I have a heater that heats 1000 sq ft. What size of room would that be?

Question

I understand floor measurements like 20x50 etc, but I*m also heating the space above the floor to the ceiling. Doesn*t that figure in somehow?

Answer 1

I am a HVAC instructor, and the answers presented here really upset me. I teach the proper way of determining the heating needs of a room or structure. To state that a piece of equipment can satisfy the need of a room or structure based on square feet is just plain wrong … and in so many ways. I feel it is an injustice to allow manufacturers to advertise such meaningless information, and I feel government agencies that regulate truth in advertising (maybe the FTC), and government agencies that regulate “standards” (like NIST), are putting the public at risk when they fail to do their job. I feel the government should not allow misleading information like this to be published.

In HVAC, there are two main types of heat loss that we typically look at, conductive heat loss (heat that is conducted through walls ~ ceilings ~ windows ~ doors ~ floors ~ etc.), and heat loss from infiltration & ventilation (heated air that leaks out, or is vented out of a building, such air being replaced by colder air from outside which increases the heating load of a room or building). I will take a few moments to discuss the conductive heat loss of a wall and show why the square footage rating of a floor can be worthless and, in my opinion, should not be used.

We’re going to look at one square foot of wall area (12” X 12”). Were going to use the formula BTU’s = A * U * TD.

“BTU’s” is the number of heating energy units. There are approximately 3,413 BTU’s in one KWH.
“A” is the area expressed in square feet
“U” is the conductive value of the exposed assembly (example: a wall), and equals the reciprocal of the total “R” value; (U = 1/(R total)).
“TD” is the temperature differential; (TD) = (inside temp) – (outside temp).

Here’s an interesting relationship: If “U” (which is the conductive value) of a wall is 1.0, and if “TD” (temperature differential) across that wall is 1.0, and if “A” (area) is 1.0 square foot, then we will be loosing 1 BTU through that one square foot of wall each hour. If we increase or decrease any value of “A”, or “U”, or “TD”, then we will impact the heat loss of that wall.

Now, lets look at the conductive loss of walls in a square room, and a rectangular room. Each room will have approximately 1,000 square feet of floor area.

Example 1: Building 1
Floor area = 32’ X 32’ = 1024 square feet.
The total length of the four walls will be 32 + 32 + 32 + 32 = 128 feet.
If the walls are 8’ high (typical), the total wall area will be equal to 1028 square feet; A = 128 * 8 = 1024 s.f.

Example 2: Building 2
Floor area = 10’ X 100’ = 1000 square feet.
The total length of the four walls will be 10 + 100 + 10 + 100 = 220 feet.
If the walls are 8’ high (typical), the total wall area will be equal to 1760 square feet; A = 220 * 8 = 1760 s.f.

Even though the “floor area” in Building 2 is a little less than Building 1, the wall area in Building 2 has an additional 736 square feet when compared to the wall area of Building 1. Assuming the walls are constructed the same, the increased wall area of Building 2 will increase the total conductive wall heat loss by a factor of 71.875%. Add to this the fact that this wall will likely have more windows, and we are likely to see the heat loss going much higher.

So, for your own sake, please don’t give credibility to the square foot rating, and please ask yourself …. how does the manufacturer get away with publishing such meaningless information? In my opinion, we are living in a “buyer beware” country, because the government isn’t helping us much!

Answer 2

Wow! That can heat an entire home! 1000 square feet is ten 10 X10 small rooms!!!! You've got yourself a powerful heater, and that's terrific.

Be careful not to place such a strong heater in any spaces where there's fabric, paper, or even wood close by. You'll want to place your heater about 6 feet away from anything like that...especially if you put it on the "high" setting!

Your heater is best placed in an open area, with nothing around to obstruct it. And remember to shut it off before leaving the house!

You'll save a ton of money on oil or gas bills, if you just use this heater in your home. However, remember...your electric bill WILL go up (but it the cost of your electric bill will be far less than paying any oil or gas bills, so that's great!)

If you're in a small apartment, however, with only about 2 bedrooms, you'll probably want to use less than 1500 watts! That means, keep your heater on "low" setting (400-600 watts is good enough)!

Hope this helped!

Answer 3

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
I have a heater that heats 1000 sq ft. What size of room would that be?

Answer 4

Room size is measured by floor size -- in other words -- a 10 ft by 10 ft room would be 100 sq ft. Given this information -- it is easy to see how a 50 ft by 20 ft room could be 1,000 sq ft.

Answer 5

Your heater will heat 1000 square feet that's a room 10x100 or 20x50 or 25x40 or two 20x25 rooms or four rooms approximately 16x16 or 5 rooms that are 10x20 or 10 rooms 10x10. Multiply the length of the room by the width of the room and you will have the square footage of the room. Figure out what the square footage of each room is, i.e. the bathroom, the kitchen, the bedrooms, etc., and add it all together. If it totals 1000 or less, you should be good.

Answer 6

a 30 x 30 room would be 900 sq ft
a 33 x 30 room would be 990 sq ft

Answer 7

Foot Heater

Answer 8

Width x Length =sq ft so it would heat a 20x50 room. Rather than a room it would be more like an apartment.

Answer 9

10 x 100 or 20 x 50 or 25 x 40.. a pretty big room.

Answer 10

Any room that has an area (length times height or floor space) of 1000sq ft... so like a rectangle room that was 40ft by 25ft, which seems kinda big lol... hope it helps