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Alas, triac or SCR control of electric heaters does not save
energy. This approach improves comfort and reduces the peaks on the
house circuit, prolongs heater life span, reduces the burning smell,
but does not save energy.<br>
<br>
Modulating heat pumps (instead of the normal on-off) dramatically
improves efficiency as well as all the above benefits. This is a
huge difference.<br>
<br>
The grid does not benefit from a sub-division of houses on tri-acs
or standard on-off thermostats:once 20, 30 or 300 homes get averaged
together, the peaks of individual units dont make any difference.
The grid cares about peaks due to cold weather, or hot weather, when
hundreds, thousands, even millions of homes are on average demanding
more power.<br>
<br>
Using a electric heating is hopefully only going to be used for very
small loads in the future as banning 1500W heaters in buidings would
be a good way to reduce peak demand on the grid.<br>
<br>
<br>
Dr John Straube, P.Eng.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.BuildingScience.com">www.BuildingScience.com</a><br>
<br>
<br>
On 11-12-17 8:26 AM, Richard Garbary wrote:<br>
<span style="white-space: pre;">> Recently installed three triac
thermostats in an all-baseboard<br>
> townhouse: rec-room/basement, living room, master bedroom.
The owner<br>
> is very pleased with the results. Very accurate temperature
control;<br>
> no wild swings above and below the set point. The thermostats
output<br>
> just enough wattage to match the heat loss. A normal
thermostat is<br>
> just a switch, either on or off. Normal watt-density for
baseboards<br>
> is 250 watts/foot. With the triac, watt-density can be
reduced to<br>
> less than 50 watts/foot. Like heat pumps with inverter
technology,<br>
> the object is to run the appliance at the lowest power level,<br>
> continuously; this makes for a very low demand on the grid.
One of<br>
> the many benefits is that it virtually eliminates "cold wall
effect",<br>
> because the baseboards are not cycling on and off.<br>
> <br>
> This is a great upgrade solution (interim or until the money
comes in<br>
> for the heat pump!) for anyone with baseboards. Just might
breathe<br>
> new life into a heating method that many have not considered,<br>
> especially in well insulated homes.<br>
> <br>
> <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.aubetech.com/support/faq.php?noLangue=2#TRIAC">http://www.aubetech.com/support/faq.php?noLangue=2#TRIAC</a><br>
> <br>
> Richard<br>
> <br>
> <br>
> <br>
> <br>
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