Radiator heat output difference

pupgrum

I'm planning to get an oil filled/convector hybrid portable radiator. Not sure if I want to get 1500kw, 2000kw, 2500kw, or 3000kw.

Does the higher heat output generate more heat, or just takes faster to get to the highest heat setting controlled by the thermostat?

I travel often so home fitted cental heating is not an option. Fan heater is too noisy, if it's only oil heater it takes too long to dry my clothes, if it's only a convector the air dries out affecting my skin, throat and asthma.

Gloomendoom

Potentially, the 3 kw will release more heat.

Why does frequent travel make central heating not an option?

Ruski

Consider installing <these> - a very efficient and controllable system. Just installed 10 to replace storage heaters.

HTH

Russ

Keep_pedalling

pupgrum wrote: »

I'm planning to get an oil filled/convector hybrid portable radiator. Not sure if I want to get 1500kw, 2000kw, 2500kw, or 3000kw.

Does the higher heat output generate more heat, or just takes faster to get to the highest heat setting controlled by the thermostat?

I travel often so home fitted cental heating is not an option. Fan heater is too noisy, if it's only oil heater it takes too long to dry my clothes, if it's only a convector the air dries out affecting my skin, throat and asthma.

Are you trying to heat a barn?

Basically on their highest settings a 3kw (not 3000kw) will throw out twice the energy of a 1.5kw heater. Both heaters will be at the same temperature but because of the greater surface area of the larger heater it will be capable of heating a space twice the volume of the smaller heater, or if used in the same space will bring the room up to the required temperature much quicker.

So which one you require will really depend on where you want to use it.

Smiley_Dan

This assumes a typically inefficient UK house: http://www.cityplumbing.co.uk/heatLossCalculator

Put your numbers in and it will give you a heat loss figure.

Get the first heater rated above that figure.

27col

The answer to your both your questions is yes.
A more powerful heater will generate more heat and thus will warm the space more quickly than a smaller one.
However, the room will only require a specific amount of heat to reach and maintain the required temperature.
It just means that the smaller heater will be on longer. But overall will supply the same amount of heat as the larger one.
All this presupposes that the heaters are both thermostatically controlled.
On balance it will probably be better to use the more powerful heater. As this will make the room comfortable more quickly.

casper_g

pupgrum wrote: »

I travel often so home fitted cental heating is not an option.

Sounds like you could benefit from a smart thermostat like Hive or Nest that lets you control the heating remotely and switches it off (or to a low thermostat setting) when you're away.

pupgrum wrote: »

if it's only oil heater it takes too long to dry my clothes.

I'm not sure exactly how you're using the radiators to dry your clothes - presumably the clothes are on a rack in the same room as your heater so the heater is mainly just changing the room temperature.

An oil-filled radiator basically heats by convection anyway, it just puts the heat out via a reservoir of liquid to allow it to operate with a lower surface temperature. For that reason I can't think why a 1 kW convector would be any better at drying clothes than a 1 kW oil-filled radiator, and I would have thought a 2 kW oil-filled radiator would be better than a lower-powered convector purely because it will bring the room up to temperature more quickly.

If you've compared the rate at which clothes dry in a room heated to the same temperature by heaters of different types I'd be surprised to hear there was any difference!