Its not often that I get to write about heaters, Our whole business is removing heat, But once in a while I get to write about it, Sometimes in Florida it can get down right cold, I remember back in the Eighty’s that the power company was having rolling blackouts as they could not keep up with demand as Electric heaters consume a great deal of power, but luckily we don’t use them often, maybe once or twice.
A lot of people who move to Florida from northern states are use to having furnaces that provide lots of heat and are dismayed not too feel that heat coming from there ducts in their Florida home. Often they want a bigger heater installed but sometimes that is not a option and Here is the reason why.
Most Heat is provided by a means of Electrical resistance , Its the same principal as a electric toaster or Oven, An electric current is ran through a Highly resistive element which produces heat, To produce that heat requires a lot of amps, The most common size in Florida is 10000 watts or 10 KW, A 10 kw heater requires 40 amps of current and a wire size of 6 gauge. So lets say you have a small condo and when the building was built the electrician only ran a 10 gauge wire, The thinner wire will not support a 10 kw heater, at best it will only support a 5000 watt heater, So unless the whole A/C main feed is replace, You cannot have a 10 kw heater. Luckily the lack of heat doesn’t happen often but once in a while we get calls.
The first things that people notice is the burnt smell when the heater is first turned on, i always recommend turning on the heater when you don’t need it and you can leave the doors open, The smell should dissipate in a few minutes, and You shold never see smoke, if you do, shut it off right away. Of course you can always Give us a call. We always inspect all the electrical, Were available when you need us.
