is it cheaper to run an electric heater or fan then it is to run heater or air conditioner?
595732
Electric Resistance heaters consume huge amounts of power and only heat a limited amount of space as compared to other types of heaters. By comparison air conditioners may be 3-5 times more efficient and heat/cool a much larger volume.\nHowever the efficiency of an air conditioner depends on the ambient temperature and the desired temperature. Also not all air conditioners have the option to both heat and cool(mine hapens to be a portable unit that also heats).\n\nExample: I have a resistance heater with a parabolic reflective dish that might heat about a 5ft radius and consumes 1000Watts.  5ft raduis -> area = (pi)r^2 = about 80sq. ft.\n\nI also have a 10,000BTU air conditioner that heats/cools up to 250sq. ft and only consumes 650Watts max.
530511
Theoretically the two answers above are correct, but the actual watts that the aircons consume depends on the temperature settings and the room itself. The aircon (compressor) will stop working after reaching the desired temp.If the room has many things that generate heat (kitchen equipment, lighting, people), then the aircons may have to work overtime. In this case "maybe" the 2.5 hp actually consume less energy because it can cool the room faster, or have to work only every 5 minutes.
569589
I guess it can be done, but since your car isn't as well-insulated as your freezer, you'll need to change your AC and use a lot of power in order to do it. More power means a larger engine (more expensive) and more gas consumed (MORE expensive). You can also try buying a refrigerated truck and hanging out at the back.
983398
I have a heat pump system for my shop and my wife's craft room. My shop is on the first floor and her room is on the second floor. The HVAC contractor installed one outdoor compressor and one air handler. There are electrically controlled dampers in the supply and return air from each room. There are two thermostats and a microprocessor. The microprocessor controls the dampers and directs the heating (or cooling) to which ever room is calling for it.
612763
yes fan consume only 100 watt and AC consumes 1000 wattl 10 times less
488548
Depends so much!  Are you paying for gas and/or electric?  Do you need to pay to heat your water?  How big is your place?\n\nI am really cheap on the electric-- my bill is usually 25 bucks a month (two bedroom) and gas (to heat) has varied from 10 (summer) to 50 (winter).\n\nI plan on an average of 50 bucks.  \n\nActually, the best way to do this is to find the place you're interested in.  Then you find out what gas and electric companies the prior tenant used.  Then you call and ask them the averages and highs/lows.  They can give out this information to help you plan.
891874
therms are still used - but they are converted to kilowatt hours and you are charged per KWH the same as electricity and you can now compare the price of gas and electricity easier - the calculation is on the back of the gas bill.
920164
Does the "promotional litearture" keep you warm?  Try burning it, that might produce some heat.\n\n$300 is too much, you need that money to pay your heating bill.  Anyway, I seriously doubt quartz is any more efficient than a cheap space-heater.  They're both 100% efficient at converting electricity into heat.  To improve on that you need a "heat pump".  \n\nThose are just an air-conditioners that are turned around, so that instead of pumping heat out in the summer, they pump heat inward in the winter.  To use one you need a source of heat that is above 40-50 deg.F, such as well water.\n\nYou can als:\ndress more warmly\nturn up the thermostat\nget another space heater\nadd insulation to your house
820704
Good Idea..but probably expensive to hook up the equipment to some sort of generator....gotta keep the place looking clean.\n\ninresponse to answerman....(below)\nIt could be possible to keep a battery bank charged and use an inverter to run a small a/c.\nSort of like a solar setup or windmill.
229287
I think it's a lot of advertising spin.  ALL electric heaters are basically 100% efficient.  To be considered 100% efficient, it must convert ALL energy used into heat- which ALL electric heaters do- the only other byproduct being a small amount of light.  The device can be claimed more efficient than a furnace because a furnace MUST expel a certain amount of heat outdoors- as a side-effect of it requiring oxygen (from outside) to burn, and the expulsion of combusion byproducts.  \n\nAnd of course, the heater produces no fumes and uses no oxygen- there's no combustion!  OH! and the bit about becoming sleepy because your OLD heater is using up your oxygen....laughable!!  It's not impossible- but it's FAR more likely that you get sleepy because you get warm!  The same thing happens to you when you get into a warm car.\n\nSPIN!  ALL SPIN!! \n\nSave your $500 and buy a nice $50 ceramic heater.  They won't catch your curtains on fire either, they don't eat up precious oxygen, and a good one can be really quiet.
247063
Running a small refrigerator using an electric generator is not very economical but can be done during a blackout.  It may be necessary to run the generator only periodically especially if you open and close the door oonly just before running the generator and check if the refrigerator is actually operating (listen for vibrations?) while you are running the generator.  If the refrigerator is small enough (dormitory type?) you may be able to use a DC/AC converter that plugs into an automobile cigarette lighter and a long extension cord.  Read the amps/watts/volts/hertz(60 cycle?) from the manufacturer's label and show that to the generator supplyer.  In a recent blackout, we used such a converter to run fans in a basement fireplace insert that heated the house burning firewood while tempertures dipped well below freezing outside (save the pipes!!!).  Good luck.
13598
Your heat load is equivalent to 100,000 100 Watt light bulbs or 10,000 1,000 Watt electric heaters.  When all equipment is operating, your maximum heat load will be 10,000 kilowatts for the heat sources you mention (are there any other loads?).\n\nAir conditioners are often rated in Btu/hr, therefore you must convert Watts to Btu/Hr.\n\n     Watts x 3.415 = Btu/Hr (See source)\n     100,000 sq. ft. x 100 Watts/Sq. ft. = \n     10,000,000 Watts\n\n     10,000,000 x 3.415 = 34,150,000 Btu/Hr\n\n Large air conditioners may also be rated in tons (cooling effect required to produce a ton of ice in 24 hours)  See second source.\n\nA ton (of air conditioning) is equal to 12,000 Btu/Hr.\n\n   34,150,000Btu/Hr / 12,000Btu/Hr/ton = \n   2,845.8 ton capacity.\n\nCalculations are for sensible heat unless water vapor is to be condensed which depends on the desired humidty.\n\nYou should have a licensed professional engineer (PE) make final calculations and look for other important considerations before funding an air conditioning plant.\n\nAddition: How much heat results from power consumption in a closed room will depend on what the power is used for.  For example if an electric heater is used to melt a block of ice no heat will be available to heat the air.  In like manner, if heat is used to warm something that is then removed from the room, some of the heat (supplied to the object) will become unavailable.  But heat of friction or heat used to warm anything that remains in the room will be available to heat the air in the room.  Open doors or ventilation can exhaust heat.  Large motors with power factors may be a special case because of phase angles.  However, most equipment such as small motors, heaters, TV sets, computers and light bulbs should convert almost all electrical energy into heat.  Therefore the Watts of electricity listed on the equipment label should all be converted to the equivalent amount of heat.
162542
AC has less loss over longer distance so is better for wide-area power distribution.  It is also better for high-voltage appliances with high amperage demands (like electric stoves, ovens, dryers, etc.).  Also, before the advent of reliable quartz crystals and such, AC provided a reliable timing source to synchronize signals for televisions (AC in U.S. operates as 60Hz) that is was much more difficult to obtain with DC.\n\nHowever, for local low-voltage, low-amperage power DC is more efficient as most of the types of devices that fit into this category cannot utilize AC directly - they need to convert AC to DC.  It would be more efficient to have a single DC power source using step-down transformers to adjust voltage, than have a bunch of separte AC/DC converters.\n\nIncandescent light bulbs don't care which type of current they are powered from (although LED's do).
147813
Move away from natural gas as a source of power (many eletric plants are being converted to natural gas as it burns cleaner than coal and was very cheap until recently).  Use geothermic energy to heat many of our buildings, stop building one story buildings (Schools, Wal-Marts etc)(By building upwards, the heat loss is less than building outwards as there is less contact with the outside as well as heat rises heating the upper floors), support alternative energy sources (Xcel Energy has a program where you pay for the cost of producing wind energy versus their other sources making wind more desirable), find ways to limit southern growth (air conditioning is the main reason for the boom in the south and southwest, by keeping people in the north, natural gas will not be diverted from heating to energy production in southern states), turn your thermostat down at your work, home, school, etc(During the 70's energy crisis these places were commonly set at 65, now 68-72, the extra heat needed to stay at that temperature would decrease the demand for natural gas thus decreasing the prices as well), buy a hybrid/electric car or better yet take mass transit, and last but not least, halt the suburbanization of America (the number of single family homes in the US has grown tremendously, if people sacrificed space(land and House) energy costs could be reduced by living in an apartment or a duplex as again the heat loss of multiunits is less than single as less interaction with outside air(homes have grown from an average of 1,500 sq feet to over 2,500 in the last 20 years, that is 2/3 of the old house that has to be heated on top of what as already there.))
374633
"So 50 amps without considering lighting."\nthats the pitfall right there. \n\nAmperes is the unit for measuring current. Since the supply voltage is fixed at 110 v (I assume you are in the americas), the amount of energy you are using is given by the number of amps you are drawing.\n\nthe current drawn by each of the appliances, adds up arithmetically. Ideally your supply should support running all your appliances at the same time. and that should include lighting. \n\nif your lighting draws close to or more than 10 amps then you are overshooting your supply rating, you should upgrade.\n\nLike somebody else mentioned, air conditioning units and picture tubes draw a large amount of current (much larger than the value mentioned on the manual), when they start up. I'm not sure how your panel/utility company policy are set up to handle this, but it can be a problem if you are operating with too little amperage to spare.\n\nagain you are right that all the equipment would not be operating at full blast at the same time, but think of this hypothetical situation: after a power outtage, all the equipment want power to get back to normal operating state (heated/cooled/whatever), you might have to bring them up in stages, switching on one unit 30 mins after the earlier one was switched on..\n\nand there is one more thing you are overlooking: planning for growth. you dont want to go through the hassle of upgrading your supply limits just because you bought a new neon lamp for your window :)
1008751
Depends on the size of the Air Conditioner.\nCheck with the AHAM site for models and specifications.\n\n-Jim
531102
the main components that heat up are the ones that use more electricity under load, so basically everything =P\n\nok your CPU, your graphics processor, hard drives, and ram heat up badly under load, like with video games, or dvd rendering.  \n\nI liquid cool my machine, but on the family machine i have a HeatPipe style heatsink, and a good fan circulation system through the rest of the case.  also, and I am unsure of your skill level, a good thermal compound between the cpu and the heatsink/waterblock makes a big difference. \narctic silver is the best compound.  also make sure your computer is in a well ventilated area, the fan holes in the back arent blocked, and its not dusty in your case.  canned air will solve that if it is.\n\nalso getting round cables instead of ribbon cables helps move airflow.\ni think the best solution for the least money and least amount of work is the heatpipe.  usually you have to take your motherboard off, but you dont have to deal with water pumps and hoses inside your computer.