Well here is the thing in my humble opinion and it really is humble. A thousand square feet is a modest little house size. I quite simply don't believe it could be heated with 1500 watts. That is only a little more energy than your toaster or electric kettle or iron or hair drier uses. There are cars which the kids cruise around our lake in the middle of our town have more power in there stereo systems.
Now if you only need to keep the building a couple of degrees above the out door temperature this may be adequate but your propane furnace will do that with little more than a grunt and you have already paid for it and it won't take up any more space than it already does. Now I may well be wrong and you should bear in mind that I am generally more skeptical and maybe less trusting than I should be. It might well be possible but I suspect it is an expensive way of converting electricity into heat which, if it is more efficient has to be only marginally more efficient and electricity so far is still the most costly energy source in most of the world. I live under two thousand yards from a cogeneration plant which burns saw dust from the local mills to supplement natural gas which comes along a pipeline about 1500 miles from the source of the gas in the ground. They burn the gas after pumping it half way across the continent and generate electricity for the grid at a proffit. I don't grasp how heating a home with that electricity after the losses through the grid can be cheaper than burning the gas or how you can squeeze more heat out of that electricity than the gas originally put into it. Of course my wife insists that a few ounces of chocolate will put five pounds on her and I don't argue that so perhaps it may be. Dale Leavens, Cochrane Ontario Canada [EMAIL PROTECTED] Skype DaleLeavens Come and meet Aurora, Nakita and Nanook at our polar bear habitat. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ralph Supernaw" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Sunday, October 15, 2006 7:28 AM Subject: RE: [BlindHandyMan] Quartz Infrared Heaters > These are good points, Dale. When I decided to buy one of these I > compared > the cost of running 1500 watts to warm about 1000 square feet of our house > compared to buying propane for our furnace. My calculations were pretty > rough but I figured the Sun Twin would pay for itself in one heatin > season. > However, propane is down from about $1.80 last winter to about $1.20 right > now so who knows. > _____ > > From: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > On Behalf Of Dale Leavens > Sent: Saturday, October 14, 2006 7:55 PM > To: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com > Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] Quartz Infrared Heaters > > > > I find the hype on this device a little hard to read. > > The temperature of a room or any space is a function of how fast and far > the > > molecules of air are moving. This takes a fixed amount of energy. The > structure of the building, the furniture and other contents of the space > all > > are made up of molecules which vibrate and the faster and further they > move, > > the hotter things will be. > > Now electricity moves through a conductor more or less at the speed of > light. When it meets resistance it gives off energy. Typically energy is > released as sound, various forms of electromagnetic radiation such as > light, > > heat, magnetism often used to perform movement. > > Heating with electricity is pretty efficient because the electricity can > be > converted directly into various forms of heat. The electromagnetic > radiation > > can be pretty well at any point along the range from very long waves such > as > > long wave radio, up through short wave, UHF, VHF, Microwaves, the spectrum > of infrared into the light range and beyond ultraviolet through x-rays up > through gamma and alpha radiation. > > Water absorbs radio frequency radiation pretty well but it takes some > circuitry to produce that sort of energy. Short waves have been used for a > very long time for therapeutic heat and in the operating room for > cauterizing for example. Shorter radio waves in what is now known as the > microwave range are used to efficiently heat water in foods as in cooking > although that was not the original purpose, it was discovered in the '40s > as > > a side effect of radar radiation, it was not until the invention of the > magnetron tube by, I believe the British that it was possible to reliably > produce radio frequency wave lengths in that range. We could heat > ourselves > fairly efficiently with microwaves if we were willing to sit in the > directed > > beam of a device but the room around us would not warm and there are other > risks. > > This brings us to the light radiation wave lengths. > > While we cannot see infrared light it is there. You can feel it coming off > your stove top when the elements are on. Infrared radiation will pass > through optically clear materials such as glass and air, well mostly it > will. It doesn't generate heat very much until it is absorbed by another > substance. Like light, it can be absorbed and it can be reflected. It is > mostly the infrared we feel in the sun, why we can feel heat through a > glass > > window while the window does not get warm. > > Some of you will be familiar with those radiant heaters which glow red and > when the reflector concentrates the light at you, you get warm even if > surrounding you is cool. > > For these to actually heat a room the infrared has to be absorbed by > something then that heat transferred to the air by convection or > conduction. > > Air, coming into contact with such a substance will become excited, the > molecules will jump about more and it warms up. > > So, an infrared heater may warm you up or parts of your room up, > eventually > the entire room by shining on stuff and being absorbed causing the > molecules > > of that stuff, be it you or a table to begin jumping about and causing air > in contact with that stuff to get excited too. > > Inside a heater, the infrared bulbs radiate this low red light which is > absorbed by some or other material which in turn gets hot and excites air > in > > it's vicinity warming that air which will be moved or circulated either by > convection or with a fan to warm more air and so on. > > Now here is the thing! You can heat oil inside of a panel directly with an > element and as that panel heats up it will radiate some infrared and it > will > > warm up air touching it through conduction which will then rise and heat > air > > it contacts through convection. Either way, 1500 watts of electricity will > convert into a fixed amount of heat, some methods will be a little more > direct than others but the efficiency now is pretty well defined. > > You can put ten kilowatts into a brick and the brick will cool over some > period of time but that isn't free energy as it cools, you put in a lot of > energy to raise the temperature of that mass so it takes some time for > that > energy to defuse. The same ten kilowatts applied more slowly over a longer > period of time will keep you as warm. > > Now there may be many reasons to purchase one particular type of electric > heater but these days the efficiency will be about the same just because > that is the limit of physics of it. It is the same reason why no one seems > to be able to get more energy out of a gallon of gasoline than chemistry > put > > there regardless of the stories of energy companies buying out the patents > of people inventing super carburetors. > > A heat pump might be more efficient in many circumstances because it > extracts heat from outside air even if that air is cooler than inside air > and has the other advantage that it can be reversed for cooling in summer > months but that requires a little more study. > > These are just a few thoughts to consider. I think we probably all would > like to save energy money. It can leave us vulnerable though to hype. > > Dale Leavens, Cochrane Ontario Canada > [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:DLeavens%40puc.net> net > Skype DaleLeavens > Come and meet Aurora, Nakita and Nanook at our polar bear habitat. > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Geno" <[EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:ridsto48%40maine.rr.com> rr.com> > To: <blindhandyman@ <mailto:blindhandyman%40yahoogroups.com> > yahoogroups.com> > Sent: Saturday, October 14, 2006 5:36 PM > Subject: [BlindHandyMan] Quartz Infrared Heaters > >> Ralph, >> I would very much to know what you think of this unit. >> Though I use my sun-room for solar heat, the days there is no sun for the >> sun-room. I am thinking if the reports are good it would be a nice unit >> to >> have. >> So, I would be very interested in your model and it's performance. >> Geno >> Portland, ME. sent 5:36 PM EST >> >> >> >> >> To listen to the show archives go to link >> http://acbradio. <http://acbradio.org/handyman.html> org/handyman.html >> or >> ftp://ftp.acbradio. <ftp://ftp.acbradio.org/acbradio-archives/handyman/> > org/acbradio-archives/handyman/ >> >> The Pod Cast address for the Blind Handy Man Show is. >> http://www.acbradio > <http://www.acbradio.org/news/xml/podcast.php?pgm=saturday> > .org/news/xml/podcast.php?pgm=saturday >> >> The Pod Cast address for the Cooking In The Dark Show is. >> http://www.gcast. <http://www.gcast.com/u/cookingindark/main.xml> > com/u/cookingindark/main.xml >> >> Visit The New Blind Handy Man Files Page To Review Contributions From >> Various List Members At The Following Address: >> http://www.jaws- <http://www.jaws-users.com/handyman/> >> users.com/handyman/ >> Visit the new archives page at the following address >> http://www.mail- > <http://www.mail-archive.com/blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com/> > archive.com/blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com/ >> For a complete list of email commands pertaining to the Blind Handy Man >> list just send a blank message to: >> blindhandyman- <mailto:blindhandyman-help%40yahoogroups.com> > [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> Yahoo! Groups Links >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> -- >> No virus found in this incoming message. >> Checked by AVG Free Edition. >> Version: 7.1.408 / Virus Database: 268.13.4/475 - Release Date: >> 13/10/2006 >> >> > > > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > > To listen to the show archives go to link > http://acbradio.org/handyman.html > or > ftp://ftp.acbradio.org/acbradio-archives/handyman/ > > The Pod Cast address for the Blind Handy Man Show is. > http://www.acbradio.org/news/xml/podcast.php?pgm=saturday > > The Pod Cast address for the Cooking In The Dark Show is. > http://www.gcast.com/u/cookingindark/main.xml > > Visit The New Blind Handy Man Files Page To Review Contributions From > Various List Members At The Following Address: > http://www.jaws-users.com/handyman/ > Visit the new archives page at the following address > http://www.mail-archive.com/blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com/ > For a complete list of email commands pertaining to the Blind Handy Man > list just send a blank message to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.1.408 / Virus Database: 268.13.4/475 - Release Date: 13/10/2006 > > To listen to the show archives go to link http://acbradio.org/handyman.html or ftp://ftp.acbradio.org/acbradio-archives/handyman/ The Pod Cast address for the Blind Handy Man Show is. http://www.acbradio.org/news/xml/podcast.php?pgm=saturday The Pod Cast address for the Cooking In The Dark Show is. http://www.gcast.com/u/cookingindark/main.xml Visit The New Blind Handy Man Files Page To Review Contributions From Various List Members At The Following Address: http://www.jaws-users.com/handyman/ Visit the new archives page at the following address http://www.mail-archive.com/blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com/ For a complete list of email commands pertaining to the Blind Handy Man list just send a blank message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! 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