What's In an Electric Heater? Test & Teardown of 4 Heater Types

What makes an electric heater run? What is inside, and how do they heat? In today's video, I tear down an oil-filled heater, a wire-element heater, a ceramic element heater, and a radiative heater to see how they operate. In addition, I captured FLIR footage of all 4 types to show the heat patterns inside the room, along with heavy usage of data loggers to show off how the units heated over a night.
00:00 - Introduction
00:50 - How I'm Testing the Heaters
01:17 - Oil Filled Heater Teardown & Test
04:16 - Wire Heater Teardown & Test
06:40 - Radiative Heater Teardown & Test
09:46 - Ceramic Element Heater Teardown & Test
12:24 - Total List of Heater Data from All Tests
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[@richardbrobeck2384]

One thing good about the oil filled heaters that they are safe I have used one in my little workshop for over 20 years !

[@staind288]

Funny, I remember over a decade ago there was a recall on them from over heating the wiring and catching fire

[@currentfaves65]

This was a fun and interesting video. I have used all 4 heaters and personally found the oil filled heater made my bedroom and basement feel the most comfortable. Seeing the consumption profile, I think the oil heater is still a win for me. I appreciate your test and hope you have a good weekend !

[@OlivierCaron]

I replaced a dead radiator heater for a oil filled one and I would agree, unlike the other that gets really hot then shuts off, the oil heater releases energy at a lower pace but over a longer period, do we do not notice the room getting too cold, then too hot. It is now stable at the right temperature.

[@jdrissel]

You spoke of higher end infrared heaters. Long wavelength infrared heaters are what you mean. The heat from these feels more like regular room heat. It's not so much hot right on the surface, the heat penetrates a little further because it's a longer wavelength. You might feel warmer under a blanket with a long wavelength IR heater than with a short wave IR heater, especially if there is a draft or a fan in the room. One downside of the long wavelength IR heaters is they take longer to ramp up and ramp down their heat production. That is inherent in the physics because a long wave IR emission corresponds to a lower temperature which means a much larger radiating surface and therefore more thermal mass.

[@R777-RLM]

Do you know if IR heaters have any positive effects on health? If so, which wavelength? Thanks.

[@jillhull7358]

Thanksfor the education &information

[@bensappliancesandjunk]

Hope it helps!

[@jayschafer1760]

Agree with many others that the oil-filled radiator is my favorite electric soace heater. It's also the only one I am comfortable running unattended, such as when I am not in the room or while i am sleeping; concerns about fire risk on the other types is such that i won't do that with them. The oil-filled radiator has the added benefit of not emitting the usual "burnt dust" smell the first time you use it after taking it out of storage, which heaters with exposed elements usually do.

[@Resist4]

The oil filled radiator heater I used had a smell that the manufacturer said would go away after a few uses, but after a few weeks the smell was still there. There were no leaks and I ended up returning it because it was making me nauseous. But when I was a kid we had one for my room, which was unheated, and it worked great, I don't remember it having a new product smell.

[@markmonroe7330]

Really good one. Thank you.

[@fialee8]

Thanks for doing mini teardowns... those are always interesting! Having bought and used all four types of heater, I personally found the wire with fan heater is the best option for me when in a small/med sized room with a door. The oil filled took a long time to heat up, and never seemed to get my room warm. The radiant heater works great if it's pointed at you, but same as the oil filled... didn't seem to warm up the room much. I may have to get my ceramic heater another try since that seemed pretty good. Having a fan forced wire heater running at 750W/1,000W seems to be the best balance for me (I don't run at 1,500W due to fire concerns)... having the fan blow the air on me and circulating warm air in a room with a closed door get's the temp up to where I like it within 20-30mins.

[@hotpuppy1]

I like the oil filled radiator style. They DO get a little hot to touch but I don't think hot enough to catch anything on fire that might drop onto it. The little ceramic cube heaters are sold as being the safest.

[@bensappliancesandjunk]

I love the radiators personally. I use one constantly in my shop for overnight warmth

[@jdrissel]

I had a ceramic heater. The fan failed after several years. I thought since it was a high-end heater there would be worth the trouble of taking it apart and putting another fan in. But that's when I discovered that it didn't actually have positive thermal coefficient heating elements! Instead behind a cover there was just two very large ceramic resistors. These were glued to a large chunk of aluminum honeycomb that served as the heat sink. Not bad technology but definitely not what I paid for either, and probably not what you have there if brought up quality coming out of China is anything to judge for from.

[@steveib724]

Ben follow up on that ge profile frig got the 4 door 28.7 cu ft model that you recommend works great fit perfect.big unit 4 guy's to get it in my hi ranch doesn't stick out either cause i had the 2x4 taken out when reconstructed the kitchen anyway thanks for your help will go to you from now on with my appliances 👍

[@bensappliancesandjunk]

Wow!

[@hoosierpioneer]

Love it if in the next video you would tell us which ones operate well on a generator/power station. Fuel or solar powered.

[@stephenm8100]

My preference is oil filled radiator. It is quite and constant.

[@LatitudeSky]

Used a dish heater from Costco for years. It heats my entire apartment on low or medium with a fan blowing across it. This unit has an infinitely variable temperature control, like the ceramic heater. So I just set it to whatever temp I want and it does the rest. I have another dish heater like the one in this video, and the huge difference is that it does NOT regulate based on temp. It only has power settings and a timer function, both of which are useless. Power level means nothing. How the room feels is what matters, not how much power the heater want to use like it or not. And a timer? If I need heat, it's not based on hours. It's again based on the temperature achieved. It may need to run 24 hours a day for a week. A timer that maxes out at a couple hours is begging to get deleted. My old Coscto dish heater gets all of it right. They should all be like this. They're not.

[@dwarden3]

Oil filled, it does not burn the air causing dryness and static electric shocks. It does dry your sinuses. You can sit beside it without it burning you. You can place a metal plate on top of it for additional radiating surfaces. It can be placed next to furniture or beds without catching fire. Its virtually silent, no fan coming on and off all night.

[@petermescher332]

The act of heating air always lowers the relative humidity, no matter how you do it. (Well, assuming you aren't combusting things.) For a given amount of heat rise, the relative humidity will always drop the same. (Meaning the same amount of static and dryness.) "Burning the air" isn't A Thing.

[@Leonardokite]

The beauty of the radiant heater is that although it does not do well at hitting a room, it does absolutely great at spot heating, aka, a person. You can be at a much colder room and still feel comfortable. The downside is you need to be in front of the heater all the time LOL. So it works great for some things and not so great for others.

[@bensappliancesandjunk]

I'll be honest - I never used a radiant heater prior to this. Always oil/wire/ceramic, and it definitely did the best to warm me if I was standing in front of it, at a fraction of the wattage. But you're right, not great if you're just trying to heat a space, or for say, pipes in a kitchen.

[@SomeLittleShoe]

So which one was best? I couldn't track with everything you said. I'm tired from working two 15 hour days this week. Which one was best?

[@JohnC1]

The oil heater. With the chart @12:50, the bottom row, lowest is essentially the cost of the heat given.

[@Resist4]

@@JohnC1 But does that factor in the purchase price of the heater?

[@BigEightiesNewWave]

You left out what setting the ceramic was on, looks like you set it full/1500W I always look for a ceramic that has at least 3 settings, to use less Wattage. I never use 1500 or even 900 on my Mainstays, made by Midea. I use 700W and get plenty of heat. Also so I won't trip a breaker. Midea makes things for top brands, and the quality feels great. $20.58 for a 3-level ceramic W/ powerful fan. Cannot beat it for price, and a wide base to make it stable. I researched small microwaves recently, and the top 2 were Toshiba, made by Midea. They own the name for making certain things. Midea also makes things for LG, etc. Can't go wrong. Fan only, and 3 Power-use settings.

[@bensappliancesandjunk]

They all used max settings / 1500w, and the consumption was noted that the average was near 1500w

[@BigEightiesNewWave]

It would be nice to know which ones really pull at the lower settings. And to calculate the energy usage per hour.@@bensappliancesandjunk

[@wei8280]

There's an important aspect of safety to be considered. The oil heater imo is very safe compared to the others. Project Farm also showed this.

[@s.murphy8336]

Yep. No moving or exposed hot parts. I mean, the fins on them are definitely hot, but you aren't going to get an instant burn from them. They are the only type I feel comfortable leaving unattended for room heating. As mentioned in the video, also dead simple in operation, really nothing to go wrong. Only one I've ever had fail was the only "fancy" one I bought with a digital thermostat...guess what part quit working...

[@bensappliancesandjunk]

The only thing I can see failing would be the thermal fuse due to an overheating scenario, and much like any dryer, its a $5 part that can be replaced in a matter of seconds.

[@deletesoon70]

Great review! I have used oil-filled and infrared heaters and prefer them because they are silent, the light-emitting aspect of IR is not a problem because they are used only occasionally in utility spaces away from eyeballs mostly. A question, since you showed some heater innards there. An older oil-filled heater with an electronic display wants to click off and reset itself to "flashing 12:00" mode after about an hour of use on medium output, but still works after a few minutes (I never use unattended, and always give it a day off if it does trip). I'm guessing this is a faulty thermostat switch? The cord/plug/receptacle does not get hot, and the anti-tip cutoff works as designed, de-energizes the whole thing while it is leaned over, and re-energizes to "flashing 12:00" mode when righted. Thermo switch? Thanks! Great channel, subbed for a while now.

[@bensappliancesandjunk]

Thanks for the question. I would have first asked about cord/plug/receptacle as my first point of consideration. I'd check the thermo switch or the anti-tip switch. The one that I showed later on was/is a ball bearing + switch and I could see situations where maybe slight movement could tip it if it wasn't set right in the housing as well. This one was so simplistic on the inside after the 3 screws, there's very little to screw up and should be easy to get open and investigate also if any wires may be burnt, causing it to be overloaded, too.

[@jeffdiggs6318]

I was always under the impression that the oil filled was the most efficient until I saw your date on the radiant heater. Don't like that the wire heater heats up the cord so much...

[@zodiacfml]

nice new appliance category to get into you channel. only the radiant heater is interesting due to better efficiency. are there small heat pump based heaters or is it just split-types?

[@bensappliancesandjunk]

Any heat pump heater will need a split to dump the cold air somewhere. They just exchange heat rather than create it. Far more efficient, but at the cost of needing two coils to absorb heat, and the other to expel it.

[@zodiacfml]

@@bensappliancesandjunk Good point about having multiple coils because the problem with portable ac/heat pumps as they are negative pressure, the house will have to intake air from somewhere. i looked into window type heat pumps but does not look too popular yet but it would be interesting if you test/review one

[@bensappliancesandjunk]

@@zodiacfml the company that sponsored this post has offered to send me some heat pump/AC units to try out in the future. Window units are neat for certain, but I think self-install heat pumps are the future. Same idea, just window-less and unfathomably high-efficiency ratings. A high end LG inverter AC will have a SEER rating of 13-14, while a mid-grade AC/heat pump is 18-19.

[@zodiacfml]

@@bensappliancesandjunk what a coincidence. i can't wait for these videos.

[@silence19999]

I've noticed with a lot of space heaters by plugging them into my killawatt meter that they don't actually draw up to their rated power. It does increase if i plug it in directly next to my breaker box but still not to the max level. I thought maybe it was a voltage issue but the voltage in my house ranges from 119 to 125 volts. So that doesn't seem like it would make that much of a difference.

[@bensappliancesandjunk]

I wonder if its an issue with the thermostat(s)? One thing I noticed with this test for example on the oil-filled heater is that it has a max draw of 1,500w, but over 16hrs didn't get close to that. I wonder that since it was about 2ft from the corner wall, if the heat reflected back onto it, and triggered it to stop running prematurely vs. the others that didnt rely so heavily on convection.

[@f_youtubecensorshipf_nazis]

I think they draw 12 amps maximum.

[@bensappliancesandjunk]

@@f_youtubecensorshipf_nazis maximum allowable is 1500w / 12.5a to ensure the breaker doesn't trip generally throughout all 120v heaters in the US. If you go past that, typically it immediately jumps to 240v/20a heaters and such

[@silence19999]

@@bensappliancesandjunk I know most space heaters have very poor thermostats. I've used so many of them over the years due to poor ductwork in my house so I've dealt with all kinds of junk lol. I've had heaters that keep thinking it's getting colder throughout the night and keep cranking up the temp so I wake up in a sweat. But that doesn't exactly explain why my 1500 watt heater is only drawing 1350 watts or so.

[@stephenbrickwood1602]

Price wise the simple wire heater must be the cheapest by far. Can you add that line to the last chart. Please.

[@outtadarkness1970]

Could I make a suggestion? The order of listing in the legend of the charts comparing the items tested should be the same as the order in which they were presented in the video. Otherwise, the material was very well presented. Thank you for another very informative, well documented video. ❤️🌻

[@bensappliancesandjunk]

Odd, I was certain that was addressed/fixed during editing. my apologies.

[@outtadarkness1970]

@@bensappliancesandjunk, Well, we are talking about KZbin... 😋

[@Resist4]

I'm not sure you are pronouncing the word "distribute" correctly. But I could be wrong. But in the end which heater was the best when you factor everything in, including cost of the heater.

[@jdrissel]

I suspect from looking at your FLIR footage that the battery in your FLIR camera is failing. I'M ON MY THIRD BATTERY. Not great and they don't provide directions but they aren't terribly hard to change. The battery is getting puffy and that's bending the circuit board just a little bit and that's why you can't get the optical edges overlay to line up with the heat signatures.

[@bensappliancesandjunk]

The wire frame images have always been odd. This one is mounted to my phone so I'm not sure if it's perfect. Usually if I remove the wire frame it looks more presentable though

[@defaultuserid1559]

Anything with a fan is going to get clogged up and require disassembly to clean properly, especially if you have pets. I get the cheap oil heaters and move the air if needed with small and cheap fans on the low setting. Avoid digital control heaters of any type because they won't come back on after a power fail.

[@FrankyRedEyes]

Oil heaters for me. They're silent and effective. Fan noise from other heaters is annoying to me. Radiant heaters are very bright and not suitable for bedrooms.

[@georgelincolnrockwell14]

12:20 the power consumption figures are off screen

[@sherrya6902]

So which is less expensive to run

[@BigEightiesNewWave]

The ones that have settings lower than 1500 Watts is what I look for. There are videos of people with Killawatt devices hooked up, showing power at lower settings. For some reason, he didn't think this was important, so I unsubbed.

[@thomasmeadows256]

The oil heater

[@ronin957alt2]

All fan/oscillating energy converts into heat via friction. With heaters there is no efficiency loss.

[@bensappliancesandjunk]

Yes, but how they project the heat differs, and you can see a ton of heat from the wire fan hitting the floor directly in front of the unit instead of the or other areas that could be an objective t warm.

[@ronin957alt2]

@@bensappliancesandjunk yes agree, and great video also. Just pointing out that even the cord getting warm is heat transfer into the room. Though it may be less desirable. Psa do not coil high draw electrical cords

[@sirsuse]

What are you waiting for? Watch the movie!

[@PowerScissor]

Don't you dare besmirch ye ol Kill-a-Watt. It's perfectly scientific!

[@spazzman90]

All electric heaters give roughly the same heat output per watt input, as is pretty well known by now. But one, the oil heater, has the distinct advantage of not frying the air and lowering the humidity. The more you lower the humidity, the higher you have to raise the temp to maintain comfort levels. This gives the oil heater an edge....

[@petermescher332]

Relative humidity drop is a function of heat rise. You take air that starts at a certain RH, raise it by the same number of degrees, it doesn't matter what kind of electric heater you use to do it, even a heat pump. "Frying the air" isn't A Thing.