A Space Heater Teardown and Discussion (PTC-based)

[@alistercarmichael4990]

So far the best dive inside an off the shelf PTC fan heater. Still questions remain. For those of you out there who have never tried to commentate while pulling a device apart for the first time: it is not as easy as you expect, and also full of assumption and error. Well done with the video. Interesting to see the low power fan and the comparison with the other heater and it's bigger fan. There must be a difference is noise during use if you are after stealth heating. PTC used for heating are non linear. Unlike NTC that have a hyperbolic curve or LOG curve these units are almost stepped. The ceramics are tuned for a design temperature and system voltage that will thermally throttle them under normal operation. Ie. they work at the transition temperature when the fan is running. If the fan stops it is too late for the devices as by this time they have moved into a NTC response. You could\should have put the meter on the fins to show that not just the core is live but there are exposed conductive parts on the entire heating assembly. So poking a wire into the elements while the heater is on (and fully assembled) will still lead to exposure to line voltage. Good luck with the channel.

[@fredblattner]

P

[@stefanguiton]

Great teardown!

[@story1234]

It’s not a review but I am sold on it. That’s a quality product. The PTC are $20, fan $15, controller $3, casing $10, fins $20. But I can get it shipped for less than $50

[@bendtherules0]

Fan is surely cheaper. PTCs are around 5$/unit.

[@mashy712]

Very good video however at 8:05 you said negative. on AC circuits. The black wire is actually called “hot” or “live”. Also on the AC system and the black wire leads into the system and generally electricity exit through the white or neutral wire. But AC goes in a phase cycling back-and-forth 60 times a second. Very different compared to DC circuits where they actually have negative and positive.

[@TheCuriousEngineerChannel]

Yeah, I misspoke. I meant to say neutral and instead said negative like all throughout that video. Oh well.

[@mrcleanisin]

You didn't explain the element wiring

[@dieselbossbrandon]

That's what I came here for

[@story1234]

What would happen if you hook it to 12v power? Would the buck driver just bypass to 12v? Would the fan work?

[@ajeethsuryash5123]

Very nice video. Thanks for sharing...

[@7spower998]

Awesome! Thank you.

[@ccshello1]

In low power mode, I am guessing only few PTC elements are powered.

[@jeffl6089]

I'd like to make a heater for the back of my camper shell when camping just to take the chill off of cold nights. I found this past month when we were watching a video on a 24v tv back there which only draws about 50 watts, that it actually warmed it up a little. So I got thinking that I could get a small 12v portable heater but I don't want it to draw more than around 5 amps (13v). I will be using a portable LiFePO4 battery that gets charged each day while we drive so just burning power isn't too much of a concern. Would one of these PTC based heaters be the best or should I go with one of the cheap portable 12v heaters that I see on Ebay. I wouldn't mind making something but not sure its worth it due to the price of ready made items. I want to be able to adjust the power or current if buying a ready built heater. Any advice? Thanks.

[@TheCuriousEngineerChannel]

Perhaps this: kzbin.info/www/bejne/lWnSZYyYha6Ua7M. I know, perhaps it doesn't seem like it would work, but it outputs 24 Watts @ 12Vdc. You'd likely need modify it to make sure heating surface doesn't touch combustable things. Thanks for watching!

[@Rational20]

Positive and negative terminals on an A.C. heater?

[@mashy712]

It should be hot and neutral. 😂

[@MrKornnugget]

So all electric heaters, oil, resistive, PCT are all almost 100% efficient. All of them are limited to 1500Watts because US outlets are 15 Amp, like you said. All 1500 watt electric heats regardless of element, except heat pumps, produce 5119.5 BTUs per hr. They all cost the same to operate. So comes down to a fan vs no fan and noise level. Heat pumps are the only way to get over 100% efficiency since you are pulling heat from the outside. The efficiency drops as the outdoor temperature due to less heat available. There is no negative or positive with AC. There is only hot and common. Switch’s are normally wired to the common.