Electric room heating sugestions?

I'm building my basment rodent room, thats sealed off from the rest of the house, got its own ventilation outside, blah blah blah.

It might need its own heater to heat the little room, just so the little guys don't freeze, not sure yet until im 100% done with it. I put an extra outlet in for a heater if i need it, what do you guys suggest as far as heaters go? any type seem to do the job better than others? room is about 12 foot x 6 foot x 7 foot high.

thanks

I use an oil filled radiator I bought at Walmart for 34 bucks. Says it heats up to 12x16 so you should be good with that. Has it's own thermostat on it as well so no worries.

Your safest option is an oil filled heater!

Oil filled heater on a Ranco!

DONT skimp on the heater though....

The saying "you get what you pay for" has applied here with my oil filled heaters for sure!

Just make sure the heater doesn't draw more power than the thermostat can handle. I could keep my oil-filled heater on high with the Ranco, but when I switched to a Johnson with the nightdrop I had to turn the heater down to medium because it kept tripping the breaker on the powerstrip.

alrite thanks guys ill look into them if I end up needing it

Interesting!

My oil filled heaters pop my power strips on my Rancos when their set on high.

I can only run mine on Medium.

Therefore I have to have 2 Double Rancos running 2 oil filled heaters on medium.

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Originally Posted by m00kfu

Just make sure the heater doesn't draw more power than the thermostat can handle. I could keep my oil-filled heater on high with the Ranco, but when I switched to a Johnson with the nightdrop I had to turn the heater down to medium because it kept tripping the breaker on the powerstrip.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by 2kdime

Interesting!

My oil filled heaters pop my power strips on my Rancos when their set on high.

I can only run mine on Medium.

Therefore I have to have 2 Double Rancos running 2 oil filled heaters on medium.

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Now that I think about it, my original ranco's were bought from Jeff Ronne at Boaphile, while the Johnson's were bought from Reptile Basics. I'm guessing Boaphile's powerstrips handle a little more power before tripping compared to RBI's.

You could use you thermostat to control a relay or contactor and that would solve the problem of it tripping the thermostat.

I agree that an oil-filled radiator is the way to go. I have never used a thermostat on mine though.

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Originally Posted by jason79

You could use you thermostat to control a relay or contactor and that would solve the problem of it tripping the thermostat.

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:gj:

Be aware that on high, these things draw very close to 15 amps. You will probably need a seperate circuit for it. Also, from personal experience I had one melt the plug. Yeap, this thing melted and I saw bare wires from the plug to about 4 inches up the cord.

Please add a seperate smoke detector to protect your house. Make sure this one is also of good/great quality.

Good Luck!
Jim Smith

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Originally Posted by j_h_smith

Be aware that on high, these things draw very close to 15 amps. You will probably need a seperate circuit for it. Also, from personal experience I had one melt the plug. Yeap, this thing melted and I saw bare wires from the plug to about 4 inches up the cord.

Please add a seperate smoke detector to protect your house. Make sure this one is also of good/great quality.

Good Luck!
Jim Smith

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im a electrican by trade, got the power covered :), and if that heater is pulling 15 amps, then im just getting a normal heater with a element and a fan, heats a trailer bigger than my room and only pulls 7 or so amps.

smoke detector in a sealed room, in the basement? nah

Portable space heaters are limited to 1500 watts.

That's only 12.5A not 15 if you do the math.

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Originally Posted by OhhWatALoser

im a electrican by trade, got the power covered :), and if that heater is pulling 15 amps, then im just getting a normal heater with a element and a fan, heats a trailer bigger than my room and only pulls 7 or so amps.

smoke detector in a sealed room, in the basement? nah

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I think the idea is to get away from an element that heats up.

Why would you choose not to use a smoke detector? Since the room is not inhabited, I would want something to tell me that something is wrong.
But the choice is yours. Just curious.

Jim Smith

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Originally Posted by 2kdime

Portable space heaters are limited to 1500 watts.

That's only 12.5A not 15 if you do the math.

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That's if your electric company is sending you 120 vac, it's more if you recieve just 112 vac. Plus that's also factory tested, not 5 years after it's been in your basement. When elements get older they become less efficent, thus they use more electricity.

Jim Smith

Quote:

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Originally Posted by j_h_smith

I think the idea is to get away from an element that heats up.

Why would you choose not to use a smoke detector? Since the room is not inhabited, I would want something to tell me that something is wrong.
But the choice is yours. Just curious.

Jim Smith

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as long as the element is enclosed, whats the difference between it and the oil filled besides using twice as much current. and if its electric, there got to be an element somewhere, even in the oil filled.

and the smoke detector I would not hear. no point.

and the heater im thinking of has thermo-protection (personally i think every heater should but seems some don't i guess), works like the thermo-protection in your circuit breakers, unless a copper wire crawls up and bypasses it, it will never get hot enough to burn anything

Which heater is that?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by OhhWatALoser

as long as the element is enclosed, whats the difference between it and the oil filled besides using twice as much current. and if its electric, there got to be an element somewhere, even in the oil filled.

and the smoke detector I would not hear. no point.

and the heater im thinking of has thermo-protection (personally i think every heater should but seems some don't i guess), works like the thermo-protection in your circuit breakers, unless a copper wire crawls up and bypasses it, it will never get hot enough to burn anything

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ill try to get a brand name but their on every big contruction site i've been on