How to Choose the Right Portable Heater to Keep your Worksite Warm.
With winter fast approaching cold weather can start creeping in to weigh down your business’ productivity. If you are working in an outdoor or indoor environment that lacks climate control, you are more than aware of the temperature of the problem can pose. Keeping your business well heated in the winter means that you and your employees can stay productive and focused on the work instead of the weather. Additionally, if you work with water, keeping your pipes from freezing saves valuable work hours, and keeping your products at a stable temperature ensures consistent quality.
Picking the right heater depends on a number of factors. You want to make sure that whatever heater you choose is up to the task and can do the job you expect of it. In a lot of ways, a proper heater is an investment because it is an improvement in infrastructure. Making the right investment means less time spent worrying about how to deal with climate control and more time actually tending to your business.
There are a number of variables to keep in mind when looking for a portable heater to heat your workspace:
- Size of the Workspace
The primary thing to keep in mind when considering a portable heater is how big it will need to be to fulfill your needs. Keeping this in mind, you can start out with a size that will best suit your environment. Different kinds of heaters are best suited for different sized spaces. For instance, industrial and commercial heaters are large enough to heat the entire warehouses. However, that much power can quickly overwhelm a smaller workspace that does not require as much heating.
Portable heaters come in all different sizes, from being able to heat only small rooms to the largest spaces imaginable, so to find the right one for your space requirements, pay particular attention to Cubic Feet Per Minute, or CFM. A larger space requires a heater with a higher CFM number. For instance, a certain industrial heater may be rated to heat 3200 CFM. This means that the heater has the capability to heat 3200 cubic feet of space and maintain it heated at the desired temperature. The size of any area in cubic feet can be found by multiplying length times width times height.
CFM often relates to the power of the heater’s fan, as a fan is needed to circulate the hot air through the room and away from the heater.
- Heat Required
It is also important to consider how much heat you will need to produce, and whether or not the heat level can be monitored and controlled. Many portable heaters will feature a thermostat, so keep this feature in mind during your search. Depending on your specific needs, you may be looking to keep a workspace hot or just warm enough to operate comfortably. You can determine how much heat a heater produces by either looking directly at the temperature gauge that it offers or by looking at its BTU (British Thermal Units) output.
When you need more heat, check out how many BTUs the heater produces to find the temperature best suited for your workspace. Having a workspace that is overheated is as bad as having one without any heat at all.
Smaller heaters best suited for smaller spaces may have a BTU measurement of around 5,000 to 25,000 BTU. The higher the BTU, generally the larger space the heater is meant for. Industrial heaters can have a BTU output of up to and exceeding 500,000. While the BTU output can be adjusted on most heaters, there is usually a set maximum and minimum temperature. The larger heaters that produce higher temperatures may also produce a great deal of heat even when at their lowest settings. Be sure to take into consideration exactly how much heat you will need in order to protect both your products and your employees.
- Power Source
Heaters can be powered by electricity, gasoline and many other fuel types. The power source of some heaters varies, however, electrical power is the most common. Electric heaters can function in both indoor and outdoor settings, so long as there is a consistent electricity supply. Check the voltage on the outlets in your workspace to ensure that they can handle the heaters you intend to use. Industrial heaters may require a voltage of 115 or 240, depending on the model.
If you are using a fuel source such as gasoline or propane, it is important to provide proper ventilation. If heating an open outdoor space you do not have to worry about ventilation. But an indoor space needs to be properly ventilated when burning any kind of fuel to ensure that your employees and yourself are safe while they work.
Space heaters can vastly improve your business’ productivity and the comfort level of your employees. They provide the capacity to continue working through tough winters. To find the right heater for your workspace, it is important to keep in mind:
- How much space you will be heating;
- How high you need the temperature to be;
- What kind of power source will allow you to operate safely and effectively.
If you’re looking for a portable heater, we here at Preferred Climate Solutions can help. We service the entire state of Texas and offer superior customer service 24/7. If you ever experience any issues with your heater we are on call at all times to help sort it out. We feature a variety of portable heaters to best fit your needs and the needs of your business. Call us today at 888-466-7180 and take care to keep warm.