Electrical heater is an heating appliance that converts electrical energy into heat. Although all electric heaters use the same physical principle to generate heat, there are different types of electric heaters differing from each other in delivering heat to the environment.
The different types of electric heaters are:
- Convection Heaters
- Radiant Heaters
- Fan Heaters
- Column Heaters
- Wall Heaters
- Base Board Heaters
Convection heaters: These are work by passing cold air over an electric heating element like special coils to quickly heat up the air and small fans are powered to circulate the air around the room. Most of them consist of a thermostat that keeps the air at the desired temperature and an automatic on and off system for maintaining the coils.
Radiant heaters: These are generally used to heat the small areas immediately and they are inefficient to warm the entire room. They come in different models for floor, under a desk at work and wall-mounted models etc. Based on the heating elements they are classified as quartz tube, ceramic core or oil filled ceramic heaters.
Fan heaters: These can supply almost instant heat especially for a person. Fan heaters allows thermal resistance and transfers heat quickly. They come in both flat and upright models.
Column heaters: These are used to heat oil that is sealed inside the columns. The heat of the oil is then passed to the casing and also the air circulating around the columns.
Wall heaters: These are usually attached on the wall cavity between two wall studs and are most often useful for supplementing heat in small rooms. These heaters also consists of built-in thermostats.
Base Board Heaters: These are usually placed beneath the windows to stop heat loss through the glass. A remote is used to control the baseboard heater or it may be controlled using an integrated thermostat.
The above are the various types of heaters based on their working technologies.