In the winter, electric heaters come in pretty handy. They keep your home warm and cozy by transforming electrical energy into heat. If you’re lucky enough, you’ll get an energy-efficient one, so you can keep warm without racking up high electrical bills.
Typically, they’re built to last, especially if you choose a good brand. It’ll last at least five years, and when it’s well maintained, it’ll certainly last even longer. However, electric heaters won’t last forever. You may also want to upgrade to a better version, or larger size, with the way newer and better innovations are arising yearly. As such, you may need to free up space for your new appliance.
So, how do you dispose of the old one? Have you considered recycling? If you have, then you must be curious about if electric heaters can be recycled. This blog post will explore that option and provide answers to commonly asked questions about electric heaters. Let’s go!
Are Electric Heaters Recyclable?
Electric heaters qualify as e-waste. Typically, any material plugged into a socket is e-waste and should be disposed of properly. You see, it can be pretty toxic to the environment during its decomposition process, which is why properly disposing of them is a priority.
Now, can you recycle electric heaters? Yes, you can, and it’s an easy process too. You have to take the electric heater to any company that accepts e-waste.
A curbside recycling center won’t accept e-waste because it’s more complicated to recycle. So, you can look up any recycling company that does; some are especially dedicated to recycling these materials, and they’re fast on the increase. As such, you won’t have any difficulty finding one.
Alternatively, you could also take the damaged electric heater to a hardware repair center. E-waste contains valuable materials that can be extracted to make newer models, and the workers at the repair store will take advantage of that.
They could also look at the components to find out if there are replaceable and repairable parts. It certainly beats throwing the electric heater in a garbage can that’ll end up in a landfill, take up space, and pollute the environment.
Can You Leave Electric Heaters on All Night?
During the winter, the cold can be overwhelming. That’s why electric heaters are always on and seem to work overtime in this period. Considering the low temperature, it can be pretty tempting to leave the heater on through the night. However, that may be a bad idea. There are so many dangers involved, and we’ll explore them subsequently.
The first is that leaving an electric heater plugged throughout the night can inflict too much heat on the circuit it’s plugged into. This makes it a fire hazard, so it’s best to turn it off before going to bed.
Another reason is that anyone or anything could knock it over at any point in the night. It could also fall over on its own if it’s not placed on level ground. Now, if that happens, it could also result in a fire hazard, if not a full-blown fire.
Finally, it could consume a lot of energy through the night. Nighttime is just as long as daytime, which means your electric heater will spend at least eight hours plugged in. If it’s also working through the day, that’s the constant consumption of energy. If yours isn’t energy-saving, then you may be racking up a significantly high electricity bill.
Now, a good solution to all these problems is to get an energy-saving electric heater. Most of them come with automatic thermostats that turn off the heaters when the room has attained a reasonable temperature.
You’ll still get the required warmth without excessive energy consumption or any fire hazards. You could also attach the heater to a wall to prevent any chance of it getting toppled over.
Can You Get Carbon Monoxide Poisoning From Electric Heaters?
You can only get carbon monoxide poisoning by inhaling combustion fumes. These fumes are present in leaking chimneys and furnaces, fireplaces, wood stoves, gas water heaters, tobacco smoke, kerosene and gas space heaters with no vents, and back-drafting from furnaces .
One thing all these items have in common is that fossils or fuel are their sources of energy. Therefore, they have to burn these energy sources to produce heat, and you can inhale combustion fumes from burning fossils or fuel.
When inhaled in low quantities, it can cause fatigue, headaches, dizziness, nausea, and even chest pain in people who have heart diseases.
Electric space heaters convert electric energy to heat. It’s a pure heat source that isn’t capable of giving you carbon monoxide poisoning. It cannot give off combustion fumes because there aren’t fumes coming from it. Instead, it’s just pure heat, like what comes from a bulb or a halogen lamp.
Can You Paint Electric Heaters?
If you’re dissatisfied with the monochrome colors electric heaters typically come in, you can consider painting yours. It’s a simple do-it-yourself hack that doesn’t require technical skills.
The best type of paint for this feat is appliance epoxy, and you can get it in a range of colors. You’ll also need a paintbrush, painters’ tape, sandpaper, and aluminum foil.
Here’s how to get started:
First, you need to turn off the electric heater at the circuit breaker. Next, rub the sandpaper over the surface of the heater to make paint adhesion possible. For effectiveness, it’s best to use gritty sandpaper that’ll leave impacts on the surface of the heater.
Now, you need to cover the heating elements and vents with aluminum foil or painters’ tape to prevent paint from getting into them. Then, you can lightly brush the epoxy paint onto the surface of the heater and allow it to dry for at least four hours before applying another layer.
Finally, allow the electric heater to dry thoroughly before turning it back on. Just like that, you’ve spruced up your heater, and it’s not achieving functionality and aesthetics!
5+ Ways to Dispose of an Electric Heater
It’s not uncommon to desire an upgrade; however, it’s inevitable to dispose of the previous electric heater to room for the new one. Yours may have also exceeded its lifespan or stopped working for one reason or the other.
So, if you need ways to dispose of your electric heater properly, then we’ve got you covered. We’ll explore several creative upcycling tips for an old electric heater. Let’s get started!
1. Try some upcycling tips
Upcycling is a great disposal method where you suspend the final step of recycling by finding another way to utilize the material in question.
These uses often stem from creativity, and you may even find the new aspect preferable to what it was originally for. Upcycling is usually the last step before giving out your unwanted item because it reduces your waste disposal and consumption of more materials.
It comes in handy in helping out with a fundamental aspect, even though that’s not what it was designed for. That way, fewer resources will be consumed trying to sate your desire to satisfy the need for the area you just found an excellent solution to.
Some creative upcycling tips include the following:
2. Electric heater candle holder
You can transform your electric heater into a candle holder. The artsy side of this hack is the many holes in an electric heater that’ll reflect the soft glow of the candlelight in so many small spots.
You can place a container that’ll gather melted candle wax in the electric heater, make your candle stay put and light it up. However, the heater may conduct some of the heat, so it’s best to avoid carrying it when the candles have been lit for a long time. But with a plastic heater, that likely won’t be a problem.
Remember, the more candles you place in the heater, the brighter the light you’ll get and the better the ambiance. You can place it in your bedroom to create a cozy atmosphere.
3. Electric heater LED display case
It’s an excellent idea to fashion an LED display case out of your old electric heater. Again, the small holes these heaters have make it pretty fascinating to place light in them because of how it’ll reflect.
You can put a couple of colors in there and light it up. Remember, the more diverse colors you include, the better the hack turns out. This makeshift electric heater LED display case can go on your nightstand or even your living room coffee table.
4. Electric heater table
Depending on the size of your electric heater, you can convert it to a table stand. But here, you’ll need a strong adhesive, and you can try the carpenters’ glue.
Then, you’ll also need a strong surface that’ll serve as your tabletop. It can be a beautiful piece of plywood or anything creative that you can adhere to the electric heater, and just like that, you’ve fashioned a table for yourself.
Moreover, even if your electric heater is small, you can still take advantage of this hack. But instead, it’ll end up as a small, decorative table that you can reserve for flowers, your phone, and other small items.
5. Display case
Now, here’s a blank canvas for you to develop. But of course, we’ll provide the first few tips to get started.
Electric space heaters sometimes have sufficient space in them. You can take out the heating components carefully and set them aside. As always, we encourage you to find a use for them or ultimately recycle them.
You can then use the space as a display case, storage unit, decorative unit, and just about anything artsy and unique that you can come up with.
6. Recycle them
Electric heaters don’t aren’t complex to recycle. You can take them to any recycling company that accepts e-waste and dispose of them there. It’s easy to find one, and you can take advantage of the internet for that.
On the other hand, you can also try taking them to any hardware store. They might make provisions for recycling items like electric heaters. However, even if they don’t, they’ll also find a use for them, so this is another option that helps you dispose of your waste in an environmentally conscious manner.
Conclusion
It has become imperative that we resort to environmentally conscious ways to dispose of our waste for several reasons. For one, our resources are quickly depleted, and recycling puts a hold on that by providing alternative materials that can be reused countlessly.
Another reason is the environmental impact of disposing of our waste wrongly. So, this article has explored several options for disposing of electric heaters properly. On that note, we hope you read up and make better and more environmentally sensitive choices henceforth.
