Hi all,

(This is not Vanagon-related but I don't know another pool of engineers
and scientists to write to, so I'm writing here for help.)

It's pretty cold here in Bend, Oregon, and the house that her son is
renting is colder than he'd like. It's an older house, built cheaply,
and only has electric baseboard heaters -- no gas, no fireplace.

Mrs Elliott has been looking at electric heaters and asks whether some
put out more heat than others. "1500 Watts is 1500 Watts, same BTUs" I sez.

I sez, "It doesn't matter whether the heating elements are fifteen
one-hundred Watt light bulbs, or whether the heating elements are put in
an oil bath; it doesn't matter whether they write the words `infrared'
or `quartz' on the enclosure: you'll put the same heat into the room.
All heaters are alike in terms of heat output.

"Sure, an infrared heater can be `aimed' directly at your body, which is
real nice; and others have blowers that can direct the heated air and
stir the air to keep the colder air from pooling on the floor, but in
terms of how warm the overall air in the room eventually gets, all 1500
Watt heaters are the same."

That's what I sez. But she knows I'm a bit of an idiot sometimes and is
tempted by expensive 1500 Watt heaters, thinking there must be a reason
why they promote this quartz or that oil-filled feature. She points out
that when you turn off an oil-filled heater, it still radiates heat for
quite some time afterwards; I point out that the slow cooling is matched
by slower warming.

Can the engineers and scientists in the room comment on this matter? So
that This Marriage Can Be Saved? If I'm wrong, I'm wrong.

(Probably don't want to clutter up the list with this, please email to
me directly.)

--
Jack "Rocket j Squirrel" Elliott
1984 Westfalia, auto trans,
Bend, Ore.