Infared space heater

[ecocavalier02]

Well im in the search for a space heater for my babies room. I hav been researching these infared heaters? i have only heard of them in the last couple of days. but the reviews seem pretty good. im looking the one at lowes by lasko for 200 bucks. Has anyone used one of these yet. I want it to heat pretty good. ive also heard of the oil filled ones. but not sure what to do..

 

[joefrompa]

I've had a $40 oil-filled one for years. 1500 watts, with 2 switches allowing it to run 600 watts, 900 watts, or 1500 watts and a variety of intensity settings.

Takes about 20 minutes to start cranking out some heat, but I can make a 200 square foot bedroom SWELTER with it in about 2 hours or less.

I heat my main living space with the stove and then my bedrooms with space heaters as needed. Allows me to set the thermostat to 60 degrees while maintaining a good level of heat in the lived in spaces of the home.

 

[maverick06]

I have a ceramic heater under my desk at work and the oil filled one (probably same as above) for the baby's room. Haven't fired it up yet, but at $20 at a yardsale it seemed like the right answer for the little one's room as it should warm and cool more gradually...

 

[BrotherBart]

The oil filled are great. We have one in each room of the house for backup since we don't have a heat source other than wood. Just the ones in the bedrooms get use and that is usually in the shoulder seasons when we don't want to fire the stoves.

 

[ecocavalier02]

looking like maybe ill go for the oil filled. lot cheaper than the infared, but was wlling to put out the extra cash for one if there really nice. but havent found anyone whose really used one yet. how are the oil filled ones on the electric bill. mine will mostly only be used at night when hes in the room. hes rarely in the room during the day.

 

[jebatty]

Electric heat is electric heat. About 3400 btu/kw. How the heat is delivered results in different "feeling" of warmth. Radiant or infrared heats objects, so anything or anyone in the path of the infrared radiance feels the warmth. Minimal heating of the air, except indirectly from heated objects. If no fan, practically draft free and thus no "cool" feeling from moving air. But one hour of an "on" 1500 watt infrared space heater will use the same amount of electricity and produce the same amount of btu heat as one hour of "on" fan forced air 1500 watt heater, and both will have the same cost of use. Any claim to the contrary is an example of bogusocity.

If you end up having an infrared heater "on" less time than another type of electric heater of the same wattage, then it will use less electricity and cost less. A sweater, stocking cap, and/or long underwear is much cheaper and may warm better than either type of heater.

 

[Jack Straw]

I just saw one of those infrared heaters at Tractor Supply for $400. I figured I could buy 2 1/2 cord of wood for that much. Get the oil filled heater for say 50.

 

[ecocavalier02]

I just saw one of those infrared heaters at Tractor Supply for $400. I figured I could buy 2 1/2 cord of wood for that much. Get the oil filled heater for say 50.

so I guess what you guys are saying that the extra 100 bucks or so ain't worth it?

 

[mayhem]

Each type of heater has its advantages and disadvantages, you need to find the right one for your needs.

Oil filled heaters are great for making longer term heat. You're not going to warm up the room right now (like my wife always wants), but as it comes up to temperature it puts out a nice even heat similar in feel to that of a woodstove and will retain some of that heat for about 20-30 minutes after you turn off the power. Good solution for a room you want to maintain a temperature in...set the thermostat to a comfortable temperature and once you get there, put the heater on a low or medium wattage setting. The things get hot though, so you want to make sure you use caution when placing it ina child's room.

Fan forced coil heaters are good for getting a relatively large area warm more quickly. They're basically really big hair dryers. Same heating elements, bigger fan. They're nice and cheap, the shell rarely gets too hot to touch, but they're a little on the noisy side. Cheap. I had one that worked really well for a good 25 years. It did a decent job of keeping my master bedroom warm enough to keep the thermostat (and the oil burner) off during the really cold snaps we always get in the winter around here and the wood stove isn't quite making enough heat to do every cubic foot in the house.

Ceramic heaters are similar to coil elements, usually in a smaller package. Fans are almost always alot noisier. same deal though, you can heat up a room fairly quickly, but with the smaller fan you get less useful airflow so personally I'm not crazy about these things. They're good for putting under a desk or a table in a cod room to make it more comfortable in the small area you're occupying, not so good for actually heating a room up. This heater puts out about the same heat as the coil element, but because it doesn't circulate as well with the tiny fan it doesn't heat up the room very well. Good for directional heat only IMHO.

Infrared heaters I haven't used much myself. My wife's uncle has one in his garage. Make it tolerable out in the cold by heating up whatever its pointed at, but not really by making the air warm. Not sure how effective this is in a room as I've never tried it. I do know that at $200 there's pretty much zero chance that I ever will, not when I can get an iol filled for $40-50 and coil or ceramic heaters for $15-20.

In the end, they all use the same amount of electricity, so its really which ones are more effective in your specific applications.

 

[Cowboy Billy]

My Dad had the oil filled ones. Two things I liked about it that there was no fan making noise and using up more power. And no part of it got hot enough to burn you. If a blanket got thrown on it it would not start it on fire. Dad kept his house at 50 deg and had one in his bed room and one in the bathroom.

Billy

 

[firefighterjake]

My Dad had the oil filled ones. Two things I liked about it that there was no fan making noise and using up more power. And no part of it got hot enough to burn you. If a blanket got thrown on it it would not start it on fire. Dad kept his house at 50 deg and had one in his bed room and one in the bathroom.

Billy

I think as a rule I would not encourage anyone to test this out . . .

 

[joefrompa]

I use an infrared heat grill to cook my steaks and burgers. Works great at that. But for the rooms, I like radiant heat: oil filled radiators or wood burning stoves.

I'll say that one of my least favorite aspects of my wood burning stove is that it requires the blower to truly be effective. So I'm getting hot air blown - an I've learned I like radiant heat better. But my setup wouldn't have allowed a radiant heat stove setup, so it's a moot point.

 

[Don2222]

Hello

These are the heaters I use in my house. It may be a little eccentric but I have a name for each of them and a little story to go with it. It is all in good fun!

It makes a good bed time story on a cold night! See pic Below and click to enlarge!

The Hearth Warming Story of the TRH Heaters !
Keeping the house warm in a freezing cold snowy winter!

Well our LP fireplace who we call Auntie Glow (SL-550-TRS-D 30,000 BTU Heat n Glow) warms us up in a pinch if I turn up her flame and the convection blower comes on. She is really warm if we lose power but that does not happen very much at all!! At Christmas time the lit candles on her mantle and lighted bead garland draped around her raised hearth bring holiday cheer for hanging up the stockings!
Our 22 year old Uncle Villy (F75CW-55 155,000 BTU Valliant Oil Fired Boiler with Tankless Coil) kept us real warm and toastie till he sprung a leak one day last summer. God rest all of his cast iron sections in the scrap yard! (The junk man there gave me $137 dollars for his heavy 550 lb carcass and some old copper pipe & brass valves!! YO ) However We will still miss that green steel and white shell of his and big 6†450 Degree F hot smoke stack!
So now to really save money we have our new Asti (Avalon Astoria 45,000 BTU Wood Pellet Stove) and as an energy saving backup with the light blue steel shell we call BIG BOO (Buderus G115WS/4 110,000 BTU Oil Fired Boiler with Indirect Superstor-Ultra who we call MaxiSuper). Big Boo is the latest high tech Triple Pass Cold Start boiler with a Tekmar 260 Outdoor Reset. Big Boo uses less than half the oil our old Uncle Villy used. MaxiSuper sure makes our bath water piping hot and we never run out!
Also it is good to have Cactus Quartz (1500 Watt Dual Element Electric Portable with Convection Fan) around in case we need him! Cactus blows electric heat as dry as the desert when someone has a cold or sickness or any aches and stiffness or just needs to warn their feet!
OOps, I almost forgot to mention STINKIE out in our garage. Our 23,000 BTU CV-2230 KeroHeat Convection - Portable Kerosene Heater. Stinkie gives good quick heat for getting the car started or doing a tune-up!
So now we have Asti for our warmth and comfort and only if needed Big Boo to keep us warm on a sub zero cold winter’s night or to keep the house from freezing when on a winter holiday. We also turn on Auntie Glow on a dreary cold winter morning to view her dancing flames while sipping on a fresh cup of coffee

 

[maverick06]

wow.... names for each... good for you!

 

[Fi-Q]

Electric heat is electric heat. About 3400 btu/kw. How the heat is delivered results in different "feeling" of warmth. Radiant or infrared heats objects, so anything or anyone in the path of the infrared radiance feels the warmth. Minimal heating of the air, except indirectly from heated objects. If no fan, practically draft free and thus no "cool" feeling from moving air. But one hour of an "on" 1500 watt infrared space heater will use the same amount of electricity and produce the same amount of btu heat as one hour of "on" fan forced air 1500 watt heater, and both will have the same cost of use. Any claim to the contrary is an example of bogusocity.

If you end up having an infrared heater "on" less time than another type of electric heater of the same wattage, then it will use less electricity and cost less. A sweater, stocking cap, and/or long underwear is much cheaper and may warm better than either type of heater.

All electric heaters are 100% efficient.....

WE have an oil filled one for the baby room, not too hot to touch, silent....

 

[annieJ]

I chose an oil heater for our nursery. There aren't any emissions like you would get with a gas heater and oil heaters are supposed to be the quietest because there is no fan involved. My husband and I did a lot of research and finally settled on the AH-450 Oil Heater.