Most of my house is toasty, but my daughter's room is not getting enough heat. I am considering an electric space heater, but I do not know where to start. I'm leaning toward an oil filled radiator type. Are they any good? Is there something better out there? How about some suggestions??? What else should I consider, and why? Thanks in advance for your help!
supplemental heat
- Thread starter rmac
- Start date
-
Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.
We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.
We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
- Status
I just bought one of the "Kenwood" (made by DeLonghi) oil filled heaters from HD last week to warm up a bedroom that's far from the pellet stove. Bottom line, for using 1500watts, I thought it was terrible. Took forever to heat up, and after 2 hours, didn't notice any change in room temp.
We discussed this one yesterday....kinda interesting, although more $$.
www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/30123/
We discussed this one yesterday....kinda interesting, although more $$.
www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/30123/
kinsmanstoves
Minister of Fire
rmac said:
For electric space heaters I found the smaller ceramic are the safest and cheapest.
Eric
stoveguy2esw
Minister of Fire
im with eric, i do not like the oil filled "radiator" heaters , i have looked at a couple that a friend had bought to suppliment his heat and all 3 had failures caused by excessive heat in the switch and wires from the switch, they were actually melted. ended up helping him out with a vent free wall mounted heater (propane) which you cannot use in a sleeping room , but installed in his kitchen/dining room it did the trick in his fairly small house , 10Kbtu unit (not one of ours but i got it as a freeby didnt want to see it get tossed, it was a demo in a friend's store and an older model he was replacing with a current one)
kinsman stoves said:
Eric & Mike , have any particular make/model that you'd recommend for a bedroom of about 200 Sq. Ft? Or are all of them about the same, and I should just look for the best price?
If you are looking for a electric space heater I just put one in my TV room in the basement, Purchased from Grainger, it is recessed in the wall, runs on a thermostat, I had 2 in my first house, they are the ones you see in restrooms or vestibules in Restaurants, they are hard wired, They come different sizes mine is a small about 8" by 10", they crank out heat, Dayton makes them, sometimes the kids will forget to shut it off, when I go down there in the morning the whole basement is warm, Think I paid $150.00, and had a buddy wire it up for me.
kinsmanstoves
Minister of Fire
lass442
New Member
rmac said:
Your electricity must be alot cheaper in NJ than ours is here in Western Ma. If our bedrooms get too cold (they are on the second floor) we'll just raise the thermostat a bit upstairs and burn oil; much more economical than running any kind of electric heat.
How was your home heated before you had your pellet stove? Do you have zone heating with that system? If so, I would suggest utilizing what already exists. You wouldn't want to shoot yourself in the foot by adding to heating expenses when you most likely use your stove to save on heating costs, right?
kofkorn
Feeling the Heat
rmac said:
Hi rmac
We have exactly the same problem in my nursery. Normally during the day I use two small doorway fans to move the heat into our bedroom and then into the nursery. At night when our 9m daughter is asleep, we like to keep the door closed, so we use one of these from HD:
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs...angId;=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100654032
I like it because it has a digital readout and you can set the exact temperature that you want it to come on at. I used one of the load measuring devices and it comes on twice in a 1 hour period for about 5-10 minutes each time. It has a pretty solid fan inside of it, so it can warm the room quickly.
Be careful though, the one bad thing is that you have to "reset" the temperature each time if you want it to stay in automatic mode. We didn't realize that at first and the room got to about 85 degrees before we figured it out. Didn't RTFM
Other than that it works great!
Good luck!
Ray
lass442 said:
I've thought about that, but it's not the cost of electricity, it's the rediculously high cost of propane in NJ. I paid $3.51/gallon last month, which is equivalent to $5.50/gal for oil or 18 cents/Kw for electric. Unfortunately I do not have zoned heating. I would have to heat my whole house just to get the one BR up to a comfy temp. I really think that I will come out ahead with a small space heater running for a few hours at night in her small well-insulated room. Hopefully propane will come down soon, but I really don't have another option. I'm open to suggestions if anybody sees flaws in my logic. Thanks for your input!
crausch
New Member
Just a couple notes for rmac...
1. I have used the oil filled radiator type, I hated it also.
2. I have electric baseboard and like them, but they only radiate they will not push the air around.
3. I also have the wall unit in two two of my bathrooms. I also like those, they will push the air out some, and their not that hard to install.
4. I have also used the small ceramic cube type heaters, they push the air and are pretty safe.
Just one thing to keep in mind, if you go by way of the baseboard or wall units, make sure you get the 220v type. You will use much less electric. The 110v units will be like leaving your wifes hair dryer running constantly. You electric bill will notice a difference.
1. I have used the oil filled radiator type, I hated it also.
2. I have electric baseboard and like them, but they only radiate they will not push the air around.
3. I also have the wall unit in two two of my bathrooms. I also like those, they will push the air out some, and their not that hard to install.
4. I have also used the small ceramic cube type heaters, they push the air and are pretty safe.
Just one thing to keep in mind, if you go by way of the baseboard or wall units, make sure you get the 220v type. You will use much less electric. The 110v units will be like leaving your wifes hair dryer running constantly. You electric bill will notice a difference.
kofkorn said:rmac said:
Hi rmac
We have exactly the same problem in my nursery. Normally during the day I use two small doorway fans to move the heat into our bedroom and then into the nursery. At night when our 9m daughter is asleep, we like to keep the door closed, so we use one of these from HD:
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs...angId;=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100654032
I like it because it has a digital readout and you can set the exact temperature that you want it to come on at. I used one of the load measuring devices and it comes on twice in a 1 hour period for about 5-10 minutes each time. It has a pretty solid fan inside of it, so it can warm the room quickly.
Be careful though, the one bad thing is that you have to "reset" the temperature each time if you want it to stay in automatic mode. We didn't realize that at first and the room got to about 85 degrees before we figured it out. Didn't RTFM
Other than that it works great!
Good luck!
Ray
Ray, Is it quiet? I bought a space heater at Wally workd a few weeks back with a thermostat and it was loud, the wife hated it and I returned it. I was thinking of buying the one you bought, but I really need it to be quiet. Thanks, Dave
SteveT
Feeling the Heat
codebum said:
That's not true. You will get 3414 BTU's of heat for every kilowatt-hour of electricity. It makes no difference what voltage it is. A 220 volt unit will operate at half the amperage (so you can get more power over a given wire size) but by doing it at twice the voltage the total energy consumed is a wash.
davevassar said:
Dave, I too am in the market for heater for my masterbedroom....pellet heat just doesn't reach that far. Ceramic heaters seem the way to go (see above posts).
I found this one on WallyWorld website, and pretty much it got good reviews. I was concerned about it being noisy, but not one mention of that in all the reviews. It also was the best "looking" of all the units....actually looks like a piece of furniture.....gonna order one today.
www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5130766
kofkorn
Feeling the Heat
Hi Rmac,
I find the fan to be very quiet. I actually have to bend over to hear it running. It also has oscillation which is nice too. My only complaint about the noise is the beep that happens every time you hit a button. It's very loud and not adjustable.
We usually turn it on before going through the nighttime routine so we don't have to worry about the beeps waking up the little one.
--
Just to pipe in on the heating comments; the nice thing about electric heat is that it's 100% efficient. Best case scenario with oil or propane is an 80% efficiency, which ups the effective cost to heat the area.
--
Ray
I find the fan to be very quiet. I actually have to bend over to hear it running. It also has oscillation which is nice too. My only complaint about the noise is the beep that happens every time you hit a button. It's very loud and not adjustable.
We usually turn it on before going through the nighttime routine so we don't have to worry about the beeps waking up the little one.
--
Just to pipe in on the heating comments; the nice thing about electric heat is that it's 100% efficient. Best case scenario with oil or propane is an 80% efficiency, which ups the effective cost to heat the area.
--
Ray
crausch
New Member
Hey EngineRep... You have just corrected a miss-conception that I have had most my life about the 110 vs 220 volts. After your post I did a little Googling and found that you are right, there is very little difference. I stand corrected :red: Thanks!
rmac - I stand by my experiences with the heater types, ceramic would be a good portable choice. Ignore my mention about the voltages.
jmhpsu93
New Member
We have a couple different oil-filled units that work very well as supplemental heat sources in our bedrooms. Every unit works a little differently, and they work best in a temperature-maintenance mode (taking the chill off) as opposed to significantly changing the temperature.
Xena
Minister of Fire
No way I'd trust electric space heaters while sleeping
especially in a kids room. I'll use a small ceramic in the bathroom
off the master bedroom for a few minutes if needed, but have never trusted them
to use while asleep. I don't care how "safe" they may claim to be.
especially in a kids room. I'll use a small ceramic in the bathroom
off the master bedroom for a few minutes if needed, but have never trusted them
to use while asleep. I don't care how "safe" they may claim to be.
- Status
Similar threads
