This seems appropriate, since there's a current surge in unscrupulous marketers cashing in on the current "fuel crisis" by claiming that this style of heater will heat your whole house for pennies.
In reality, a watt is a watt and a 500W heater like this will take four times longer to heat a room than a traditional 2kW heater.
Electric heaters are 100% efficient in converting electricity to heat, but the cost of electricity makes them less economical to run than some other heat sources. However, if you don't use a lot of heat then you also have to factor in the other costs of things like oil and gas heating, like annual inspections and servicing. I do use an electric heater for a heat boost at times during the winter, but generally have a cool house and use dehumidifiers to keep it dry.
If you do wish to reduce your heating costs than a good compromise is to reduce the temperature in your home to a level that protects pipework, and wear warmer clothing. If you live alone then one of the best things for winter is a quilted/padded boilersuit/coverall, as it's basically a wearable duvet. That's why so many farmers wear them in winter.
An alternative is to heat your home at low level and then use local heating in a single room for extra warmth.
With current fuel costs (due to greed and politics) it may also be worth looking for areas of heat loss like uninsulated attics and bad door and window seals.
In rural areas it's also worth rediscovering solid fuel burners like log stoves for converting an abundance of fallen tree branches into free, and very toasty heat.
Supporting the channel with a dollar or two on Patreon helps keep it independent of YouTube's quirks, avoids intrusive mid-video adverts, gives early access, bonus footage and regular quiet Patreon live streams.
https://www.patreon.com/bigclive
#ElectronicsCreators
In reality, a watt is a watt and a 500W heater like this will take four times longer to heat a room than a traditional 2kW heater.
Electric heaters are 100% efficient in converting electricity to heat, but the cost of electricity makes them less economical to run than some other heat sources. However, if you don't use a lot of heat then you also have to factor in the other costs of things like oil and gas heating, like annual inspections and servicing. I do use an electric heater for a heat boost at times during the winter, but generally have a cool house and use dehumidifiers to keep it dry.
If you do wish to reduce your heating costs than a good compromise is to reduce the temperature in your home to a level that protects pipework, and wear warmer clothing. If you live alone then one of the best things for winter is a quilted/padded boilersuit/coverall, as it's basically a wearable duvet. That's why so many farmers wear them in winter.
An alternative is to heat your home at low level and then use local heating in a single room for extra warmth.
With current fuel costs (due to greed and politics) it may also be worth looking for areas of heat loss like uninsulated attics and bad door and window seals.
In rural areas it's also worth rediscovering solid fuel burners like log stoves for converting an abundance of fallen tree branches into free, and very toasty heat.
Supporting the channel with a dollar or two on Patreon helps keep it independent of YouTube's quirks, avoids intrusive mid-video adverts, gives early access, bonus footage and regular quiet Patreon live streams.
https://www.patreon.com/bigclive
#ElectronicsCreators
The power supply for the 500w heater was ridiculous. What a waste of components (an isolated transformer in a PTC heater!). Why not use a capacitive dropper for the fan and circuitry? The heater would dwarf the capacitor when it came to power factor. Or maybe even a resistive dropper–any heat loss just adds to the rating of the heater.
Clive gets cold? Never
I have two of these, one under my desk to keep my feet warm and one in the utility room in my basement, it keeps that fairly small room around 50f/10c(on low) during the ridiculously cold winter months we have and saved me a massive plumbing bill when the furnace pilot light went out and I was gone for a week.
I love having a little heater like this in my bedroom, I think it's only 250w and I have a wireless thermostat by my bed. I'm very picky about the temperature. Now I only have to heat the bedroom all night instead of my entire house! Even though the rest of my house uses a heat pump it does save money to use one of these basic electric burners.
The MIRACLE heater unit designed the the kid to warm up the freezing classroom where all his fellow students were studying for the exams in polar temperatures!
Clive, I love you man! Not all teardown mechanics where capes!
My dad sold Philco refrigerators in the 60's. We had a defective one that would not cool. The service people first changed the compressor and the problem. The factory gave the customer a new fridge and the defective one was abandoned at the service center. Somebody decided to look at the fridge again, installed some temp probes and ran the fridge. He saw that the temps came down quickly, but temps rose rapidly once the compressor shut down. Turned out the door switch was defective and the 40 watt inside light was heating up the inside. Now…these little heaters just might warm up a room…if said room was insulated like a fridge.
Great video! It kinda makes me want to get the first one…
Just wanted to say, reason i am unsubscribing is because you are starting to spam my feed with crap, as in "shorts" have a nice day.
Sitting watching this in a really cold room
Awww!!! so it is as efficient but still complete bollox… 👉💎👈👉❗❗❗
Just a hint for anyone that has a standard 2kw fan heater and wants to reduce it to a 500/1000w heater, or even further to a 500/250w heater:
500/1000w:
Swap the "position 2" connection and neutral around on the element, this'll run the two elements in series for the low power setting, and run a single 1kw element for the high power setting.
250/500w:
Move the neutral to the "position 1" connection on the element, this'll run the elements in series to create the high setting of 500w. Put a 3A diode in series with the "position 1" output of the power switch and also connect this to the "position 2" connection on the element. The diode will run the element half-wave which averages out at using 1/2 the usual power, creating the 250w setting.
Awwww… You teased with "unusual multiplex" but didn't show the shhhchematic of the multiplexing circuit
They seel these in b&m.
Good for a caravan
I didn't even know these existed. I live in a small apartment and have been thinking about a small kerosene or propane unit.
CPC have these for about £15 and I see Argos does the higher power one for about £25.
I actually like the idea of these if they are not to loud and the digital thermostats are accurate. I have a normal 2kw version and it's very noisy and takes forever to switch back on due to heat retained in the unit. If the thermostats work properly they should save money by virtue of the fact you don't heat past the set point.