Quiet (ceramic) fan heater

sootygull

Thanks everyone for their answers.

I know fan heaters make noise but some are less noisy than others and was hoping
someone would recommend a particular fan heater.

Richie-from-the-Boro

sootygull wrote: »

Thanks everyone for really interesting answers.

I was a bit of a fool with my question and should have been clearer and asked something along these lines:

I know fan heaters make noise but some are less noisy than others, can anyone recommend a fairly quiet fan heater that they have used.

Also some fan heaters have ceramic elements or heating surfaces, are these more reliable than traditional curled wire heating elements ?

- all fan heaters have to push a certain amount of air over the heating coils to stop them over-heating
- smaller the fan, the faster it needs to spin to push enough [CFM] air and the louder it'll be
- the best would be the lowest heat output kW setting with the lowest rotational speed with the quietest bearings
- essentially a space heater [not fan heater] with a large fan that spins slowly on a low setting

Atidi

Richie-from-the-Boro wrote: »

- I like 25°C in the living room
- I like 15°C in the bedroom

.Q. How does the heater know which room I've put it in ?

I guess you would have to install a step down transformer. :cool:

:rotfl:

chris1973

Also some fan heaters have ceramic elements or heating surfaces, are these more reliable than traditional curled wire heating elements ?

Well, I have a Hoover 3kw Fan Heater inherited from my parents when I left home, it was manufactured in the late 70's

I also have a cheap £10 unbranded fan heater bought several years ago.

Up until the last year, both heaters were in regular use and both were reliable and still work 100% today.

Both have conventional spring coil type elements.

Questions like 'Which technology is the most reliable' is a wet dream for manufacturers and the type of questions they hope consumers will ask, especially if one 'technology' costs more than the other.

Unless you spend a small fortune on a heater then generally the warranties are the same on both types, so that should also speak volumes. If manufacturers expect the consumer to believe any reliability claims then they should back it up with 20 year or even lifetime guarantees . After all, how are we supposed to have faith in their products if they don't

Either way, in a fan heater, I suspect that the motor will fail or the bearings become noisy or stalled with dust, long before the element fails - whichever element style you choose!

As with anything with moving parts, they can and do become noisy over time with regular use. So anything which starts quiet now, may be different this time next year.

Personally, i'd be concentrating on the cost of running it. Even a small 2kw heater will cost 24p per hour to run (at 12p / kwh) and a 3kw heater will cost 36p per hour on the same tariff.

Also work out how much heat the room requires to warm it up adequately when it does turn cold. Running a 2kw heater in a room which physically requires 4kw of heat energy in winter is a waste of expensive electricity because it will never feel properly warm (or take hours to warm up), and the heater will generally just run continuously burning off tens of quid a week in Electricity whilst doing little to make you feel comfortable!.

Enter the room(s) dimensions into a heat vs size calculator to see what heat input you will need.

http://www.qvsdirect.com/kW-Heating-Calculator-p-50.html

HappyMJ

chris1973 wrote: »

Enter the room(s) dimensions into a heat vs size calculator to see what heat input you will need.

http://www.qvsdirect.com/kW-Heating-Calculator-p-50.html

Is that right?..A lounge room double glazed and sheltered position 4 metres by 3 metres by 2.4 metres high only needs 1,000W of heat input per hour. I would have thought it would be higher....and a small bedroom 2.6 metres by 2.2 metres only requires 375W of heat input per hour....and a large bedroom 2.8 by 3.8 only 700W...The figures sound quite low....with the bathroom of 1.7 by 1.2 only needing 200W I could an entire 2 bedroom flat for not very much money at all.

chris1973

Is that right?..

Since it isn't on a website owned by one of the mega efficient radiator companies I would guess so!

yangptangkipperbang

grahamc2003 wrote: »

Eh? I'm afraid your information is totally wrong on that one!

One main adavantage of a PTC heater is the loss of the need for a thermostat! It not only controls the room temperature, but controls it much more accurately than a thermostat does for low powered applications. You'll find ptc heaters in luxury cars precisely for this reason.

A PTC heater does not need a thermostat IF only one temperature is required. It would be useless in a domestic situation where the user might want different temperatures. As has been already stated you would have to buy a range of heaters for each room.

I'm glad to hear my Ford described as a "luxury car" ! it has PTC heaters in the heated front and rear windscreen - to stop it overheating.

Using the term "PTC" in domestic appliance advertising is waffle .......