Costco has an electric heater with the parabola (I think it's called) dish. A friend bought one last year and highly recommeded it, so I bought one too. They put out a lot of heat from a 110-volt wall out, I'd say they do a heckuva good job. They are back in the Costco again, I think they are $79 right now, but I got mine on sale for $69.
The arson investigator will have fun with this thread.
I got one of those as well. They are great.
Ugh! You're not working hard enough in the shop!
*Keep remodeling. Loved what you did for the house. Different thread.
*Keep remodeling. Loved what you did for the house. Different thread.
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Actually I need to be porting some some heads and building my 383 stroker tunnel-ram engine for my 47 dodge truck.
Probably put one of those tweaked heaters in the garage if it gets cold
Probably put one of those tweaked heaters in the garage if it gets cold
Not actually true about the efficiency, at least for resistance heaters. They are actually 100% efficient. An electrical device that is 80% efficient only turns 20% of the power applied to it into heat. If all the electricity going into the device comes out as heat, and that is it's intended purpose, it is 100% efficient, regardless of applied voltage. What a 220V heater can do is put out way more heat than a 110V heater in a given amount of time, because it can handle more input power.
Most household wiring is 110VAC, 15amp circuits. Some circuits, like the one(s) in the kitchen and laundry room may be 110VAC, 20amp circuits. Power(in Watts) is Voltage time Current. 120V time 15A is 1800 Watts. 120Vx20A=2400 Watts. That is the maximum current draw at maximum voltage. Most houses, you don't really get 120V. Mine runs about 110-115, which will change the maximum current I can draw. For 220V circuits, common wiring can be from 20 to 50 amps of current. 220Vx20A=4400 Watts. 220Ax30A=6600W, and 220Vx50A=11000W.
As you can see, more power can give you more heat. You're also going to get heating in the wires in your house, so you really don't want to run maximum current through your wiring all the time. Most equipment will not draw as much power as the circuit is supposed to be able to provide. If you try to run the coffee maker, the microwave, and the dishwasher all at once, and they're on the same circuit, you'll find out what that does. None of them draws the maximum power the circuit can provide, which for a kitchen circuit should be 110V 20A, but the more equipment you run, the closer you get. When you exceed that current, the circuit breaker is supposed to trip, and drop power to the circuit. If it doesn't work, or work fast enough, the wiring in the walls gets hotter, and hotter, and eventually the insulation on the wires melts, and then you'll probably get a short circuit that throws sparks and molten metal inside your wall. A fire is the usual result of that. Watch the news this winter, and you'll see several stories about houses burning, and folks dying because of an electrical fire. Try not to be one of them.
Bill
No... 80% efficient would turn 80% of the applied power into heat, not 20%. Your own 100% example shows this.
Not sure where you're getting this info...
Our house (Farmers Home Administration code, built in '76) has 12ga wiring and 20A breakers. Voltage (last time I checked) runs a little over 120V (room outlets) and a little over 240V (water heater, dryer, etc.).
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Transmission and Power Loss
The rated voltage input in each cable the power company feeds to a service panel is 120 volts plus or minus five percent due to fluctuations in transmission loss in the power lines. This means that the power at the panel can be as low as 114 volts. As the electricity encounters resistance in conductors and does work while passing through electrical devices along its path, its voltage drops still lower. In a house with extensive circuitry, it is not unusual to get a 110 volt reading or less at receptacles far from the panel.
Deviation, but anyone see outdoor wood fired boiler? Circulates hot water back into the house to heat by radiant or forced air. I had never seen one but saw an ad in a magazine and got me to looking. It wouldn't be that great for me anyway since I'd probably spend more on wood than gas. But pretty cool concept.
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