Portable heaters?

[Ocean Spray]

Can anyone give me some feedback on portable electric space heaters? I'm looking for something to warm up a single room where my ninety seven year old mother spends most of her time.
This would supplement the conventional gas heat that heats the whole house. She wants to turn the thermostat to eighty, thereby heating the entire house at eighty(wicked ex$pensive).
My brother saw one of those Amish "Heat Surge Flameless" heaters, but I googled them and it's a scam.
Any feedback? Quartz heaters? Ceramic?

[capt jake]

Those oil filled radiator type heaters work well. They take a bit to get to temp, but they are good for maintaining the temperature once there. Something like this one.

I think there is less chance of burns and such with this type. I don't think you are close by ; I have two I am not using any longer.

[gregleeber]

That depends on what kind of siding she has on the house. I've found that burning the siding on the house is the least expensive route. But, if its vinyl I wouldn't use it as it gives off dangerous gass; of course that would be okay for my step mother.

Once you've burned through all the siding you can start pulling up the oak flooring but start in a room that gets the least amount of use and work outward.

Good luck...

Oh, disconnect the thermostat and open it up. Take the dial and twist it so that it reads 80 when it is 50...

[Ocean Spray]

Sometimes, my mother likes to set the thermometer up to eighty and then open the rear door to let the fresh air in(Boston in February) .

[Dan McCosh]

Oil filled radiators clearly are the safest.

[Ocean Spray]

Are there different types of oil heaters in terms of heat output? Ease of use? expense?

[capt jake]

Are there different types of oil heaters in terms of heat output? Ease of use? expense?

Heat output? Yes
Ease of use? All about the same.
Cost? Not sure on that. I picked up mince many years ago, one at a garage sale and the other while clearing out an office.

This is the site I snagged the picture from. Only $50.
http://www.heater-store.com/radiant_...g_243_prd1.htm

[kc8pql]

Are there different types of oil heaters in terms of heat output? Ease of use? expense?

Pretty much all plug in the wall electric heaters are 1500 watts. In other words they all have the same btu output. Oil filled is probably safer. The fan types are nicer to sit in front of an let nice warm air blow on you.

[paladin]

Rears and sawbuck...cheapest...use a couple in the shop and they do a fine job....now 18 years old and still working after a 40 dollar investment.

[Tom Lathrop]

Those Amish ads make me suspicious of anything Amish. They are a definite scam.

What everyone should keep in mind is that with electric space heaters, a watt is a watt, is a watt, is a watt, etc ....

Because many houses are wired with 14 ga wire, electric space heaters are limited to 1500 or 1620 watts and all will deliver the same amount of BTU's. Quartz radiant heaters will deliver these BTU's differently than a convection or fan forced heater of the same amperage but the total heat delivered to the room is the same. Only the actual voltage at your outlet will allow more or less heat to be delivered. This can vary by about 10% and sometimes a bit more.

The UL approval tag on almost all of the electric apliances usually applies only to the plug and perhaps the feed wire. In essence, it means almost nothing.

For your grandmother, I'd choose the oil filled radiator for its safety. For quicker response heat, the little ceramic heaters are nice and don't pose much injury problem. The heaters with visible ribbon or coil resistance heat elements are good but less safe. All should have a safety switch to turn it off if it is turned over.

[Chip-skiff]

Oil-filled radiators are quite safe (i.e. fabrics draped over one will not catch fire) but there's not much perceptible warmth unless you sit very close.

We keep a cool house but both work at computers. A couple years ago I was enjoying the sensation of heat from the ceiling-mounted radiant heater (Marvin quartz tube) in my shop, and decided to try one in the house. Since a ceiling mount wasn't practical, I built a stand with steel tubing and Kee-Klamps. To reflect the heat back to my dark side I made a shoji (hinged screen) out of old copper plumbing tube and Reflectix insulation.



The result is that the air temp in my basement office gets down to the mid 40°s F (7°C) in winter but I am quite comfy sitting at the devilbox to work, with one tube on (750 watts). The reflective screen makes all the difference– otherwise I'd be toasty on the right and chill on the left. Here's a better view of the heater and scratchbuilt stand:



The Law-Babe wanted a similar setup for her home office (with a big deep worktable) so I mounted the heater at the top of the wall facing her, to warm her upper parts, and hung a poultry brooder lamp under the tabletop, aimed at her toes. So she can fine-tune her heat input.

It works very well for us (and we're using about 40% of the power we did when we moved into this house). I can see it being a great comfort to an older person– the direct sensation of heat (from a fireplace or woodburner) is a pleasure much keener than having the air in a room heated to a stifling degree. You needn't adapt a shop heater— there are quite a few radiant tower heaters on the market (avoid those with fans).

If I was living on a boat with shore power, I'd definitely look into radiant heat.

[Peter Eikenberry]

The oil filled heaters are perfectly adequate in a small room. I have one we bought about three years ago and we use it in the bedroom of our motor home. We can shut off the furnace and leave the oil heater on half power and the temp never drops below 60 deg. That's in the PACNW in an uninsulated motor home. I paid 39.95 for mine at WalMart. Yeah they are all about 1500 watts. And to seal the deal our cat loves it. She snuggles up to the heater all winter long.

[kc8pql]

Those Amish ads make me suspicious of anything Amish. They are a definite scam.

The tipoff is all those smiling photos in the ad. I've never heard of Amish that would knowingly allow their photo to be taken.

[Ian McColgin]

On Goblin I went through a bunch of different electric heater types.

Conventional electric heaters were most unsuitable and unsafe in a boat. Which does not say one would be wrong in your application.

The oil filled radiator appealed because of its apparent safety but without a fan it doesn’t get the heat very far. In the cold environment of a boat heated by no other source it did not ever cycle off and the plug tended to warm up and over time would occasionally trip the circuit breaker.

The Orange God - the quartz tube - was an object of worship for the cats. It heats mass, not air and thus might not be the first choice for a person who wants to breath warm air. Again, more of a problem if it’s the sole heat source. The tube is a tad fragile and was not the greatest for a boat a dock that might sway in the wind, fall over, and break.

My personal favorite was the black cube ceramic heater. The ceramic holds the heat well so the fan would run but the heat element would cycle on and off. Tellingly, it never got the plug hot and never tripped the breaker. The unit back then ran a pricy $100 and was absolutely the safest, warmest best for a boat. It would also warm your mother finastkind.

G’luck

[Mike Field]

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I must say I think Ian has (again) given the right answer. You've already got background warmth throughout the house, so it sounds to me that your mother wants to turn up the thermostat probably because she stays seated most of the time, and so still feels cold (as indeed many people do in those circumstances.)

That being the case, a small fan heater directed at her chair is the obvious choice. And of all fan heaters, the ceramic is the most efficient. QED.
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