Cadet 240V Baseboard heaters ???


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Old 02-06-16, 12:03 PM
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Cadet 240V Baseboard heaters ???

I have a 3 apartment building I've had an electrician wire for electric heat, he put in 20 AMP lines for 240 volt baseboard heaters which are installed in each room. The Cadet heaters we used are sold at Menards and come in 3 sizes- 30", 48" and 72", and two voltages. He told me the 240 volt are the better buy because they basically generate the same amount of heat for half the cost.

All went well and good, and a lot of work and money down the road we're finally getting to the point where we can use these heaters. But they don't warm the apartments! Its absolutely bizarre.

For example, I have a small 12' x 12' room upstairs where I've put in a 48" Cadet baseboard electric, and left it on HIGH all day long.
When you go up to the heater, you can feel the heat. But the room is just not warm, even by end of day. Its really kind of an unexpected disaster- how could I possibly have anticipated that.
Plain plug-in sealed oil heaters seem to put out way more heat, and even when I'm renovating I'm hunkering in the room with the oil heater cause the Cadet rooms are chilly.

They are hooked up with individual Cadet thermostats "double pole", and I wired them exactly as in the instructions. Could there be something else wrong, or do these heaters just suck, and I'm screwed? The first renter is already complaining about the cold, and this has been a relatively mild winter. In that apartment there are two large Cadet 48" heaters and basically its just a two room unit and a bathroom- very small.
Returning really isn't an option at this point :/
Thanks for input.
 
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Old 02-06-16, 12:20 PM
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He told me the 240 volt are the better buy because they basically generate the same amount of heat for half the cost.
What ?!!!???! I don't believe an electrician said that. With electric heat..... every dollar you spend on heat you get back as heat. There is no efficiency factor as there is no flue for the heat to escape.

The advantage of using 240v heaters is that the wiring can be much smaller saving on wiring costs. A 120v 1000w heater puts out the same heat and uses the same amount of energy as a 240v 1000w heater.


Normally.... a four foot 240v baseboard heater is 1000watts. That is only 3400 BTU's/hour.

A 12'x12' room should have at least a 1500w heater in it. The good thing is you can just add an additional heater. You don't have to change what you have. I would add a second four foot heater right on the end of the original one. (depending on wire sized installed)

You cannot have too much electric heat in a room. Like I mentioned.... every dollar you spend in energy you get in heat. More heat will allow the room to heat faster and be better able to maintain a set temperature.

The heat should also have been mounted on the cold side of the room..... like under the windows.
 
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Old 02-06-16, 12:40 PM
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I would also check with a meter to make sure you really do have 24o volts. It is possible that something was wired incorrectly.

PJmax is correct. Rule of thumb is 10 watts per square foot of room space. This is for an average insulated space.
 
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Old 02-06-16, 12:46 PM
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Well I paid for supplies, so he didn't save any money on smaller wires. The building has concrete walls pretty thick and storm windows so it should be OK on insulation.
But why would the wiring be smaller carring a higher voltage heater? I would think it would be the opposite.

I think the thinking is the 120 volt heater would consume double the current or amperage for the same amount of heat, as this guy discusses (but does not necessarily agree)

The Truth About Money Saving Electric Heaters

What I was mainly suspicious of was, would the 120 volt heaters be hotter than the 240 volt, all things being equal? Because otherwise these baseboards seem feeble indeed. The 'gills' on the old water heat registers they are replacing are far larger for instance. And no I'm not going back to water heat, because that can't be split in the building and I am not paying everyone's heat while they fight over the thermostat and leave the windows open all winter when I'm not looking :P
And double so after I spent all this money on electric. The electrician was mainly hired to split the building into 3 electric meters, which he did well, the heater wiring was more of an extra job.
 
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Old 02-06-16, 12:53 PM
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A 1000w 120volt heater gets just as hot as 1000w 240volt heater.
A watt of heat is a watt of heat.

A 1000w heater draws approx 8.2A at 120v.
A 1000w heater draws approx 4.1A at 240v.

Using 240v heaters allow you to put more/larger heaters on a circuit based on same sized wire.
 
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Old 02-06-16, 01:00 PM
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So it would draw less amps, but produce the same amount of heat.
If the power company charged by amps therefore, half the bill.
If....

Sure you can add additional heaters, but each one takes up 4 feet of wall space in an already small apartment. These are efficiencies. They need walls to back bookcases and beds against.
Unless I can mount them on top of each other vertically....
 
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Old 02-06-16, 01:00 PM
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How's paying the electric bills in these units?
If it's the tenents I'd bet your going to have a hard time keeping them.
By far electric baseboards the most expencive way to heat.
 
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Old 02-06-16, 01:05 PM
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Thanks for that

Quite frankly I don't care to hear that advice..... I've spent thousands on splitting this building's electrical and I'm going with electrical heat.
Anyone have any productive suggestions?

By the way, I have a friend whose renting a 5 unit apartment in the same city, water heat paid by landlord, her heating bill was over $900 last winter one month. The renters control the thermostat and they leave the windows open when she isn't there. No thanks....
And no the water could not be split in this building, got several estimates as "impossible".
 
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Old 02-06-16, 01:09 PM
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Anyone have any productive suggestions?
Excuse me !!

You left a link to saving money with electric heat. In it says...... the power company charges by the watt for power. That is correct.

You have NOT installed enough baseboard heat.
Now I've told you what you need to do. What other productive suggestions would you like ??
 
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Old 02-06-16, 01:12 PM
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A watt, is a watt, is a watt. It doesn't matter if the voltage is 12 volts or 240 volts, the power company charges per Kilowatt hour. (1000 watts per hour). If your 4' heater is 1000 watts, and it runs for one hour, it will cost you one kilowatt hour, which is about 12 - 30 cents depending on your location.

A 1000 watt, 120 volt heater will produce the same amount of heat as a 1000 watt, 240 volt heater. The voltage they require is determined by the manufacture and how they are built.
 
 

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