Ceramic heaters are a fraud

rarebear.nm

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Ceramic heaters are used for many varied process and can be highly reliable and precise over long periods of time. It appears most the common space heaters being discussed here are based on PTC ceramics. In short there are two current carrying wires which is not the heat source. Between them is a layer of semiconducting material of selected chemical properties. It is in this layer that the heat is produced in a PTC ceramic. Somewhat similar to a twin axial TV cable. Over time the semiconducting traces in this material can be damaged to a variety of problems. After which it will never produce heat as it did new. It appears that dust and foreign material in the heater can be a major source of problem. Other issues as well. One might read this very short note from Pelonis.

https://www.pelonistechnologies.com/...in-ptc-heaters

There is plenty of material on the web describing PTC based heaters. I have no real knowledge, but I'd "guess" that the quality of the PTC material may vary between heater makes and thus the useful life span of a heater will vary in a given test environment. In real life your milage may vary....

I've used these heaters for occasional heat in our RVs and home offices with reasonable success for some years. So when I found this thread I was interested in the issues. After spending a couple of hours researching ceramic heaters, including brands in this thread I come away with the following:Ceramic heaters are used for many varied process and can be highly reliable and precise over long periods of time. It appears most the common space heaters being discussed here are based on PTC ceramics. In short there are two current carrying wires which is not the heat source. Between them is a layer of semiconducting material of selected chemical properties. It is in this layer that the heat is produced in a PTC ceramic. Somewhat similar to a twin axial TV cable. Over time the semiconducting traces in this material can be damaged to a variety of problems. After which it will never produce heat as it did new. It appears that dust and foreign material in the heater can be a major source of problem. Other issues as well. One might read this very short note from Pelonis.There is plenty of material on the web describing PTC based heaters. I have no real knowledge, but I'd "guess" that the quality of the PTC material may vary between heater makes and thus the useful life span of a heater will vary in a given test environment. In real life your milage may vary....

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