Heater for gaseous media

An electric heater for gaseous media with at least one support plate and at least one helix of corrugated, electric resistance heating wire wound continuously around the support plate and whose turns are held by means of heating wire bend-offs on the longitudinal edges of the support plate is characterized in that the heating wire is positioned in such a way that it only contacts longitudinal narrow sides and/or edges of the longitudinal narrow sides of the support plate, the bending angle being much larger than 40°. This significantly reduces the risk of thermal damage to the heating wire, particularly in the vicinity of the plate edges. As a result of the largely naturally stable design of the heating wire, the heater according to the invention requires no spacers between the support plates and is therefore particularly simple and inexpensive to manufacture.