Tips for Buying a Portable Heater
As temperatures start to go down in the autumn, and then winter months, heater options need to be available for different buildings, or job sites that don’t have permanent heating in place. You could be looking for a heater for a construction site, or you could have a warehouse that needs a little extra boost of heat in colder months. Whatever need you have for portable industrial heaters, here are some tips for buying the right portable heater for your needs.
Types of Portable Heaters
There are three main types of portable heaters: convection, providing even whole-room heating; radiant, quick small space heating; fan-forced heaters, using a fan across a heating element; and micathermic heaters for fast widespread heat in a small form factor. Generally, for office spaces, you are likely going to be using either a convection heater or a radiant heater depending on the size of the location. For portable industrial heaters, you are more likely to use fan-forced heaters for sustained heat in a large area, or less often a micathermic heater for fast widespread heat when you don’t have much space to spare for the heater and don’t need to heat a large location.
Choosing the Right Size of Heater for Your Situation
All heaters are rated by how much heat they can generate for a given area of space, generally in the units of BTU (British Thermal Unit), and W (Watts) or kW (kiloWatts.) The most common portable industrial heaters you find will range from using 4000 BTU (for small office spaces), up to 200,000 BTUs (for large construction sites, outdoors, and warehouses). When looking for portable industrial heaters for your needs, you need to consider the size of the area that you want to heat, how much you want to increase the temperature, and how long you have to heat up the area. The higher the BTU, and kW usage the larger of an area you can heat, or the faster you can heat a certain area, but you also need a higher amp power source for electric heaters. For example, a 30kW heater in triple-phase will offer 102,300 BTUs and requires a power source that is 480 volt and provides 3 phase 36 amps through a 50 amp 3-phase power cord. With a 30kW heater you can expect in a 1,000 sq. ft. area a temperature rise of 20F in 23 minutes, or 40F in 46 minutes, and in a 2,000 sq. ft. area a temperature rise of 20F in 47 minutes, and 40F in 94 minutes.
Ensure Safe Operations through Safety Features
Safety features are very important with portable industrial heaters, since the heaters take such large amounts of electricity, but also are extremely hot to the touch internally, meaning fires and burns can occur easily if proper safety isn’t followed. When looking at portable industrial heaters, especially fan-forced heaters, there should be safety grills on all sides to ensure nobody can just put their hand inside the device. As well, there should be high-limit thermal cutout switches, to ensure if the device overheats it turns itself off. Proper power cabling needs to be used as well, with thick insulation, twist-lock ends, and proper 50 amp rating when needed.
Energy Efficiency Options
If you are heating multiple rooms, you should invest in a heater distribution panel, so that each heater is hooked up to a central controller. It’s a waste of energy to just have the heater going all the time, so the distribution panel you use should be thermostat controlled so that the portable industrial heaters are automatically turned off when the desired temperature is reached.
If you are looking for high quality portable industrial heaters with heater distribution panel options, and safety features, visit KCD Energy today and check out the selection. Contact us to know more information.