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From: robert@fear.UUCP (Robert Plamondon)
Newsgroups: net.consumers
Subject: Re: Thermostats & Oil Filled heaters
Message-ID: <321@fear.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 14-Jan-86 12:34:21 EST
Article-I.D.: fear.321
Posted: Tue Jan 14 12:34:21 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 17-Jan-86 06:15:10 EST
References: <326@decwrl.DEC.COM> <447@mhuxl.UUCP>
Organization: Weitek Corp. Sunnyvale Ca.
Lines: 24

In article <447@mhuxl.UUCP>, smh@mhuxl.UUCP (henning) writes:
> Flame: If you want good control, don't use an oil-filled heater.  The
> oil is just there to add inertia to the system.

The oil's there to act as a good heat conductor so that the radiator
can dissipate 1500 watts with a low surface temperature, which makes
the heater more pleasant to be around and cuts the chance of the
heater setting something on fire to zero.

The main problem with the thermostats on oil-filled heaters (I have
one in my bedroom) is that the themostat is on the heater, so it
responds to the heater's surface temperature in addition to the room
air temperature.  This is unavoidable with portable heaters.  Using a
remote 110v thermostat is probably the way to go.

You can avoid temperature "overshoot" to an extent by running the
heater at the lowest-wattage setting that will still keep the room
warm.  This limits the amount of energy the oil has to dissipate
after the thermostat turns everything off
-- 

		Robert Plamondon
		UUCP: {turtlevax, resonex, cae780}!weitek!robert
		FidoNet: 143/12 robert plamondon