Space Toys For Children
Why would an electric space heater cause a battery-operated toy 4 feet away to beep when the heater shuts off?
We recently bought an electric space heater that is controlled by room temperature. When it reaches the desired temperature, it shuts itself off. We soon noticed that each time it does this now, we hear 2 beeps. After extensive investigation, we found it was one of our children’s toys is the thing that’s beeping.
The heater plugs into the wall, but the toy is battery operated. They are about 4 feet away from each other and the batteries in the toy have been nearly dead for quite some time. The toy doesn’t randomly beep and there’s no question that it’s due to the heater turning off.
Why in the world would this occur and, more importantly, is it a sign that there is something wrong with the electrical system in the house?
It’s called radio interference.
When the heater stops it is producing a large, brief, pulse of electromagnetic and/or electrostatic energy. The toy is apparently sensitive to this.
It’s not that unusual.
If it’s like most heaters there’s a simple bi-metal strip that you adjust tension against to set temperature. The heater just toggles on and off when a switch contact opens and closes. At the moment such a switch opens or closes there is a brief moment of electrical arcing. Arcing creates a lot of radio energy.
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