Contents
Today we will talk about electric convector heaters and give recommendations on their choice.
Heat sources
To heat a living space, a person uses different heat sources. The most common was hot water circulating in a closed kennel of pipes laid throughout the house.
But the water must be heated before being fed into the pipes. For this purpose, district heating is used in multi-storey buildings.
In this case, there is a separate boiler plant, where gas or coal combustion is used for heating.
In private houses, autonomous gas heating is more often used, where a small gas boiler is used to heat water, which provides heat only to the house in which it is installed.
But with centralized heating, certain periods have been set for providing heat to the house, and the heat supply itself wants to leave the best.
In the private sector, there are cases when it is cool in the house, and it is reluctant to start the boiler.
In this case, electric heaters come to the rescue. Although they consume a significant amount of electricity, because they have significant power, they are able to quickly heat any room in the house.
There are a large number of types of electric heaters, from simple spiral, popularly nicknamed “goats”, to modern infrared and convector ones.
The latter are becoming more and more popular these days.
Construction of the convector heater
The electric convector is externally made in the form of a rectangular structure of small thickness, with a horizontally oriented grate on the top on the front side, and the same grate, but at the bottom of the back side.
At the end of the upper or side part there is a heater control unit.
Inside the convector body there is a heating element with a diffuser, a control board and a temperature sensor.
Moreover, the heater and diffuser are located at the bottom, and the board is at the top. This is the whole filling of such a heater.
The control board additionally includes a thermostat that allows you to maintain the temperature in the room, as well as a fuse that controls the temperature of the device and provides emergency shutdown in case of overheating.
Designs of convector heaters.
Convectors use several heaters of different design.
The simplest are needle-type heating elements. They have a plate on which a nickel thread is fixed in the form of loops.
There are also tubular heating elements in which the heating element is located inside the tube.
The best are considered monolithic heaters, which use a sealed tube filled with magnesite.
The diffuser consists of aluminum plates installed along the entire length of the heating element tube. Its task is to provide better heat transfer by increasing the area of the heating element.
The temperature sensor is located near the lower grille. The sensor itself is very sensitive and is able to detect temperature changes even by 0,1 degrees. WITH.
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Principle of operation
The operation of this heater is based on the property of air to rise when heated.
In the convector, this property is implemented as follows: the cold air located at the bottom of the room enters the convector through the lower grate.
Passing through the heater with a diffuser, the air heats up and rises, where it exits through the upper grille.
Hot air rushes up and displaces cooler air, which falls down and enters the convector.
Thus, air is circulated through the convector, which ensures constant heating of the air, and as a result, the temperature in the room.
Additionally, heat exchange is performed by the convector body itself. The air, rising up inside the case, heats it, and it subsequently gives off heat to the external environment.
This design is good because even with maximum heating, the walls of the case do not heat up much, which ensures safety.
The temperature to which the air must be heated when passing through the convector heater is set on the control unit.
Advantages and disadvantages
The advantages of electric convectors are enough. Its first and most important advantage is its high efficiency, the convector provides this indicator at the level of 95%.
In addition, the positive qualities also include:
- Ease of installation and use. All you need is to place it next to the outlet, connect it to it and set the temperature;
- The design of such a convector is very simple, which ensures high reliability. The average service life of a convector is approximately 15 years. At the same time, it requires minimal maintenance – periodic cleaning of the device from dust;
- The presence of a thermostat in the design ensures automatic maintenance of the temperature in the room, without human intervention. When the desired temperature in the room is reached, it turns off. As soon as the temperature drops, the convector turns on. Moreover, the convector is guided by the temperature in the lower part of the room, that is, by the cold air. Therefore, the temperature sensor is located in the lower part of the convector;
- The design of such a convector has no moving parts, which ensures its silent operation. The only source of noise can be a thermostat, made in the form of a mechanical relay. Such a thermostat, when activated, will create a clicking sound when the contacts are closed. Electronic thermostats do not make any sounds;
- These heaters begin to provide heat to the room almost immediately after being plugged into the outlet, and are able to quickly heat the air in the room;
- Safety of use. Even at maximum performance, the heater body, which is also involved in heat exchange, does not heat up to a temperature that can cause burns to a person. A fuse protects the device from overheating.
Disadvantages.
However, convector heaters also have disadvantages. They are few, but they exist.
So, the disadvantages of convectors include:
- Significant power consumption. Although this indicator largely depends on the thermal insulation of the room. With strong heat losses due to drafts, poor insulation of walls and windows, energy consumption will be high, but if thermal insulation is at the proper level, energy consumption will not be very high;
- It will not be economically feasible to heat large rooms with convectors. They are more suitable for local heating. That is, they are best used either in small rooms, or as an addition to centralized heating;
- Convector heaters, although they do not heat the air to significant temperatures, still dry it somewhat. Therefore, when using such devices, it is better to worry about air humidification in advance;
- Even without moving parts, the convector is able to carry dust around the room. He does this because the air during his work circulates due to heating, and therefore moves small dust particles.
We recommend reading – how to choose electric heating boilers.
Types of convector heaters
Structurally, all convector heaters are very similar, but several types are produced – wall-mounted, free-standing, floor-standing and for rooms with high humidity.
They can be conditionally divided into high – with a height of up to 650 mm, and low – up to 200 mm.
Wall-mounted and free-standing are classified as high. The difference between them comes down to the fact that the wall-mounted ones are equipped with lugs for mounting on the wall, making them stationary and providing heating only for the room where they are installed.
Freestanding – have legs with wheels at the bottom, which allows them to be moved if necessary, providing heat in different rooms.
A feature of this type of heaters is the high heating of the heating element, which, in combination with the high body, provides high air circulation, which ensures their high thermal efficiency.
Floor heaters are made somewhat differently, although their design is identical. They are not high, they are also called “skirting”.
But their width is much larger. Some models reach a width of 3000 mm.
In fact, this is the same convector, but located horizontally. The large length and width, while its low location allows the heating element to heat up less to reach the required temperature, since they more efficiently heat the lower layers of air.
Often I install such heaters under window openings.
The inconvenience of using floor heaters comes down to the same width. They take up more floor space, which leads to the possibility of frequent kicking.
Although some homeowners, during construction, preliminarily allocate niches in the floor for the installation of such heaters, followed by their protection with a grate.
Underfloor electric heating convector of the ESK series.
The above types of convectors have one feature – the inability to use in rooms with a high level of humidity.
However, special versions of convectors are produced – waterproof. In such heaters, all internal elements are protected from moisture and can be used in any room.
Choosing a convector heater
And it seems that the design of the convector is understandable, but choosing the right device for heating is not so simple, since there are a large number of factors that affect the correct choice.
One of the factors to consider when choosing a convector is its type.
The most common are wall convectors. They are able to provide good heat to the room, since they are located directly on the walls.
Often they are placed under window openings. This allows, when using a convector, to create a thermal curtain near potential sources of cold air. But they are stationary.
If you want to create comfortable conditions in different rooms, then it is better to purchase a free-standing convector equipped with wheels for movement. It is convenient to drag such a convector from room to room, the only condition is the presence of an outlet in the room.
Wall and free-standing convectors are often used as additional heating, although there is heating in the house, which is fully provided by these devices.
Floor convectors are often used as the main heating in the house, and niches are prepared for them for installation at the planning stage of the house.
Convector control
The second factor that is taken into account when choosing a convector is the type of control unit and thermostat. They are divided into mechanical and electronic.
The mechanical control unit, as such, is not, just a thermostat is included in its design in the form of a conventional contact relay. Therefore, it is mechanical – when triggered, the contacts are broken.
Convectors equipped with a mechanical control unit are cheaper, because the temperature control is carried out by a mechanical regulator.
With such a regulator it is impossible to accurately set the temperature regime. They are also not very reliable and the regulator and thermostat may fail.
Electronic control units are much more convenient to use, since they allow you to accurately set the temperature regime.
It is controlled using the keys, and the set temperature mode is displayed on a digital display.
There are devices equipped with a programmable control unit. In such convectors, the control unit allows you to set the daily operation mode of the device.
For example, until 10:00 in the morning it will heat with one temperature, from 10:00 to 18:00 the temperature will decrease, and from 18:00 to 10:00 in the morning it will again be elevated.
Models are also available in which control units can be connected into a single system.
Usually they are used in rooms where only heating with convector devices is used.
Using such a system with combined control units, control the operation of all convectors from one control unit.
Chassis
When choosing a convector, you should also pay attention to the body.
Firstly, you need to take into account the height of the device, the speed of air movement inside the case depends on it, which ultimately affects the efficiency of its operation.
A convector with a height of 50 cm is considered optimal. This criterion also applies to floor convectors, but not its height, but its width is taken into account.
Secondly, you need to take into account the thickness of the walls of the case, because its walls are also involved in heat transfer. Therefore, the thicker the walls of the case, the higher the heat transfer will be, which means that the efficiency of the device itself is higher.
TEN’s
Next, pay attention to the heating elements. Needle-type heating elements, where the spiral is not protected by anything and is fixed on a thin plate, are very fragile, a small blow to the body is enough to break the spiral thread.
But such convectors are much cheaper than with other types of heaters.
The most reliable and durable are monolithic heating elements. They are not afraid of shocks, they are able to withstand even the overturning of the device. However, the cost of devices with the same heating element is much higher.
In favor of the choice of monolithic heating elements is also the work of the convector itself.
Needle-type heaters may crackle slightly during operation, while monolithic heaters are absolutely silent.
Security
An important factor when choosing a convector is the safety of its operation.
And although such devices are not capable of making a burn to a person, since the body does not warm up to a traumatic temperature, however, there is the possibility of accidentally tipping it over.
This is especially true for free-standing convectors.
To eliminate the possibility of a fire from a short circuit in case of accidental tipping, you should purchase appliances equipped with a tipping sensor.
This sensor, in the event of a device tipping over, will immediately de-energize it.
You should also take into account the weak level of electrical protection of devices with needle-type heating elements.
Additional Functionality
Many convector heaters are equipped with additional features that can be very useful.
One of these functions is the additional equipment of the device with an ionizer.
In addition to heating, such a device will also purify the air, preventing the spread of pathogenic microbes.
It is interesting that the ionizer can work even when the convector does not perform its main function – heating.
But a device equipped with an ionizer can accumulate static electricity in itself, so it requires grounding.
Another useful feature is the so-called anti-freeze device. This function comes down to the fact that when the temperature in the room drops to a critically low level, for example, up to +5 C, the device itself will turn on to increase the temperature in the room.
A very handy feature if you expect a long absence from home.
In programmable convectors, a temperature setting memory function can often be observed.
This function allows you to save all temperature settings and turn on the device to work with the specified parameters even after a temporary blackout.
And this is only a part of the additional functions that a convector heater can be equipped with.
Power calculation
Now about one of the most important criteria for choosing a convector heater – its power. After all, it depends on this parameter whether the device can provide the proper temperature in the room.
When calculating the required power of the device for space heating, first of all, you should decide how the convector will work – as an addition to centralized heating, or as the main source of heat.
You should also consider the features of the room itself. In a corner room, or with a large glazing area, a device with increased power will be required.
So, for heating a room of 10 square meters. the average value of the convector power is 1 kW. But this indicator is calculated for the average height of the room – 2,5-2,7 m. But this is if the convector is used as the main source of heat.
If it is an addition to centralized or autonomous water heating, then 10 sq.m. 0,5 kW will be enough.
There is also a universal formula for calculating the power of a convector. Based on it, for every 1 cubic meter. the room should account for 35-40 W of the power of the device.
If the room is angular or has a large glass area, then an additional 15-20% of the power should be added to the calculated indicator of the convector power required for heating the room.
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Сonclusion
These are all the main parameters that need to be considered when choosing a convector heater.
If the choice of the device is made taking into account them, moreover, correctly, the convector will provide heat to any room of a residential building.
At the same time, you can not worry about fire safety, and the presence of additional functions will allow you to maximize the convenience of using this device.
By purchasing it, you can provide yourself with a comfortable temperature in the rooms of the house for many years.
And here you can find out about the rating of electric convectors.