What Are Convection Heaters?
Convection heaters heat the air and then transfer the heat throughout that space to warm up people and physical objects. For example, your gas boiler central heating system is a perfect example of a convection based system. When you turn on your heating, the radiators warm up as the water that circulates in the system gets hotter. After 15-20mins or so you can feel the room getting warmer as that heat is distributed from the surface area of the radiators to the air and then into the room as the air circulates.
Warm air rises and gets moved into cold spaces such as the middle of the room, where it cools, sinks and circulates back up again as it is warmed up by the steel radiator. Eventually the whole volume of air warms up, which gives you the warmth that you feel.
Limitations of convection heating
There are a couple of downsides to convection heating. Firstly, it relies on the movement of air and although the method of heating itself promotes that, avoiding cold spots is still incredibly difficult. So, you tend not to see even temperatures throughout the room with convection heaters. Secondly, holding the heat in the air isn’t particularly stable. Imagine spending half an hour heating the temperature in the air up to 21oC only for someone to briefly open the door. Lots of that heat will escape, which your convection heater will have to replace.
Health, cold spots and mould
The cold weather brings with it a raft of issues for the health and wellbeing of you and your family. Current heating methods using central heating systems and steel radiators contribute to the problems in your home.
The modern working family is not present in their home during the day as parents are out working and children are away in school or college.
Reducing mould and heating cost
To keep your heating bills economical, you set your timer to switch on early in the morning before your alarm goes off, so you can get up to a warm house then switches off again just before you all vacate the house to go to work or school. In the evening you have the timer set to switch on just before the first family member returns home and then set to switch off just before you go to bed.
Each day the cycle continues until the warm weather returns the following year. This can last for up to 6 months depending in which part of the country you live in.
Each day your house is warmed up during the heating cycle and cools down when the heating is not operating – night time and during the day. Heat energy moves from the warmest part to the coldest part trying to balance out the system. When your heating switches on the water in the warming air condensates on the walls – which have cooled down during the off period – and moisture forms providing perfect conditions for mould to establish itself and grow.
Because the central heating system is only on for a few hours the walls do not get very warm or dry out. By the time they start to hold heat the heating goes off and they start cooling again. This cycle repeats itself ever time the central heating system operates (twice a day in most homes).
The mould that grows on your walls is not very pretty and it is not healthy resulting in respiratory conditions and poor health.
Steel radiators have very little mass and therefore do not hold heat after they are switched off. This aspect also contributes to increased switching as the system heats up and cools down when your central heating is running.
To reduce the cause of mould and reduce running cost – consider switching from steel to SuperStone radiators. Look at the styles available in our shop.