If you are planning on buying a new additional electric heater for your home it is important that you accurately figure out what size it should be, before making your purchase. There are simple ways to either figure this out manually yourself, with the use of a trusty calculator, or alternatively you can find many calculators online that will help you come up with the figures you need.

When buying a small portable heater that is used for additional heating in a room that is already heated, you may not need to pay as much attention to the wattage of the heater. In fact, it is often best to buy the most economical heater that expends the least energy while still giving you the additional heat you need. Portable electric heaters can really add to your electricity bill if you are not judicious with their use, and careful in the first place with the type you buy.

If, however, you are planning on installing electric heating in a newly built room or if you are replacing your heating system with single units you will want to pay careful attention to your room size, ceiling height, number of windows in the room and how well insulated the room is.  Electric heater calculations are based on these important details. For example, if your ceiling height is over the standard 8 feet you would need to add an additional 25% to the wattage calculated for every extra two feet in ceiling height.  Poorly insulated, older homes also need higher wattage heaters.

It is well worth going online and using some of the online calculators provided if you are buying the sole heating for a room as there are many different factors to take into consideration that often cannot be accurately calculated using a small calculator only. It is also quite a bit faster to use the online calculators. All you have to do is punch in the information requested on the site and you will be returned with a suggested wattage heater size in return. Of course, it is only a suggestion, however when it comes to heating rooms, aside from learning all about heaters, it is best to gauge things as accurately as possible otherwise you may end up buying a heater that is too large, or one that is too small and that does not heat up the room sufficiently.