What Are the Different Types of Radiator Heaters That Exist Today?

In the United States, 30% of houses are heated with electricity while 80% are heated with gas.

This is where radiators come in. They can use either electricity, gas, steam, or hot water. There are many different types of radiator heaters.

Keep reading to discover which option would be best for your house.

In-Floor Heaters

If you’re looking for residential heaters, you can try in-floor heaters. This is a variation that uses a hot water boiler and flexible tubing to make sure that the radiator distributes all the hot water.

The tubing goes over the base of the floor, and then you can notice it embedded it in the concrete. Sometimes the installers will secure it underneath the wood subflooring.

The floor actually acts as the radiator. That way, there’s a gentle, subtle heat over the floor. This heat will eventually rise and heat the rest of the room as well.

With this heating, it’s more uniform and consistent. You can also install this type of heating in the walls for smaller spaces, like a bathroom or hallway.

Steam Radiators

Steam radiators are pretty popular as well, and the boiling water makes steam. Then, the steam will travel into the radiator through the pipes.

By doing this, it will heat up the room using convection and radiation. As the steam goes through the unit, it will cool down and eventually turn into condensation.

When there is condensation, it will go back through the unit until it gets to the boiler. When it gets to the boiler, there it will be turned into steam again.

This is one of the oldest types of radiator heaters. You probably won’t find this kind of heater in a newer home, but it’s still used in some areas of the world.

There are even a few different versions of steam radiators that you could install as well. The top three are ceramic systems, cast-iron free-standing systems, and baseboard systems.

The ceramic system is the newest version of the steam heater. If you touch it, it’s not hot, and it’s much more efficient, which will give you energy cost savings as well.

The cast-iron system is the oldest version. While it’s very efficient when you need to heat up the room, it also takes up a lot of space. It can also take a lot of time to heat up.

You could also get a baseboard steam system. This isn’t like the electric baseboard heaters. But the steam radiator still uses the idea of steam rising with condensation falling to make sure that it doesn’t take up a lot of space in your home.

To install them, you just have to run them along the baseboards, and you won’t even notice that they’re there.

Hot Water Heaters

Hot water heaters are also very popular, and it works when the hot water travels away from the boiler into a circulating pump. After it goes to the circulating pump, it will diffuse the heat and warm up the room.

The water will circulate through that radiation system when the heat is on.

There are also three ways that you know you have a hot water heater. It must have these three elements: circulating pumps, expansion tanks, and two pipes.

The circulating pump is normally recognizable because it can come in all kinds of different bright colors. The expansion tank is normally near the boiler, and it protects the hot water system from building up too much pressure.

Then, there will be two pipes that are coming out of the radiator. They’re not normally in different corners. Keep in mind that some steam heating systems will also use two pipes, so it could be a steam heater if the other two devices aren’t present.

Electric Radiators

Electric radiators are the best radiator heaters, and they’re also the newest. These are normally built to act as a steam radiator, but they create heat in a different way.

Inside of this radiator heater, there is a core that uses special mineral oil.

Sometimes people call this oil heat transfer oil or thermal oil. However, it doesn’t burn when you heat it up, so you don’t need to replace or refill it after a while.

It actually has a very high boiling point, and that’s what makes it great for these radiators. When you heat it up, it won’t even evaporate.

If you look at the bottom of the heater, there is the same type of heating coil that you would also find in an electric stove. This coil heats up the oil.

When the oil is warm enough, it’s spread through the heater, warming the walls. The heat escapes from the metal walls and warms up your room.

If you’re interested in finding this type of radiator, you can find an oil filled radiator here.

Dual Fuel Radiator

Do you have one area in your home that gets colder than the rest? Do you just need to dry your towels in the summer without turning on your whole heating system?

You should consider getting a dual fuel radiator. These run with your standard heating system, but they also have an electrical heating part. This means that if your heating is on, the radiator will use that.

If your heating system is off, it’ll just switch on the electrical part.

Discover More of the Different Types of Radiator Heaters

These are only a few of the different types of radiator heaters, but there are many more of them to choose from.

We know that investing in residential heaters can be difficult for some people, but we have more homeowner tips for you.

If you found this article informative, explore our website! We have more great articles you’ll love.