A fan heater is a heater that works by using a fan to pass air over a heating element. This heats up the air, which then leaves the heater, warming up the surrounding room. They can provide rapid heating of a room, however they make noise when operating.
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Electric fan heaters are inexpensive to buy and are often used when the upfront cost of other heating solutions is rejected. However their main downside is that electric fan heaters are significantly more expensive to run than fuel powered heaters due to the cost of electricity. This makes them best suited to occasional use rather than as regularly used heat sources.
All fan heaters that don't have external ventilation are 100% efficient, meaning that all energy input goes into the room as heat. Externally vented fuel powered fan heaters lose some heat to the outdoors, and are thus less efficient. These are used where its necessary to not release the fumes of combustion into the heated area.
Most modern fan heaters have a power setting to determine power output. Some also have a thermostat to adjust the room temperature setting. These don't maintain perfect room temperature control, since
In thermostatic heaters, the heating element is automatically turned off when the temperature reaches the set point. When the temperature drops again, the heating element is automatically turned on to maintain the desired temperature. This gives better comfort per running cost ratio, and helps prevent room overheating.
While the fans in fan heaters are electrically powered, there are several sources of heat used.
Electric fan heaters are unsealed appliances with live electric parts inside, so are not safe to use in wet or very humid conditions, due to risk of a short circuit leading to fire or electrocution. Electric fan heaters usually have a thermal fuse close to the element(s) to protect against fan failure resulting in fire. Steel cased heaters perform better in potential fire causing faults than plastic cased ones, since the case won't melt, soften, char or burn.
Portable fuel powered fan heaters release all the fumes of combustion into the room, creating a small risk of poisoning by carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. Most installed fuel fan heaters in the first world use a heat exchanger and external ventilation, avoiding this risk, and dumping the water vapour from combustion outdoors.
The picture immediately to the right shows most of the component parts of a typical plug-in electric fan heater.
The next picture shows the two overheat cutouts. The bimetal cutout (left) operates if the intake is blocked or the fan fails, and resets itself once the obstruction is removed. The thermal fuse (right) is a backup device that will disconnect the heating element permanently if the bimetal fails to operate (eg due to its contacts welding together). This backup device is important, as failure to cut power to the elements would otherwise cause a fire.