Are all electronical devices equally efficient at heat production?

[RoloMather]

Pretty much.

 

[OverVolt]

Kind of like a car. Only 10-15% of the energy in gas is actually converted to kinetic energy. Then you hit the brakes and take what little efficiency you had and flush it down the toilet. I'm guessing driving a car creates like 5% less heat than just burning the gas itself.

 

[wwswimming]

a 300w electrical space heater create the same amount of heat as high powered computer which is eating 300w of electricity?

a computer that is absorbing 2 1/2 amps (about 300 watts) will generate as much heat as a heater absorbing 2 1/2 amps (about 300 watts) (assuming both are 115 VAC).

it's not like the energy that does into the computer is sucked off into the ether or an alternate universe. hard drive dissipates 10 watts, CPU dissipates 90 watts, graphics card dissipates whatever ... etc.

you might feel the heat sooner with the heater, and it might be more portable.

 

[Chris27]

no

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_pump

 

[TruePaige]

electronical? That's not a word.

 

[lxskllr]

Since it's gotten cold I've overclocked my computers higher, and am running Folding@home to work the processor. I might as well do something useful with my energy use instead of just releasing it to the world.

 

[JulesMaximus]

electronical? That's not a word.

This.

 

[Arcadio]

electronical? That's not a word.

But it should be, though. It sounds cool.

 

[fleabag]

Since it's gotten cold I've overclocked my computers higher, and am running Folding@home to work the processor. I might as well do something useful with my energy use instead of just releasing it to the world.

But that's the thing, YOU ARE releasing it into the world because otherwise you wouldn't need to heat your house since all the heat would be contained. People heat their houses because the heat escapes and they constantly have to replenish the supply of heat.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Since it's gotten cold I've overclocked my computers higher, and am running Folding@home to work the processor. I might as well do something useful with my energy use instead of just releasing it to the world.

But that's the thing, YOU ARE releasing it into the world because otherwise you wouldn't need to heat your house since all the heat would be contained. People heat their houses because the heat escapes and they constantly have to replenish the supply of heat.

I think he means do something useful with it BEFORE it gets released into the world.

Outlet --> heater --> house --> world

vs.

Outlet --> computer (that does something useful) --> house --> world

 

[DrPizza]

Ever heard of "conservation of energy"? Unless you're somehow managing to turn it into mass, yes, the end product is heat.

 

[Howard]

electric > electrical, electronic > electronical?

 

[blinblue]

I used to be confused by how a heater could be, say, 95% efficient, because as we have learned in this thread, unless you are creating mass, its going to turn into heat. But of course the 95% part means that 95% of the electricity gets turned into heat where you want it.

The advantage of a space heater is you get the heat where you want it (circulating in the room) faster than a PC probably will

 

[skyking]

Ever heard of "conservation of energy"? Unless you're somehow managing to turn it into mass, yes, the end product is heat.

Thanks doc. I scrolled through to post that and did not have to.

 

[Red Squirrel]

a computer that is absorbing 2 1/2 amps (about 300 watts) will generate as much heat as a heater absorbing 2 1/2 amps (about 300 watts) (assuming both are 115 VAC).

it's not like the energy that does into the computer is sucked off into the ether or an alternate universe. hard drive dissipates 10 watts, CPU dissipates 90 watts, graphics card dissipates whatever ... etc.

you might feel the heat sooner with the heater, and it might be more portable.

Really, I figured heat was a form of energy, while light, movement, etc were forms as well, so when a computer is running x % of the 300w is creating heat, x % is creating movement, x% is creating light etc...

So does this mean a server rack with 1500w worth of servers is actually producing the same heat as a huge baseboard heater? I guess it kind of makes sense.

Also makes me wonder why data centers and server rooms spend so much money on AC and heat (for rest of building) when the heat from the server room could be circulated into the HVAC system for other rooms, and cool air from those rooms could feed the server room. only when there is not enough cold air left in the whole building is where you'd need AC, and want to turn off the dampers appropriately, and exhaust the heat outside (though the AC coil).

 

[ebaycj]

I raised the question because I do not really rush to putting the PC to sleep every time I leave the room while it is cold outside because I have always figured it is either that or a space heater (which does nothing else but releases heat).

In concept, this is true.

Also, why are you such a cheapass? Just leave it on all the time.

 

[ebaycj]

Really, I figured heat was a form of energy, while light, movement, etc were forms as well, so when a computer is running x % of the 300w is creating heat, x % is creating movement, x% is creating light etc...

So does this mean a server rack with 1500w worth of servers is actually producing the same heat as a huge baseboard heater? I guess it kind of makes sense.

Also makes me wonder why data centers and server rooms spend so much money on AC and heat (for rest of building) when the heat from the server room could be circulated into the HVAC system for other rooms, and cool air from those rooms could feed the server room. only when there is not enough cold air left in the whole building is where you'd need AC, and want to turn off the dampers appropriately, and exhaust the heat outside (though the AC coil).

If you have 1500W worth of servers, you are probably generating nearly that (but slightly less) in heat.

Your datacenter heating / cooling, that makes sense in the winter. Not the summer.

 

[Bignate603]

I used to be confused by how a heater could be, say, 95% efficient, because as we have learned in this thread, unless you are creating mass, its going to turn into heat. But of course the 95% part means that 95% of the electricity gets turned into heat where you want it.

The advantage of a space heater is you get the heat where you want it (circulating in the room) faster than a PC probably will

Electrical resistance heaters are 100% efficient. Every watt that goes through them turns into heat. Even the losses on parts of the heater that aren't the heating element (resistance in the wires, etc) is turned into heat.

 

[blinblue]

Electrical resistance heaters are 100% efficient. Every watt that goes through them turns into heat. Even the losses on parts of the heater that aren't the heating element (resistance in the wires, etc) is turned into heat.

I know that, its just that heat lost into internal components won't heat the room as effectively (ie, it won't radiate as much of the heat as quickly as the coils will).

I had thought I'd seen some electric heaters that listed an efficiency, but maybe I'm just going crazy

 

[BrownTown]

I had thought I'd seen some electric heaters that listed an efficiency, but maybe I'm just going crazy

well if you are looking at a heat pump instead of a space heater then they will often list ~300% efficiency. And no that isn't even a violation of the laws of physics. They are just moving the energy around, not creating or destroying it.

 

[Bignate603]

I know that, its just that heat lost into internal components won't heat the room as effectively (ie, it won't radiate as much of the heat as quickly as the coils will).

I had thought I'd seen some electric heaters that listed an efficiency, but maybe I'm just going crazy

It will still get out into the room, so it's not like any heat is lost.

 

[Red Squirrel]

If you have 1500W worth of servers, you are probably generating nearly that (but slightly less) in heat.

Your datacenter heating / cooling, that makes sense in the winter. Not the summer.

Yeah for sure in summer you'd still want AC. But if a heat pump or other means was used to recycle the heat durring the other 10 months, it would save on AC.

Then again most major data centers seem to be in texas so this does not really apply there.

If I had the money (billions, or maybe even trillions) I'd bring high bandwidth infrastructure to greenland and build data centers there. Geographicly that would be an awesome spot for internet data centers.

 

[Toastedlightly]

well if you are looking at a heat pump instead of a space heater then they will often list ~300% efficiency. And no that isn't even a violation of the laws of physics. They are just moving the energy around, not creating or destroying it.

They are just taking the coefficient of performance and making it into a percent. Not fair circumstances.

 

[Bignate603]

They are just taking the coefficient of performance and making it into a percent. Not fair circumstances.

I don't see why not. If you're comparing it against electrical resistance for heat it allows you a direct comparison.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Actually this reminds me, I read somewhere that electricity is one of the most efficient ways of producing heat. The reason why in reality it's not (compared to gas) is that said heat also gets generated along the electricity's travel path. Ex: each time it hits a step up or step down transformer, the wiring itself, etc. So guess it does make sense that all used power is turned into equivalent wattage of heat, just that this heat is not at the appliance itself but spread from the power plant to the appliance.