Need help choosing the right electric heater? Use Watlow’s wattage calculator to determine your BTU/hr and wattage requirements for electric process heating applications. Whether you’re selecting a low wattage heater, sizing electric process heaters, or doing detailed wattage calculations for electric heaters, this tool helps you design an efficient and cost-effective thermal system.
Our easy-to-use calculator ensures accurate heater calculations for various industrial heating applications—helping engineers, OEMs, and manufacturers across the U.S. select the right solution for their processes.
Step-by-step Guide to Heater Calcutations
If you're a design engineer or process engineer, you know that accurate wattage calculations are critical when selecting electric heaters for manufacturing processes. The Watlow wattage calculator provides a fast and reliable method for performing wattage calculations for electric process heaters, ensuring optimal performance from your heating system.
1. Choose Startup Power vs. Continuous Power Start by identifying whether your application needs startup power (for heating up quickly) or continuous power (for maintaining temperature). You can switch between these options based on your process needs.
2. Select “Heat to Raise” or “Heat to Melt”
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Heat to Raise: Perfect for electric heating applications.
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Choose your material (from preset options or input a custom one).
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Enter key data:
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Volume or weight
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Specific heat
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Starting and final temperature
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Time available to heat
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Heat to Melt: Ideal for processes involving phase changes (e.g., plastics, metals).
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Select your material to melt
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Enter volume and time
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The calculator will output power requirements in watts
These heater calculations are especially helpful when choosing low wattage heaters for compact or energy-sensitive operations.
3. Factor in Conduction Losses Your total power requirement should also account for conduction losses, especially in industrial environments. Input these parameters:
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Heat transfer surface area
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Material thickness
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Temperature differential
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Exposure time
This ensures you accurately size your electric process heater to compensate for thermal losses during operation.
4. Add a Safety Factor
To ensure reliability, our wattage calculator includes a built-in safety factor—defaulted to 20%. You can adjust this value based on your application and margin for unknowns. This is essential for engineers designing robust thermal systems with electric heaters that perform under variable conditions.
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"Our calcuator ensures accurate heater calculation for energy-efficient designs, whether you're an OEM or process engineer" |
Applications Across Industries
Watlow’s wattage calculator supports engineers in industries like:
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Food & beverage processing
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Chemical manufacturing
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Semiconductors
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Plastics & packaging
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Aerospace & defense
Whether you're working with low wattage heaters in tight spaces or high-powered electric process heaters, our calculator ensures your system is designed for efficiency and safety.
Start Your Wattage Calculations Today Watlow provides expert tools and services to support your heating system design—from heater calculations to power and temperature controllers, sensors, and more.
Try the Watlow Wattage Calculator today to size your electric heater precisely and make informed decisions for your next process heating application.