Most heaters found on the market today can be classified into two main categories, both of which can be classed as ceramic heaters – convection heaters and radiant heaters. Both of these ceramic heater types utilize heating elements within them to generate their heat, but the major difference between the two is the way in which this heat that is generated is distributed.
Convection heaters are intended for use in heating larger rooms or areas by means of air circulation. Its achieves this by letting the heat it produces rise naturally and then circulate throughout the area it’s in by using the natural or normal air currents found within this space.
Radiant heaters, on the other hand, are used to heat up smaller rooms or areas and it does so by directing the heat generated in one particular direction, meaning it doesn’t make use of a rooms natural air currents.
Both convection heaters and radiant heaters can utilize ceramic heating elements within them and this means two things. First, energy is saved while using these elements, meaning cheaper power bills, and second, the risk of a fire occurring are much less with ceramic heaters than when compared to other types of heating element.
Ceramic Heaters – Why Ceramic Heating Elements?
Some heaters utilize ceramic heating elements because these types of elements, as mentioned above, are not only easy to heat up, but also pose less of a burn and fire risk than other heating elements such as the ones used in coil heaters. Just to explain further, coil heaters make, or generate, their heat by means of running electric current through the numerous metal coils that go to make up the element, and this then causes them to not only “glow” hot, but to also become hot enough to burn.
When it comes to ceramic heaters though, they utilize ceramic plates that have their edges attached to just a few metal coils. These coils are heated in a similar manner to the ones in a coil heater, but the difference being that the heat generated is absorbed into the ceramic plates and then distributed into the surrounding air. The advantages of ceramic heaters, therefore, are that they don’t get as hot as their coil heater cousins, the heat generated is released more quickly, and once the heater has been turned off after operation, they cool down much faster than the coil heater elements.
Utilizing Ceramic Heaters
The plates used in a ceramic heater can heat up so quickly that ceramic heaters can be used to heat a space much quicker than a coil heater with the added advantage of doing so at a fraction of the cost when compared to coil heaters. The process can be speeded up even more by utilizing many ceramic plates in a heater, meaning each coil element doesn’t have as much ceramic plate to heat up, making the whole appliance more effective. Ceramic heaters often make use of internal fans to distribute the generated heat throughout a room or area, and they also have thermostats attached to ensure the elements do not overheat. Fire risk is minimized because even after the heater is switched off, the fans will continue to keep running for a few minutes in order to aid the cooling down of the heating elements even faster. Other safety features usually incorporated with ceramic heaters include a tilt detection unit which will switch the appliance off should it accidentally fall or tip over.
