Are electric fire stoves energy efficient

Cliona2012

Hi

Was looking at this http://www.did.ie/dimplex-optiflame-stove-ewt20-prd

Would i guzzle up the electricity?

Sir Arthur Daley

It would use up a few units for sure, a solid fuel stove would be far more economical.

coylemj

OP, to answer your question: Yes, an electric 'fire' is very efficient since almost 100% of the energy is converted to heat, a tiny amount is converted to light which is the red glow. But I think you may be really asking if there are more cost effective methods of producing the same amount of heat and as Arthur Daley has said above, a wood stove might produce the same heat for a lower cost.

Economy (cost of producing a given amount of heat) and efficiency (energy out vs. energy in) are different metrics.

Bruthal

coylemj wrote: »

OP, to answer your question: Yes, an electric 'fire' is very efficient since almost 100% of the energy is converted to heat,

It may convert the electricity almost 100% to heat. But it is a device at the end of a process, not itself the entire process.

It could possibly be considered, that the end user pays for the entire conversion from generation to heating element, with its associated inefficiencies, so the overall picture is not really included when people are told electric heaters are 100% efficient.

Cliona2012

so how much would iit cost to run

Stoner

Cliona2012

First of all they cost more than most types of heating, however they are very easy to control. You can turn them on and off as you need them and they heat up very quickly.

If you use them in an area where you don't heat a lot then they are convenient, but in a living room or bed room they are not great as you'll need them every night or every day. If they are in a room you dont use much and can close off you can simply turn it off in that room and in that regard they can be come a cost effective solution.

They could be well suited to a room that you can close off and not use much, like a gym, home office or possibly a dining room.

You pay for your heating on KW hour basis, say that is 25 cent per KW hour

There are 1000 Watts in a KW so if you had a 500 W panel heater on at full load for an hour it would cost half a KW hour. 25/2 cent

However if the room heats up the heater will turn on and off as needed itself so in might only be "on" for 30min in an hour, this would be for a basic panel heater

For an electric heater with more than one element, bars of heat etc will be different, for example a two bar 1000W heater would only use 500W if you were only using one bar.

Usually with electric heating its either all on or all off its not like a solid fuel heating system where there is a consistent amount of heat being generated.

So for heating primary living space they are expensive as units of gas and oil are is cheaper to buy then electricity, but in an infrequently used room they can be cost effective to install and you'll only pay when you need them

lgk

From the SEAI numbers, a delivered KWh of heat from a domestic gas heating system costs less than 9c, oil a little under 10c. Typical cost for electrical heating is 64c per KWh delivered!

This heater would cost 35-40c per hour on the 2KW setting.

Cliona2012

thank you all