Heating

10 Electric Heat – General

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There are several main styles of fixed electric heating loads, including , , (in-floor heating) and , which is similar to , in that there is one source that distributes heat, usually by blowing warmed air through ductwork.

Electric heating loads are very reliable methods of heating a building. By passing current through a resistive element, our electric heaters produce heat proportional to the square of the applied voltage.

[latex]\text{P}=\dfrac{\text{E}^2}{\text{R}}[/latex]

This means that if you connect your heating load at half its rated voltage, you will produce one quarter of the power, or consequently if you connected at twice the loads rated voltage you would develop four times the rated power. It is for this reason that are connected at 240V, which is the line-to-line voltage inside most houses.

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Basic HVAC by Aaron Lee is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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