Is a Space Heater just a Fan Heater?

[Beanwood]

I just don't understand - is an electric space heater the same thing as a fan heater?
For example, Toolstation seem to sell both - but is there actually any difference beyond aesthetics?

 

[Farside]

I just don't understand - is an electric space heater the same thing as a fan heater?
For example, Toolstation seem to sell both - but is there actually any difference beyond aesthetics?

If its fuel is electricity, yes. It's just a heavier-duty version.

 

[hotponyshoes]

I don't know if they all use the same terminology but I thought a space heater has a bigger fan.

So a space heater warms a large area but to a lower temperature.
A fan heater blows hotter but slower so warms a small area to a higher temperature.

When I had a (well insulated) big double garage as a workshop I had a gas space heater which I would run for half an hour or so to warm the whole place up. I then turned that off and had a free-standing 3 bar gas fire to maintain the heat.
I later built a separate small office area and had an electric fan heater fitted on the wall in there.
The gas heaters obviously needed me to replace the bottles which was inconvenient.

Not sure what I would do again. The space heater was noisy, blew dust around and, got it too hot after a while. The fan heater was quiet but would take hours to heat the place up from cold.
Maybe a big electric space heater with a thermostat would be the best option but the running costs might be nasty..

 

[DAPPH]

Ceiling height down ward facing infra red heaters .. ( TV Shopping channel ?) work surprisingly well so long as you have sufficient numbers over the most used areas. You can even set them up as a room controlled thermostat arrangement too .

I was out and about with Fizzy last night at his Super King sized mancupboard , he's recently installed one the sub £100 blown very warm air oil burners used to heat trucks & boats etc. as a large office heater .
He told me that one of his heaters like this ran for a recorded 5,000 hours or more and was still as clean as a whistle inside when he replaced it due to a control unit failure .

Once I get the new mancupboard installed I intend to set it up with one of these blown hot air heaters then build the walls attached benches around the heating system . Even at todays prices it's cheaper to heat with 10 litres of heating oil than chuck electricity costs including the cost of several electric heaters at it .

 

[gaz1]

it really depends on what you can use and what you cant use

electric is not the way to go if you have poor insulation
thats why an office built enviroment is fine as they are well insulated with 4" of wall insulation and more on the ceiling the better ones are 6-8" of insulation

whilst i play with the rocket stove it has a good way for the air to be directed into ducting to spread around the building and dosnt need fans to blow the warm air around as it does it all so no noise at all

there cheap to run give off 3hrs worth of heat from one fire up and can be bypassed so can be controlled rather well

 

[Beanwood]

Thanks- Maybe as you say @hotponyshoes it’s down to fan size. Both 2kw so no difference in heat output I guess- just how much air gets circulated.

I already have an infra red heater - which works surprisingly well, but is currently supplemented by a small fan heater, and small electric space heaters seem cheap to buy. I'm blessed at the moment by being on a fixed rate electricity,so not suffering as badly as many.

@gaz1 I keep seeing the rocket stoves, and really like the idea - but my single storey workspace is attached to the double storey house, and I can't think that a flue would be possible given the proximity of second floor windows?

 

[DAPPH]

Thanks- Maybe as you say @hotponyshoes it’s down to fan size. Both 2kw so no difference in heat output I guess- just how much air gets circulated.

I already have an infra red heater - which works surprisingly well, but is currently supplemented by a small fan heater, and small electric space heaters seem cheap to buy. I'm blessed at the moment by being on a fixed rate electricity,so not suffering as badly as many.

@gaz1 I keep seeing the rocket stoves, and really like the idea - but my single storey workspace is attached to the double storey house, and I can't think that a flue would be possible given the proximity of second floor windows?

Flue pipes don't have to be vertical to a wall and can also be put a few feet from a wall to get the outlet away from a window and well above the roof line .

 

[hotponyshoes]

Thanks- Maybe as you say @hotponyshoes it’s down to fan size. Both 2kw so no difference in heat output I guess- just how much air gets circulated.

I already have an infra red heater - which works surprisingly well, but is currently supplemented by a small fan heater, and small electric space heaters seem cheap to buy. I'm blessed at the moment by being on a fixed rate electricity,so not suffering as badly as many.

@gaz1 I keep seeing the rocket stoves, and really like the idea - but my single storey workspace is attached to the double storey house, and I can't think that a flue would be possible given the proximity of second floor windows?

I'm not sure what the 2kw ratings refer to.
You might find for example that the space heater is a 1500w element and a 500w fan but the fan heater is a 1950w element with a 50w fan?

Certainly on the ones I have used, the fan heaters blow hotter air, just not much of it.
That's what you'd find if they were both 2kw elements and one had a bigger fan though.
I expect there is some sort of caculator you can use to work out the best heating methods but I expect you'll need to know how much heat is lost from the size area you are trying to heat although if you already have some form of heater and a thermometer you should be able to measure that easily enough.

 

[gaz1]

can you draw out your workshop and house plans so i can get a better idea of your building

and also its measurements it will really help alot

this will point to the regs

Fitting wood burning stoves in a conservatory |Installing a wood burner if you have no chimney |StoveMaestro Manchester HETAS installers knowledge base

so if you have a garage that extends further back from your rear house back wall and it goes back 3m then you have passed the regs of 2.5m as your flue pipe is actually 4m away from the rear house wall

that means you can have the flue 1 meter higher than the roof ridge line of the garage

as the rocket stove is smokeless except for its start up you wont get in trouble for enviromental side of it as no smells comes from the burning of its wood and you wont get neighbour trouble either as theres no smoke from the stove only at start up

they are worth the build compared to the normal wood stove that smokes and has a smell to them also the wood you dont burn in them saves on storage

its why i built mine and im close to a main road at that

 

[Beanwood]

Flue pipes don't have to be vertical to a wall and can also be put a few feet from a wall to get the outlet away from a window and well above the roof line .

can you draw out your workshop and house plans so i can get a better idea of your building

and also its measurements it will really help alot

OK - prompted by you chaps, I've just checked building regs (J ? - Combustion appliance...) as a starting point, and I may be worrying over nothing.
Where I'd probably put a flue is around 6 metres from the 'adjacent building'. The challenge I thought I had was the window directly in line, and above where the flue would be. According to the regs if I've read them correctly, as long as I'm 2300mm away, that isn't an issue.

 

[gaz1]

ive edited the above to point you to the regs

 

[Beanwood]

ive edited the above to point you to the regs

Thanks @gaz1

I may be opening a can of worms, but is there a 'simple' rocket stove design somewhere, suitable to heat a 4mx3mx3m workshop?
I'm not committing to building one - just checking my options

 

[fizzy]

Space heater is an American term.
It always USED to be reserved in the UK for these

Now as usual everyone is copying the Yanks - since when did Scarlett Fever become Strep A ?

Or aircraft/aeroplane become airplane
And I see people on here using the term Gotten

 

[gaz1]

Thanks @gaz1

I may be opening a can of worms, but is there a 'simple' rocket stove design somewhere, suitable to heat a 4mx3mx3m workshop?
I'm not committing to building one - just checking my options

yes mines based on that type of shed garage

and it can be over warm in there enough for me to leave the door wide open and still be nice and warm in there

 

[gaz1]

this is my first build so is large to a degree but i found it was way too warm in the shed of mine



then i shrunk it down alot



as i was going to fit tubes into the top so i built differently then changed my mind
if anything its length and height is the issue the height been roughly the same a normal wood stove

i get alot of clean wood from the building sites that im on so wood isnt the issue and neither is my storage of it as i only burn through 1-1/1/2 cords of wood a winter so my wood store is only small 4ft x 4ft x 4ft high x2

that same wood store also can be the same for the large rocket stoves it makes no difference what so ever
1st year dries as i get enough for 2 years in wood cut up then only need to replace the 1st wood store to burn per year and you can use clean pallets

 

[DAPPH]

Thanks @gaz1

I may be opening a can of worms, but is there a 'simple' rocket stove design somewhere, suitable to heat a 4mx3mx3m workshop?
I'm not committing to building one - just checking my options

Put " Rocket stove construction " into Google then look at the image pictures there are loads many simple small box steel constructions

 

[gaz1]

Put " Rocket stove construction " into Google then look at the image pictures there are loads many simple small box steel constructions

the thing we have found is get that primary air as hot as possible so the wood gassifies inside of the firebox you can get even hotter when you put the stove onto a slow tick over which produces blue/purple flames

a good source of heat is under the secondary burn tube but you can also scrape some off the heat exchange unit but means its fixed to the system

so for a good flow of heat under the secondary burn tube to the firebox risers will produce alot of preheated primary air that will gassifie the wood that means users can fit tubes to the exchange unit allowing for better flow or air movement from one place
therefore no stove fans are needed or electric fans to move the hot air around the building

 

[Gragson]

Now as usual everyone is copying the Yanks - since when did Scarlett Fever become Strep A ?

It hasn't. Strep A is a common bug, Scarlet fever is more serious and can usually develop from Strep A - per doc on the telly last week

Got 2 of these fan heaters, they shift money quicker than an oligarch.



Need to look into these rocket stoves to see if it's viable option for my garage workshop

 

[gaz1]

with a rocket stove its what space do you want to use just to heat the place up

if i was going to say a size reference for the smaller garages like mine and others of 11ft x 8ft x 7ft high then you need a space 800 to the front and 500 width as the heat exchanger determines to the front length

this has a good sealed firebox that fits in 3 4" logs and a good bed of ashes you can get smaller i just prefer a sealed firebox as you gain more control and also hit blue/purple flames
this means i have a firebox of 10x10x12-16 high as i want to fit in cut logs of 9" it also means i can fit 5x2s, 6x2s, 6x3s, 7x2s, 7x3s and so forth and i cut them up on the chopsaw
yes i use the 12x4 beams as well as i can also cut those up too 9" it all burns

so you have your ash collection below and above that is your secondary burn tube the heat exchanger at the rear sits above that if you want the tube type
the firebox alone is 14" wide the purple is just either heat proof insulation or a firebrick can be used, 5mm steel for the internals with firbrick sat on them
within this area is the size of chamber that you burn your wood its big enough this size is ample enough but you can adjust its length rather well


the rear heat exchanger can be fixed you have to remove the top or be able to lift the whole unit sides and top off if a solid build
for the tube version you have to use an alternative only the bigger shops and units need the tube reference the smaller sheds dont but you can still build this way

 

[MattF]

Got 2 of these fan heaters, they shift money quicker than an oligarch.

No use earning money if you're going to thrift & end up uncomfortable, though. Provided outgoings don't come to more than income, make sure you're comfortable.