does not dissipate quickly when the heater is turned off. This allows the heater to be controlled by the use of a thermostat, and allows it to cycle on and off as needed to maintain the constant temperature desired. This contributes to the high efficiency of convection heaters, as they do not need to run constantly to keep a room warm.

Purchasing an Oil Heater

There are a couple of things to consider when you’re thinking about purchasing and using an oil heater. The first thing to know about them is that they are only going to be effective at heating indoors. If you are looking for something to heat an outdoors area, you’ll want to find something else, like perhaps an outdoor patio heater.

The next thing to consider is the other best option for heating a room indoors is an electric fan heater. Electric fan heaters work in much the same way as oil heaters, but they do not have oil reservoirs and they use a fan to speed up the convection process.

Oil heaters cost a little bit more to run than electric fan heaters, but they are also safer to operate. Fan heaters aren’t dangerous by any means, but they do tend to get a bit hot when they’re operating. If a child or pet were to touch a fan heater in the wrong place, they could get burned. Oil heaters operate at a lower temperature and the exposed parts don’t get as hot. This makes them a bit safer for use around children and pets.

Some features to look for when you’re buying an oil heater are an automatic thermostat, a safety switch that will turn the heater off if it’s tipped over, and a programmable timer can come in very handy. Most oil heaters will run you around $50 to $100, but you can go as low as $30 or as high as $150 if you want the bargain basement version or one with all the bells and whistles. I recommend looking for one that’s around $80 to $100. That will get you a great heater at a decent price.

Waste Oil Heaters

One somewhat related thing to mention is that you don’t want to confuse an oil heater with a waste oil heater. Waste oil heaters are big (generally industrial size) heaters that allow you to burn used oil for heat. If you’re looking to purchase an oil filled heater, don’t make the mistake of accidentally buying a waste oil heater.

There are a couple of different types of electric heaters and they vary in the method in which they produce heat. Each type of electric heater has its own unique advantages and disadvantages to being used in a particular situation. Sometimes one type of heater will do a better job for a situation, and sometimes another type of heater will be better suited for the task at hand. Let’s take a look at what the differences are between the various types of electric heaters and see what you should consider before buying one.

Types of Electric Heaters

There are four distinct types of electric heaters: convection heaters, fan heaters (also called forced air heaters), radiant heaters, and infrared heaters.

Convection heaters use the natural properties of air and convection to heat the space they are in. The heat given off by the heating element is naturally absorbed by the surrounding air, which then rises as it becomes less dense. The colder, more dense air flows down to take its place near the heating element, becomes warm, rises, and the cycle continues. Electric baseboard heaters are commonly convection heaters, as are many electric space heaters.

The advantages to this sort of heater are that it runs almost silently, is very efficient, and does a very thorough job of heating all the corners of the room that it is in. In addition, since convection heaters warm the air in the room, the temperature in the room will stay constant for some time even after the heater is turned off. This allows the heater to switch off periodically to save energy.

The disadvantages of convection heaters are that they can take a good bit of time to heat a room – since the warm air will rise to the ceiling first, it can take some some before you will be able to feel the warmth the heater is producing.

Fan heaters, or forced air heaters, are quite similar to regular convection heaters, but they use a fan to facilitate the process. The warmth given off by the heat source is pushed into the surrounding air by use of this fan, which can speed up the heating process considerably. The disadvantage to using fan heaters is that they are somewhat less efficient and have some operating noise from the fan.

Radiant heaters are a very simple type of electric heater. They generally have a single heat source – a heating element encased in a glass tube, strongly resembling a large light bulb – that is partially surrounded by reflectors to angle the heat away from the body of the heater. The reflectors allow you to aim the heat directly to where you want it to go, making radiant heaters great for outdoor work and any situation where you need to direct the flow of heat.

Radiant heaters use electromagnetic waves to emit heat, rather than using air currents. The heat they produce is transmitted via electromagnetic, or infrared, waves that travel through the air until they reach a solid object. The waves are then converted to heat. This means that radiant heaters do not heat the air in a room, but rather only heat the objects in it. What this means in a practical sense is that you will feel the heat from a radiant heater much more quickly than from a convection heater, in fact almost instantly.

Disadvantages of radiant heaters are that, since they do not heat the air in a room, the heat they give off dissipates very quickly once the heater is turned off. This means the heater has to run constantly to keep a room or space warm. Another downside to radiant heaters is that they do not heat a room evenly. The heat is far more intense close to the heater, in contrast to convection heaters, and this can lead to people near the heater being too hot while people on the other side of the room are still cold.

The last type of electric heater is called an infrared heater, and it is essentially the same as a radiant heater. Both use a radiant heat source to emit infrared waves that are converted to heat. The main difference between infrared heaters and radiant heaters seems to be a marketing choice: electric radiant heaters are generally marketed as radiant heaters, and gas propane radiant heaters are generally marketed as infrared heaters.

Using An Electric Heater

The primary drawback to using electric heaters is that they require a steady supply of electricity to function. If your power were to go out, due to a storm or other similar event, then your heating will go out as well. For this reason, if you live in an area that gets a lot of winter storms, it is wise to either use gas or propane heating as your primary heat source (and have electrical heating for back-up as needed) or make sure that you invest in a good generator to power your heating should the power go out. If you have an electric hot water heater, that is also something to consider needing a back-up for.

Other things to consider when deciding on which type of electric heater to use are where you’ll be using it – convection heaters work great indoors, but are much less efficient outside – how long you need the room to be heated – convection heaters are more efficient over long periods of time than radiant heaters – and the size, location and shape of the building or room to be heated.