How Many Amps Does a Heat Lamp Use and How to Calculate It

How Many Amps Does a Heat Lamp Use

Most of us have used a heat lamp even once in our life. It can be in our bathroom, in the reptile aquarium, or giving heat to your chicks. 

As fun as they may be, they consume a lot of electricity. Providing light is not their thing. They have only one purpose, and that is to provide heat without causing a big fuss about it. 

Although they provide efficient heat, they do it in a very cost-efficient manner. If you have a heater in its place, it would’ve cost double the money.

But, the thing that bugs us, is how many amps a heat lamp use. As we pay by the hour, and it is efficient in providing us a warm soothing heat, it can cloud our minds at night.

This is why we are here with this article to talk about that and let you sleep with peace of mind. 

How Many Amps Does a Heat Lamp Use

You might have noticed there are some physics and mathematics are involved in this article. As we are talking about Amps, we need to calculate how much a heat lamp produces in an hour. 

At least that is how it is. Without the mathematical equation, we won’t be able to understand how much Amp a heat lamp uses. 

We will take a look at a 250-watt heat lamp in our experiment. Turns out that if you convert the 250-watt heat lamp’s power to kilowatts, it turns into 183kW.

The reason to convert to kilowatts is that the electricity providers use kilowatts per electrical output when it reads in our meters. And it is easier to get the Amps out of it too.

Calculation Method of Heat Lamp Amps

Here is the equation that we are going to use to calculate how many Amps of heat a heat lamp uses.

Suppose the Power Factor is 0.5 and you have a 110 V output, here is how you calculate it.

Single Phase Line = 1000 X 183 kW / (0.54X110V) = 3327.27A

AC 3 Phase Line = 1000 X 183kW / (√3X 0.5 X 110V) = 1921A

AC 3 Phase Line (Neutral Voltage) = 1000 X 183kW / (3 X 0.5 X 110V) = 1109.09A

There you have it, a 250-watt heat lamp will use 1109.9 Amps to 3327.27 Amps depending on the type of your power output. 

Frequently Asked Questions

How many amps does a 250W heat lamp use?

On a single-phase line, a 250W heat lamp will use 3327 Amps, on a line-to-line AC 3-phase line it will cut down to 1921 Amps and on an AC 3-phase neutral line, it uses 1109 Amps. Depending on the type of your power plan and output, the Amps go up and down. So does the cost. 

How many heat lamps can you have on a 20-amp circuit?

If you want to keep the circuit at full capacity, you can put on 10 lights per circuit. This won’t affect their performance in any way. But if performance is not your concern you can go up to 13 lights. It will decrease the performance tremendously.

How many amps does a 300-watt lamp pull?

A 300-watt lamp at 12V input will pull 25 Amps of electricity. Depending on the input the Amps may rise or fall. The lower the voltage, the higher the pull.

How many watts is a heat lamp?

A normal heat lamp available in the market goes from 100 watts to 250 watts. These are the ideal ones for home or farm use. There are also greater-wattage heat lamps available which are industrial grade. 

Conclusion

As we all know a simple rule of nature, the higher the flow point, the lesser time you will need to fill up your bucket. The same goes for any electrical heat lamp. Depending on your output, you will get higher or lower amps of consumption. So going for a better output would be the best way to go with a heat lamp. 

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