I am with the oil filled crowd. I have an inferred dish type and it is only good if you are directly in front of it. the radiator style is the only one I would feel safe with in a bedroom. The reflector on the inferred gets very hot.
Best Electric Space Heater?
- Thread starter Mr_Luke
- Start date
I have 3 space heaters in my really old house that has some colder rooms.
My house has a gas furnace, which I keep around low 50s at night and around 60 during the day. Some areas do not get good heat however.
I have:
* Best: LifeSmart LifePro HT1013 High Power 1,500 Watt 6 Quartz Element Infrared Large Room 3 Mode Programmable Space Heater with Remote. I keep this in my bedroom. Heat throw is fantastic, it will heat 10 degrees in minutes, from 55 to 65. I put it on a 1-2 hour timer before bed to get cozy. Costs me probably 15 cents to quickly heat a typical bedroom. Was about $100.
* a tall oscillating Lasko ceramic type - this will heat a small room (10x10) relatively quickly and the benefit is that it moves air very well. I use it in my bathroom for showering. Heats the room quickly and briefly. Don't recall the brand but I've had it for 20 years. Works very well to quickly heat a small room for pennies in a short period. Was about $60. Probably my 2nd favorite.
* a small radiant oil based portable heater from Walmart. Was about $60. My least favorite. It's the 2nd time I've tried these, the first was 20 years ago. They just don't work well. It takes at least an hour to heat my same typical bedroom and it will not heat a larger room even after several hours, maybe 5 hours it will heat a large room. So it's not cost effective, because it takes hours to heat a room and maintain it. It also does not push hot air, so at max temp it will be warm immediately next to it, but cold 5 feet away. It's just not my favorite. For a very small room if you have an hour, it will do. But I'd go for quarts or ceramic first.
My house has a gas furnace, which I keep around low 50s at night and around 60 during the day. Some areas do not get good heat however.
I have:
* Best: LifeSmart LifePro HT1013 High Power 1,500 Watt 6 Quartz Element Infrared Large Room 3 Mode Programmable Space Heater with Remote. I keep this in my bedroom. Heat throw is fantastic, it will heat 10 degrees in minutes, from 55 to 65. I put it on a 1-2 hour timer before bed to get cozy. Costs me probably 15 cents to quickly heat a typical bedroom. Was about $100.
* a tall oscillating Lasko ceramic type - this will heat a small room (10x10) relatively quickly and the benefit is that it moves air very well. I use it in my bathroom for showering. Heats the room quickly and briefly. Don't recall the brand but I've had it for 20 years. Works very well to quickly heat a small room for pennies in a short period. Was about $60. Probably my 2nd favorite.
* a small radiant oil based portable heater from Walmart. Was about $60. My least favorite. It's the 2nd time I've tried these, the first was 20 years ago. They just don't work well. It takes at least an hour to heat my same typical bedroom and it will not heat a larger room even after several hours, maybe 5 hours it will heat a large room. So it's not cost effective, because it takes hours to heat a room and maintain it. It also does not push hot air, so at max temp it will be warm immediately next to it, but cold 5 feet away. It's just not my favorite. For a very small room if you have an hour, it will do. But I'd go for quarts or ceramic first.
Some are gas.
Then it's a furnace not an air handler.
The little oilfilled radiant heaters don't do much. They are actually 1200 watts, not the advertised 1500 watts. The real 1500 ones have 1 more row of fins and are wide, giving more mass. Hard to find until again until last year.
We do not have central heat. The big oil filled ones keep the chill off of big rooms. They are slow to warm a room but are good at keeping a constant temperature. We use gas space heaters to instantly bring a room up to temperature. Gas space heaters are not too dangerous. DO NOT GO TO BED W/ONE ON !!! The new ones have carbon monoxide detectors that will shut them off if need be.
Mister Heater makes an excellent one. Runs on either natural or propane.
4WD
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I use those two combined in my home office - separate from the HVAC system …
gas heat set very low (have additional CO monitors) and my radiator has 3 settings + digital temp
