When looking for a small, portable heater to put in their bathroom or bedroom, many people choose an oil heater for its convenience, efficiency and low cost of use. Oil heaters excel at heating small, enclosed spaces, such as a bedroom or bathroom, and are a popular choice for indoor use. In this article, we’ll take a look at what makes oil heaters tick, how they work, and what makes them so good at heating. We’ll also discuss what you should know before you buy one.
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.