Amp usage

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hardworker

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What uses more electricity?

a. Electric 240vt baseboard heater, 2500 watts, pulling 10 amps on each leg.

OR

b. Electric 120vt baseboard heater, 1500 watts, pulling 10 amps on one leg.

Of course the BTU produced from the 2500 watt 240vt heater is greater, but 10 amps is 10 amps.

Do both heaters create the same amount of kilowatts, therefore will you get the same charge from the power plant if they both run continuously for the same period of time?

One pulls 10 amps on 2 legs and the other pulls 10amps on 1 leg. Does this make a difference?

Please help me understand.
 
You purchase electricity by the watt, which is power. It doesn't matter what the voltage or current are, only that their product is power.

The BTU's produced are dependent on the electrical power consumed and the efficiency at which the electrical power is converted into heat.

You could have 20 amps at 120 volts or 10 amps at 240 volts; either will produce 2400 watts, and will cost the same. Insulate better to save money.
 
It seems to me that your values of 2500 and 1500 are the rated power, as opposed to the amount of power being drawn at any given moment. Note that you can turn down the 2500 watt heater, so that it is drawing under 1000 watts, if you want.

But for the sake of discussion, if one heater is actually drawing 10 amps at 240 volts, then it is using 2400 watts. That is twice as much power than would be consumed by a heater that is drawing 10 amps at 120 volts.
 
Think of it like two railroad lines. One line has a train pulling 10 cars of coal. He picks up one load carries it to the end of the line and dumps it, turns around, goes back, gets another load and repeats the process continuously.

The other line has two trains traveling the same speed (as each other and the lone train) hauling the same amount of coal and they pass each other with one dumping and 1 loading at the same. They also repeat the process continuously.
Which one is delivering the most coal in a given period of time?

To relate it to your question.
The amount of coal delivered is the Wattage.
The total number of cars is the Voltage.
The load on each train is the Amperage.

steve
 
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