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Written by My Smarter Home March 02, 2012
If you’d like to selectively warm up just one area in your house — a home office, hobby room, guest bedroom, or man cave — a space heater is the way to go. By turning down the thermostat and heating just the living space where you are, you’ll be saving energy, trimming up to 30% off your annual heating costs.
With smart new technologies and better designs, the lowly space heater has finally entered the 21st century.
1. Manufacturers now produce radiant panels for walls, ceilings, and other locations. Radiant heat, is especially efficient, heating solid objects such as chairs and people without heating the air. The warming effect of radiant heat is practically instantaneous, and solid objects store the heat and stay warm even after the system switches off.
2. Finding the best heating solution for a specific situation is a fine art — sometimes literally. A thin-film, infrared radiant panel made by Prestyl USA hangs on a wall and looks just like artwork, custom-printed with a design or photo you submit.
3. If you heat with electricity and live where electrical rates are lower at off-peak hours, an electrical thermal storage heater could save you money.
This kind of heater consists of a well-insulated shell filled with ceramic bricks that efficiently absorb and store heat. The bricks heat up during hours when power rates are low, then release the heat, using a blower, when the rate rises, potentially saving you hundreds of dollars a year.
4. If you’re looking to retrofit an older home that doesn’t have ductwork, or you’re adding on and tying into your existing HVAC system is problematic, a ductless heat pump could be the answer.
Developed in Japan 30 years ago, many heating contractors in the U.S. are just now learning about this option, also known as a mini-split. There are only two main components: an outdoor compressor unit and an indoor air handler, which is typically installed high on an outside wall.
A small tube delivers conditioned air directly to the room. Because there’s no long expanse of ductwork, ductless heat pumps operate up to 50% more efficiently than traditional forced-air systems.
5. The Dyson Hot fan heater looks like a space creature that never got around to developing a face. It generates heat like any other electrical-resistance heater, but there’s no visible whirling fan, so you don’t have to worry about whether a curious kid will stick in a finger to see what happens.
Even though you don’t see a fan, the heater does blow out a steady stream of warm air. The heater pushes air over its curved surfaces to increase output, much the same way an airplane wing accelerates air flow. The fan head oscillates, and you can tilt the device to direct the air flow.
W ritten by Jeanne Huber, houselogic
Read more: http://www.houselogic.com/home-advice/heating-cooling/cool-space-heaters/#ixzz1ntt8nXzo
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