Convector type heaters

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The Russian market of heating equipment offers the consumer dozens of types and hundreds of varieties of heating appliances for domestic, technical and industrial purposes. The high demand for heating units is due to the fact that in winter, even in the southern regions of Russia, the operation of housing without artificial heating is impossible.

A large niche in the heating equipment market is occupied by convection household heaters — reliable and constantly improving units, differing in design, but united by a common characteristic — the use of convection for space heating.

Let us consider in more detail convector heating, the most common types of convector heatersthem pros and cons, including in terms of the effectiveness of the application for heating housing.

The phenomenon of convection

One of the conditions for the comfort of staying in the room is the temperature regime corresponding to the purpose of the room. If we are talking about the winter period, then it implies the need to warm up the air in the housing to a certain temperature value, which is achieved with the help of household heaters.

Of the existing methods of heating air in residential premises, those are used that do not have a negative impact on humans and do not create a fire or explosion hazard. For example, heating a living room with the heat of an open flame of a fire is not acceptable for obvious reasons, but the same fire in a fireplace or stove will heat the walls of the furnace, which will give off heat to the air in the room, and this method of heating a home is widespread.

To increase the temperature in the room, it is necessary to contact the air with a hotter object than it, which will transfer heat to it — heat exchange. This is achieved in two ways:

an object (a heat exchanger in the design of a heating device) is heated by converting the energy of the coolant into heat — burning fuel or passing electric current through a conductor with high resistance;
objects and enclosing structures in the room are heated by the radiation of infrared heaters and become heat exchangers — heat sources.

In both cases, so-called convective currents, causing convector heating. Air, in contact with hot objects, heats up and increases in volume. Since the heated air has a lower density value, it rushes up, being replaced by cold air.

At a stable high temperature of the heat exchanger, this process occurs continuously and is called convection.

What is convection in heating. Heated air moves from the radiator-heat exchanger or objects heated by infrared radiation upwards, and cold (cooling hot) downwards. Liquids behave similarly when in contact with a heat exchanger, therefore their circulation during heating is also called convection.

Types of heating convectors

Any convector-type heater has a long list of characteristics, primary and secondary:

type of energy carrier used to heat the heat exchanger;
heat dissipation power;
degree of automation equipment;
security class;
design execution at the place of installation;
mobility;
dimensions;
the weight;
decoration class.

According to this list, heating convectors can, if desired, be divided into many subspecies, but for practical use there is no need for such a breakdown.

Since it is not easy to choose a convector heater among dozens of types offered by manufacturers, we will consider the main groups of these units that combine equipment according to the main parameter — the type of energy carrier.

Water convector heaters

Heating convectors using water as a heat carrier are popular due to their safety and ease of operation — no substances are released during the operation of these units, and their use does not require special knowledge and skills from the consumer. The most common example of such devices is water heating radiators connected to a central or autonomous heating system.

Water convector heaters are a radiator-heat exchanger with water (antifreeze), smooth or finned — to increase the heat transfer area. There is no heating element in its design — hot water circulates through the radiator, which is an element of the heating circuit, and heats its body. The air masses in contact with the body heat up and rise upwards, forming convection currents.

Such water heating convectors can be represented by cast-iron radiators familiar to all or similar in size, but more advanced bimetallic devices with a double case.

A cast-iron prefabricated sectional radiator is reliable and durable, but inferior to bimetallic convectors in terms of efficiency and aesthetics.

Important! Cast iron radiators are also made of high-class artistic performance, but their price is ten times higher than the cost of standard models.

Bimetal water convectors are a steel tank placed in an aluminum shell.

The inner steel tank can withstand the coolant pressure well, and the outer shell and aluminum fins provide better heat transfer.

More compact convective heaters are skirting board water convectorswhich are modern devices based on copper pipes with fins made of aluminum plates, mounted on a supporting base and decorated with a decorative outer panel.

Despite their compactness, the dimensions of the skirting board heaters are still disproportionately larger than the dimensions of the skirting board, so they owe their name, rather, to the place of installation — along the walls at a short distance from the floor.

The improved baseboard-type water convector radiators are equipped with a fan that accelerates natural convection.

Water convectors also used for heating of premises of significant dimensions — industrial, utility and auxiliary, but these are units of much greater power, in which the level of decorative performance fades into the background.

The power of water convectors for the possibility of heating rooms of a large area is increased by increasing the dimensions of the radiator, including the diameter and length (configuration) of heat conductors, and the finning area.

Important! In the heating system of seasonal residences, antifreeze is used as a coolant to avoid defrosting of the circuit. The use of water obliges to empty the system before the onset of frost.

Electric convection heating units

In second place in terms of prevalence of application are electric convector household heaters. Their popularity is also justified — the operation of electric convectors is not accompanied by factors harmful to humans, does not require fuel procurement, as well as additional room equipment with a chimney and exhaust hood.

By and large, such units include oil radiators, and wall-mounted monolithic decorative stone-like panels, and picture heaters, and many more devices that run on electricity and initiate the occurrence of convective flows in the room. These devices have individual characteristics, and therefore each of them needs to be considered separately.

In this article, we will consider the type of electrical appliances, which is most often called a heater in everyday life.-electroconvector.

The main differences between the models of such electric convectors are the power and the degree of mobility (installation method). Wall-mounted and built-in devices have brackets for static attachment to the base, floor devices have support stands or wheels for ease of movement, skirting boards have brackets or stands (depending on mobility).

Device

Heating electric convectors consist of a metal case, called a convection chamber, and a heating element installed in it. The heating element is mounted without contact with the body, so there is no need to ground the heater.

For safety reasons, there is a heat-shielding shell made of heat-resistant plastic between the heating element and the housing walls, which reduces the surface temperature of the device to safe values. The room is heated by natural convection initiated by the heater — there is no fan in the design of the device in order to ensure its noiseless operation.

1 — front panel, 2 — deflector (static or adjustable) for the removal of heated air, 3 — switch, 4 — temperature controller control, 5 — thermostat electronic board, 6 — closed type heating element, 7 — temperature sensor.

Temperature control methods

The convectors are equipped with thermostats (mechanical or electronic), which turn the heater on/off according to the signals from the temperature sensors.

Mechanical thermostats work in tandem with a temperature sensor on the case, which monitors only the heating of the device, without reference to the air temperature in the room.

Advanced models of convectors are completed electronic thermostats, tracking, in addition to heating the case, and the temperature regime in the room — according to the signals of the sensors installed in the room. Such devices allow you to maintain the temperature manually set by the consumer in the room with fluctuations in magnitude of no more than 1 degree. If there are several such convectors in the room, a common electronic control unit is mounted, which regulates the temperature regime according to the signals of the temperature sensors by turning on / off and adjusting the power of all heaters.

The mechanical thermostat allows you to set the temperature in the room by trial setting values on the regulator, increasing or decreasing the intensity of heating. The electronic thermostat sets the numerical value of the air temperature.

Depending on the performance class, electric convectors can be equipped with other useful options that increase the convenience of controlling the device and the characteristics of the air environment:

a timer that automatically turns the heater on and off at the time specified by the consumer;
a device for humidifying the air in the room to neutralize the operation of the heating element;
remote control system with wireless remote control;
light indication of working devices.

Advantages and disadvantages of electric convectors

Convector heating with electric units is widespread due to the predominance of the advantages of these devices over the negative characteristics.

Pros:

ease of alerting and operation — plugging the cord into a power outlet;
minimum participation of the consumer in the heating process;
no need for special maintenance and preventive maintenance;
noiselessness in work;
durability — 10 years or more;
availability of the price range;

Minuses:

the significance of the energy consumption of all models;
use as the main means of heating is possible only with the thoughtful installation of several heaters;
combustion of dust on open heating elements is accompanied by an unpleasant odor.

Important! A thick layer of dust accumulated on the heater when the heater is turned on can cause a fire.

*
The described electric heaters of convective action are not pure convectors. The heating element, in contact with the air, initiates the movement of convective currents in the room, but at the same time it also heats the body of the unit. Any hot object is a source of infrared radiation, the intensity of which depends only on the temperature of the emitter, therefore, electric convectors are, to some extent, infrared heaters that heat objects by exposure to infrared radiation, but the participation of these rays in the heating process is very small.

Convective infrared heaters

These advanced electric convectors are units whose efficiency has been increased by increasing the proportion of heating provided by infrared radiation.

So convectively infrared electroa heater is a unit for combined heating of a room, that is, with the excitation of convection and the simultaneous use of infrared radiation.

The main «highlight» of convective infrared devices is the presence of two heating elements in the heater. These can be two identical heaters with a special coating that enhances the intensity of infrared radiation, or a pair of devices with different operating principles — a heating element and a radiant panel.

The unit with two identical heaters has a perforated front panel for maximum IR penetration. In convectors with heaters of various types, the source of infrared waves is a radiant panel under a black decorative cladding — to enhance the radiation intensity.

1 — electronic control unit; 2 — all-metal cast heating element that initiates air convection; 3 — shock-resistant front panel with plate emitters of IR waves.

Advantages and disadvantages of a convective infrared heater

Pros:

durability and functionality — if one of the heater fails, the device, albeit with less efficiency, can continue to be used;
higher efficiency than conventional electric convectors
rapid heating of rooms.

Minus:

relatively high cost — from 5 thousand rubles.

Gas convector heaters

A convector-type gas heater is a device for space heating, the principle of which is based on heating the air flow when it passes through a recuperative heat exchanger heated by the combustion products of gas, liquefied or natural.

Convector heating with a gas heater is carried out as follows — gas is supplied to the burner in a closed-type combustion chamber and ignited from a burning igniter, which, in turn, must first be ignited by pressing the button of the piezoelectric device.

The heater is equipped with a coaxial chimney — a pipe in a pipe, through which two gas flows move towards each other — air from the street to the burner, and gas combustion products out.

Wall-mounted gas convectors are mounted on the inner surface of the outer wall in the room planned for heating — over the previously made hole for the coaxial chimney.

Convectors for heating with gas are produced in two types of convection — natural and forced.

In units with forced convection, air is blown into the heat exchanger for heating by a fan, with natural convection flows are formed without consumer intervention.

The price of a gas convector depends on the class of its execution. The most expensive units are class C1 devices — with a closed combustion chamber and forced convection, class B11 heaters (natural convection and connection to a conventional chimney) are much cheaper.

Conclusion

The assignment of only some types of household heaters to convectors is very conditional — there are no heating devices whose operation would not entail the formation of convective flows. But when choosing a means of heating, one should take into account the size of the convection component in the efficiency of the unit.

Heating of small rooms is quite within the power of units with natural convection; in rooms of significant dimensions (industrial purposes) one cannot do without several such devices or heat guns — devices with forced convection.

The main essence of the article

To talk about the convectorOh, need to know, what convection, and how this is helps heating.
Although the principle of operation all convectors is based on the formation of convective flows, in everyday life only a few types of heating devices are called convector heaters.
Water convectors are reliable devices, improved over several decades of operation to heating units of high efficiency and safety.
Electric convection heaters are modern equipment that is not tied to fuel reserves and does not require special knowledge from the consumer.
Convective-infrared heaters are combined heating units that use the phenomenon of convection in parallel with infrared radiation.
Gas convectors are heaters that are economical only in terms of the cost of the energy carrier. In fact, heat losses through a coaxial chimney with gas combustion products are significant.
When choosing heating equipment, you should consider the pros and cons various kinds convector heaters. At the same time, it must be remembered that convector heating units that are not equipped with forced air injection into the heat exchanger are inferior in efficiency to heating devices with fans, and the difference in price of these devices is fully justified.

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