Propane Heaters Guide

Propane heaters are another popular choice when it comes to heating a room, office or home. Due to their reliability, efficiency and superb heat output, propane heaters are used for heating in many different situations and are an excellent choice for just about any heating need. In this article we'll look at the various types of propane heaters, and what you need to know about researching, purchasing and using a propane heater.

There are several different types of heaters that can run on propane, and while these all fall under the "propane heater" category, they can vary in significant ways. Let's take a look at the different types of heaters and see why their differences matter.

The first type of propane heater is called a convection heater. Convection heaters work by using the principles of the air and convective heat transfer. That may sound a bit confusing, but don't worry, it's actually fairly simple. If you've ever used a convection oven, you might have a good idea already of what exactly happens.

To put things simply, the convective principles of air state that when air is heated, it becomes less dense than the surrounding air, and rises. The colder air then falls to take its place at the lower elevation. What this means in a practical sense is that when you turn on a convection heater, the air in the room it is in will start to circulate. The air close to the heater will be warmed and heated, and this air will rise to the top of the room. The colder air will then flow down to the heater, become warm, rise and the cycle repeats itself.

The benefits of using a convection propane heater are that it operates almost silently, and does a very thorough job of heating a room or office. In addition, since the heater warms the air in the room, the heat will linger for quite some time even after the heater is switched off. This allows for more efficient heating, as the heater does not have to be running the entire time.

The main drawbacks to using a convection heater is that it can take a good amount of time for the heater to heat a room completely. Since the heat generated by the heater rises to the top of the room, it can take a while for the heat to be noticeable. If you need to heat a room quickly, a convection heater should probably not be your first choice.

Another heater to mention here is what's called a fan heater or forced air heater. This type of heater is also a convection heater, but it uses a small fan to force the air away, rather than just letting the natural air flow occur. This causes the heater to work a bit more quickly than a standard convection heater. Fan and forced air heaters are more popular in electric convection heaters, but I'm sure there are some forced air propane heaters as well.

Infrared and radiant propane heaters are the next type of heaters in this category. They both work in similar ways, and in fact there's really very little difference between the two types. Radiant and infrared heaters work by emitting heat via electromagnetic waves (also known as infrared waves) that are given off by a radiant heat source, such as a filament or wire mesh. These infrared waves travel through the air and are converted into heat when they are absorbed by a solid object, such as a person or a piece of furniture.

The difference in radiant heaters and convection heaters is that radiant heaters do not heat the air. The waves they emit travel through the air and are only converted into heat when they hit a solid object. (To be perfectly scientifically correct, I should mention that a small amount of heat is absorbed by particles in the air, but this is a negligible amount.)

What this means to you is that radiant heaters will heat a room much more quickly than convection heaters will. As soon as you turn the radiant heater on you're going to start to feel the warming effect. The drawback to this is that as soon as you turn the heater off the warming effect goes away. Since the air itself is not warm, the heat given off by the heater will dissipate very quickly. This means that you will pretty much have to run the heater the whole time that you need the room heated, and this can be less efficient than convection heaters.

The number one advantage to propane heaters is that they do not require electricity to run, which makes them much more reliable over the long run than electric heaters. You don't want to have all of the heat in your house get knocked out during a winter storm. For this reason, it's generally recommended that you use propane or gas heating for the primary heating system in your home. At the very least, if you're going to use electric heaters, you should definitely have a propane or gas backup.

Drawbacks of using propane heaters are that they have an open flame, which can be a safety hazard, and they are generally not portable, unless you get one that attaches to a small propane tank, like the radiant propane heater pictured above. Additionally, propane may be more expensive than electricity, depending on where you live.

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