Nowadays, space heaters come in a multitude of designs and guises - from electric to infrared to micrathermic, from quartz to baseboard, and from kerosene to propane to natural gas. This can make choosing one of these appliances very confusing; nevertheless, there are, for all intents and purposes, only two fundamental kinds - radiant and convection. Your circumstances will ultimately dictate which one you choose.
Convection heaters work by heating the air surrounding the appliance, which in turn will warm you. Oil or water filled radiators, baseboard electric heaters and almost all heaters that directly burn fossil fuels are classed as convection type heaters. As a simple explanation, imagine that you are in front of an outlet connected to your home's central heating system, and you feel the warm air flow over you; this is known as convection heating.
On the other hand, radiant heaters make use of light waves to heat a particular object, or element, and it is then this element that heats up the surrounding area. It is akin to the way the sun warms you up but you can still feel the cooler air around you; once the sun goes down it appears like the temperature takes a tumble. This is radiant heating. Halogen, quartz and infrared heaters all fall under the banner of radiant heating.
For a human being to feel "comfortable" with the ambient temperature, three very important elements come into play - humidity, heat and wind (speed). The heat part of the equation is self-evident, nonetheless, when humidity levels are low, you evaporate moisture through your skin, making you feel cooler; with a breeze blowing you will lose heat at a faster rate.
With radiant type heaters, you will find that they do not create any "wind speed" or air movement as such, and they also do not lower humidity. Nonetheless, as these heat elements and then it is the elements that heat the room, the overall temperature is slower to rise. Therefore, if the area you need to heat is a small area, then a radiant heater would be the best alternative for you, but if it is a larger room you are looking to heat, a convection heater is often the best bet.
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