AC heating is bad?

Question

can it cause fires, I've been reading up on other heat sources that could cause fires but none yet on AC heat. Can someone help?

Answer 1

I'm guessing that you have an Air Conditioning unit that has a COOL and HEAT setting, and that you live in the lower half of the continental US.

If this is the case, NO, A/C heating is not bad. Actually it is much more efficient than electrical resistance heating.

The unit produces heat by reversing the direction of the air/refrigerant flow as compared to the summer Cool mode. Instead of squeezing the heat out of the warm indoor air, the unit squeezes the heat out of the outside air and ejects it into your house/apartment/hotel room.

This process works, as long as it's not too cold outside. The colder it is outside, the less "heat" is available in the air, so less heat can be produced to keep you warm inside.

So, use your "A/C unit" to heat your room, and avoid using electrical resistance heaters unless it gets really cold (below 20 degrees F). As the previous answer suggests, the electrical resistance heaters are much more likely to cause a fire than your "A/C unit".

Answer 2

If you are talking about electric heaters that run on the AC line power then yes the hot heating elements in them can cause fires if they touch combustible materials.

If you are talking about heat pumps, the reversible air conditioners that can put heat inside a house and dump cold air outside, then yes because they are machinery that can malfunction and cause fires. That machinery is more unusual so you do not hear much about fires caused by those machines. Also of course the heat coming from a heat pump is lower in temperature and can't cause a fire by itself.