sizing electric baseboard heaters

beenthere

Thats not metric.

jerryh3

Isn't a Volt times an Amp a Volt-Ampere?

yuri

I was playing with words, LOL. Watt is named after James Watt a very smart guy: It is metric SI and is a rate of work see:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watt. Another genius is Brunel.see:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isambard_Kingdom_Brunel

Hard to imagine what the world would look like without the genius of Da Vinci, Edison, Marconi and these guys.

beenthere

It is, but it is used in a slightly different way.

hychesee

I agree with you 100% but would also like to say that even though the unit of power we call the the watt has been added into the International System (SI) aka system international which the metric system is just a part of and in and by itself does not include the "watt" per say.

Not to be a nitpicker but Elijah Craig should be included in with the great ones.

hychesee

Most rooms in the 150 sq.ft. range will be ok with a 1500 watt baseboard heater or less depending on insulation and cold air infiltration. Remember almost every baseboard heater is gonna be 240 volt, and no you can't run them on 120 volt unless you want a 375 watt heater.

My 750 watt oil filled portable heater will keep my well insulated 150sf bedroom warm when 10 degrees outside. With electric heaters costing 3 times that of natural gas it will cost you dearly though, $1 to $3 per day per heater would not be out of line = $120 to $360 per month

My entire house was baseboard heated and tore them all out, converted all those circuits into welder outlets instead. You never know when you need to build a diving helmet in the bathroom. I use a wood burner now.

Seriously though if you can't run 240v, you can do what I did and buy a few of those oil filled space heaters and have a special spot for them in the room during the winter and store them elsewhere for the rest of the year. Then you don't need to worry about furniture placement.

When I say special spot and if you have kids and such I mean build a small containment area where it can't be touched or knocked over. Think of the old expanded metal radiator covers from the days of yore.

drewhart

i was planning on using 240 volt lines, but if i did run 120 volt: 120 volt X 15 amp is 1800 watts. so if a 1500 watt heater was the only thing on the line, it should work right?

beenthere

You won't find a 1800 watt 120 volt heater.

You also wouldn't save any money, if you did find one.
It would still need to be on a 20 amp breaker, and would still need 12 guage wire.

jerryh3

But then he would have to use 240V wire instead of 120V wire. Isn't that more expensive?

yuri

The advantage of 240 volts is that you can use #14 wire instead of #12. Wire type/size is not sold according to voltage. The largest 120 volt heater is usually 1500 watts. 120 volts x 12 amps = 1440 watts. They size breakers with a safety margin, so it can safely use a standard 15 amp breaker.

beenthere

Makes no difference.

Standard Romex/NM wire he'll use is rated at 600 volts.

chris75

.......................

As a side note, this thread is just full of usefull information.

jerryh3

At least one person saw the humor in that.

chris75

I thought it was pretty funny, and the 2nd part of my comment was noway directed at you, just in case you thought differently...

jerryh3

I thought it was useful. At least everyone now knows that there isn't a difference between 120 and 240 wire. Now, 208 is a different story...