diy solar

diy solar

Energy Efficient Heater

rhino said:
Well it does seem like there will be much more options for COLD climates next year.. under the program Trane field tested one last year:
Lab tests for Trane’s CCHP prototype were performed at the DOE’s Oak Ridge National Lab Facility in temperatures as low as -23°F, which surpassed the mandatory -20°F DOE requirement. Even as temperatures moved beyond the trial scope, the prototype continued to operate at a high performance
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I have been following the progress and I hope they are successful.

I think you will find the Trane (and Mitsubish) units are getting around the threshold by using an inline resistance heater to boost output below freezing but that also also takes more power.

The reason I don't recommend them for cold climates as a primary source is because current models struggle below freezing but also because they are complicated pieces of equipment that an average homeowner can't repair and replacement parts are not off the shelf like other heat sources.

JMO and I know other people swear by them!
 
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rafter_01 said:
Hi All,

New to this forum, and I have a question on buying an efficient indoor heater.

My current setup is 2x Ecoflow Delta Pros connected to a Smart Home Panel and Solar 3KW setup.

Currently I am using a traditional heater, a 2kw fan heater, and it eats up the battery of the Delta Pros which is super annoying.

Can you guys recommend an efficient heater for indoor which has decent output but runs on low power? I have seen the Ecoflow WAVE 2 and its brilliant but the price for it is way of over my budget.

Any advice will be appreciated.

Thanks
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I think you’ll find most plug in electric heaters are 1500-1800w.
I do have one that has a low and high, I run on low and it kept the main area of the RV at 70 last night when it was in the 30s outside. And we haven’t put our skirting up yet.
It runs at 700-900w when on low.

Oil fill radiator comes out when it’s in the teens or lower
 
G00SE said:
I think you’ll find most plug in electric heaters are 1500-1800w.
I do have one that has a low and high, I run on low and it kept the main area of the RV at 70 last night when it was in the 30s outside. And we haven’t put our skirting up yet.
It runs at 700-900w when on low.

Oil fill radiator comes out when it’s in the teens or lower
Click to expand...
I just got one that will run on 500, 1000 or 1500 watts.

I use it as a dump load on winter days when I have excess sunshine to use instead of propane.
 
Solarcabin Channel said:
I just got one that will run on 500, 1000 or 1500 watts.

I use it as a dump load on winter days when I have excess sunshine to use instead of propane.
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I’ll have to track that down. 500w in the morning would be nice. May have a fighting chance at making coffee with it still on ?
 
G00SE said:
I’ll have to track that down. 500w in the morning would be nice. May have a fighting chance at making coffee with it still on ?
Click to expand...
It is a Heat-Wave brand and on low it reads 450 watts and has a thermostat.

Just enough to take the chill off and I put it on high for a few minutes at a time when the battery is full.
 
Here we go with the heat pumps don't work in cold climates, that was the case 20 years ago but it is not anymore. Many of them will work to below zero fahrenheit. But yes they do have crankcase heaters to stop them freezing themselves up and will sometimes do a defrost mode.
 
Nice little electric space heater! I use propane as my primary heat source but in the day time when the sun shines I always have excess power. So when I was shopping yesterday I spied this electric space heater that uses less than 500 watts on low or 1000 on medium and 1500 watts on high and has a fan and thermostat.

So I grabbed the last one to try it out. On low it actually pulls 450 watts and I am sitting on my couch having my morning coffee without having the propane heater running or wearing my sweats.

I am going to use this as a dump load for one of my systems on sunny winter days when I just need to take the chill off and I can run it on high for a few minutes to heat the whole cabin or on low and just sit it by the couch.

I also pulled out my electric blanket and put the propane heater on low and used the blanket under my quilt. Slept like a baby and it has an auto shut off and uses about 50 watts on low.

The heater brand is Heat-Wave but I can't find them online.

The electric blanket is a Rellorus on Amazon and well made. Used it all through last winter.
 

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When I had my boat and I was out of harbor I had several options. #1 electric blanket #2 diesel heater(previously a Buddy heater) #3 MarineAir heat pump.
The electric blanket had next to no effect on my battery but my face was cold and I procrastinated in wanting to get out of bed to freeze. The Buddy heater was almost too good because low wasn’t low enough and could overheat a stateroom. It stunk from the burnt odorant, had to keep a window cracked for a little fresh air but when the wind blew there were cold drafts. Also had wet condensation on all the windows. One of those small diesel heaters from Amazon worked great but they are a potential fire hazard to trust within the boat so it sat in a metal box on deck and fire detection within. The water to air marine heat pump was reasonably efficient but it would eat my batteries in a day and and then I’d have to start the generator. But it was quiet and conditioned every room in the boat. It was mostly used in harbor. Before I had the heat pump I used those little resistive heaters and oil filed radiators but again they were hard on the battery. I found the radiator type useless because the heat was so localized and took so long for it to work. The resistance/fan type could at least move air around. If I still had the boat, knowing what I know now, I’d probably install the smallest residential mini split I could find just for the stateroom.
 
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rafter_01 said:
Hi All,

New to this forum, and I have a question on buying an efficient indoor heater.

My current setup is 2x Ecoflow Delta Pros connected to a Smart Home Panel and Solar 3KW setup.

Currently I am using a traditional heater, a 2kw fan heater, and it eats up the battery of the Delta Pros which is super annoying.

Can you guys recommend an efficient heater for indoor which has decent output but runs on low power? I have seen the Ecoflow WAVE 2 and its brilliant but the price for it is way of over my budget.

Any advice will be appreciated.

Thanks
Click to expand...
Hey can you tell us what you want to heat?
 
KITROBASKIN said:
Hey can you tell us what you want to heat?
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its mainly when i'm WFH and need a heater for the room I am using. Been used to using a 1300w heater for so long but now with my Ecoflow set up i have become a little worried its going to drain my batteries.
 
pvgirl said:
Mitsubishi has heat pumps that will provide heating to -13F, and full capacity to -5f, which will work for plenty of climates, and still have a COP of 1.99 at those temperatures.
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I have seen some advertised to heat down to -20 degrees. Would be good for cold climates.
this one boasts -22f. I have never tried one,

I personally use a groundloop to air system which I love.
 
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Paraffin inverter heaters are pretty good if you can get paraffin and if you’re not sensitive to the very small amount of fumes. Even though C1 paraffin is now excruciatingly expensive. (Uk) they work out at about 20p per kW. More expensive than gas but cheaper than mains electricity. Cheaper still if you burn heating kerosene but that can block the burners and also kicks out more fumes. You have to be aware that they also suck a lot of oxygen out of the room. I can’t mine over about 10-11 degree setting otherwise I start feeling rather ‘high’. That’s high enough to warm up the conservatory so you can sit in it all day though so don’t think the room itself feels as low as 10deg.
 
Quattrohead said:
Here we go with the heat pumps don't work in cold climates, that was the case 20 years ago but it is not anymore. Many of them will work to below zero fahrenheit. But yes they do have crankcase heaters to stop them freezing themselves up and will sometimes do a defrost mode.
Click to expand...
It's getting to the point of just pointing people to certain other threads and calling it a day. At some point, and I think I'm just about there, I suppose it's time to pack it in and let people do whatever they want to do. Sigh...
 
Madcodger said:
It's getting to the point of just pointing people to certain other threads and calling it a day. At some point, and I think I'm just about there, I suppose it's time to pack it in and let people do whatever they want to do. Sigh...
Click to expand...
Not all heat pumps are created equal and some have poor performance in cold climate areas and most still require a backup heat source.

They are also a complicated piece of equipment that an average homeowner will not be able to repair or get off the shelf parts.

I am not against heat pumps and for moderate climates where you need both AC and some heating they are the best thing out there.

They are just not the best solution for all climates or situations and people should know the facts and research the different types and efficiencies of heat pumps before purchasing IMO.

A lot of the efficiency will depend on the home where it is installed. If your house has poor insulation and drafts no heat source will be efficient and that needs to be addressed first.

The technology is improving with more subsidies and hopefully it will replace old inefficient heaters and be something a homeowner can repair in the future.

Here is the NREL field test results:
 
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If someone were ONLY planning to use it in very cold weather, it may make sense not to recommend a heat pump over a resistive electric heater. A heat pump at its WORST is similarly efficient to a resistive heater, but never actually worse than a resistive heater as far as i know.

If you're going to use its cooling function, or use it regularly in the 20f+ temp range, it justifies itself i think. It would only be in the harshest ambient temp conditions where its extra cost and complexity was giving no real benefit vs resistive heat. Just my .02.
 
rafter_01 said:
Hi All,

New to this forum, and I have a question on buying an efficient indoor heater.

My current setup is 2x Ecoflow Delta Pros connected to a Smart Home Panel and Solar 3KW setup.

Currently I am using a traditional heater, a 2kw fan heater, and it eats up the battery of the Delta Pros which is super annoying.

Can you guys recommend an efficient heater for indoor which has decent output but runs on low power? I have seen the Ecoflow WAVE 2 and its brilliant but the price for it is way of over my budget.

Any advice will be appreciated.

Thanks
Click to expand...
I don’t know your situation or what size room your trying heat.

I’ll probably catch hell for this but those Chinese diesel heaters put out a lot of heat for electricity used.

You could mount everything outside and just direct the heat inside.
I keep my garage quite toasty when it’s cold out.

Zone heating is by far the best on a power budget.
The smaller the area heated/cooled the better.

The heat blanket is a good idea.

If your trying to heat a 1500 sq ft space then probably a mini split.

The more space you can cordon off with hanging plastic or Mylar, door the better.

If not then get the most efficient unit possible.
 
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