Do electric fires give off much heat?
On a cold winter night, darkness fell early even before you got home. The house is cold, and you want to get warm quickly. You get settled in, turn on the TV, turn on the fire, but wait… It's an electric fire. Does this electric fire give off heat? Will it be able to warm the room? Well, that is what we are going to discover today.
As well as looking stunning, and transforming the rooms they are in, our electric fires do give off a lot of heat. Many have different levels of heat for you to choose from, so whether it is to warm a really cold room or just keep the temperature ticking along nicely, you decide. This feature gives electric fireplaces an edge over their traditional solid fuel and gas fire counterparts
The heat is instantaneous, and it's also significantly more efficient than gas, coal, or solid fuel fires. With these alternative fires, a lot of the energy produced by the fuel when burnt disappears straight up the chimney. This lost energy is significant as the vertical chimney is where most of the heat goes – as we know, heat rises. Also, traditional fuels leave behind a lot of mess, which is something to consider. This is not a concern for the flueless electric fires that are 100% efficient and produce heat the moment they are switched on; leaving no nasty residue or ash/soot behind.
Another factor to consider with electric fireplaces is their reliability. They are consistent every time you use them, as there is no difference in the ‘quality’ of electricity used to power them. The National Grid does not have bad days where the electricity is dirty, or wet – two big problems for solid fuels and coal. On-demand, the electric fireplaces work to heat your room and provide comfort to you.
Talking about consistency, the other feature of electric fires is their delivery does not change unless you choose to turn down the fire. Just as there is no difference in the electricity provided to the fire, the unit will produce the same level of heat from the moment you switch it on until you turn it off.
There is no period of dwindling heat, or having to retrieve more fuel for the fire – it comes through the plug socket in your wall.
One type of heat that your electric fireplace will not generate, is radiant heat. This is the heat that builds up in materials, such as the glass front on a gas fire, or the cast iron grate of a coal fire. This radiant energy is stored as the heat is ‘radiated’ from the source, but as electric fires do heat an element within the fire and do not produce a ‘real’ flame, they do not produce this radiant heat. This is perhaps a double-edged sword, as the benefit of not having a piping hot glass plate or metal surround becomes pretty obvious when we think about small children or pets being near them. Electric fireplaces massively reduce the risk of burns.
“Ok, ok, that’s all great. But how much heat do electric fires give off?”
Well, that depends on which unit you get. Some fires have options for 500 watts, 750w, 1 kilowatt, 1.5kw and up to 2kw. This upper limit is dictated by the voltage that comes into a domestic property.
Fireplaces between 1kw and 1.5kw will produce up to 4,500 BTUs (the British Thermal Unit – how heating capacity is measured) and this should be more than enough to heat a small to medium room.
If you have a larger living area that you would like the fire in, then a 2kw fireplace would be a great fit. A 2kw unit can generate up to 8,000 BTUs which can comfortably add cosy heat to a 400 square feet room.
So, hopefully, that answers your question, does an electric fireplace generate much heat? If you would like to explore our range, you can find electric fireplaces here electric fires and our marble suites
For any questions you may have please, get in touch with our team, who are looking forward to helping you.
