PICTURE THREAD REQUEST: Space Heaters

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mrb627

mrb627

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 12, 2001
Messages
5,130
Location
Buford, GA
I thought since the weather is gradually beginning to shift that we could have some fun posting pictures of your friendly neighborhood space heaters. Vintage or Modern, its all good!

I only have one to offer. It is in my office at work. A Holmes fan forced heater. I'll try an snap a pic of it when nobody is looking...

Malcolm
 
Various space heaters

I have quite a collection. I also have an excellent gas furnace in the basement, so i really don't use these for more than fun.

these first 2 are probably the oldest, the one on the right is GE. Neither has any switch or safety/tip-over switches, just plug it in when you want heat.

akronman++10-10-2011-13-26-38.jpg
 
one of favorites

This one made by Markel. Lo is main frontmost heater only, wires wound tight around a 1/2" diameter rod. Medium is hidden rear heatrod, exactly the same, plus the hidden fan blowing over it. Hi is both heat rods plus fan. There is also a temp control, no tip-over safety switch.

akronman++10-10-2011-20-52-6.jpg
 
Sears Kenmore

Heater and cooling fan combo. Not sure what year it was made. The heater is rated at 1600 watts and works well. The fan when set on cooling is also very powerful.

It really doesn't get used much anymore but it's in nice shape.

pdub++10-10-2011-20-54-55.jpg
 
saved the best for last

This one is from Dimplex, meant for bathroom walls, bedrooms. I rewired the very tightly wound NiChrome heat element. The first time, it blew a 15 amp fuse, I rewired 2nd time with 1/4 less length of wiring, it then blew at 10 amps, not 15. My master bedroom has an ugly fake fireplace. When I repaint and wallpaper, I will instead install this in the fireplace, well insulated and all. I will use 12 ga wiring, 15 amp fuse, and a dedicated circuit breaker.

akronman++10-10-2011-20-57-36.jpg
 
Interesting group of heaters.

I had (and still may have in storage somewhere) the little green Arvin like Mark's. We used it in the bathroom on cold winter nights, as the floor was cold since it was above the garage. I always thought it looked scary as it would glow red in the dark when the bathroom light was off.

The Markel shown by Mark looks like one that my dad's uncle had in his store. However, it required a 20A 240V outlet and circuit. Doe's this one run on 120 or 240?
 
I had one of those copper GEs with the screw-in cone.

I can't take pics--big disappointment--but my 'Big Heat' has been with me since 1988 and it is a prize. It's a 5x5x6 cube and the same heat as much bigger spaceheaters, 1500W. Also a 1200W setting (where I run it, the two elements in series) and a very effective thermostat, overtemp and tipover cutoffs. Even a neon light showing it's heating.

I open it up occasionally, dust it out and oil the phono-motor fan. Extremely well built and lasted all this time. A little on the noisy side in a quiet home. It spends the entire winter in the bathroom off the bedroom in my apt. I plug it in anytime the outside temp is below 45. The central in this apt doesn't keep up well with cold, it's only 5kW, 3 times bigger than the Big Heat. I don't remember what it cost, but knowing myself, it was cheap.

Good as it is, the company that made them went out of business.
 
Markel heater voltage

All my heaters are 120V, but this one doesn't list wattage. It doesn't trip a 15amp breaker.

 

The first picture, with the screw in Edison base coils, are just 660 watts. Various others units with heavier NiChrome coils are 1200 or 1500.
 
Now that I think about it, when I was very small we had a reflector type heater similar to the GE above. It had belonged to my grandfather who came to live with us when I was only a few months old. It was rarely used as my mom was afraid I'd stick my fingers thru the openings in the grill (I was very curious).

I saw one of this type at a yard sale not too long ago, but someone had put a light bulb in the socket for the heater coil.
 
Havent got a pic to post,

...but found this advertisement on youtube. I think these are Kerosene space heaters, not sure but.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
DaveAMKrayoGuy's Space Heater Collection:

A "smelly oil"-filled electric heater... My friend had one of these, in which as the result of frequent (although to him 7 probably the rest o' us, NORMAL) use leaked oil everywhere--which I'd heard as being an inherent problem w/ these heaters; hope that it never happens w/ mine!

First heater I bought for our house:

daveamkrayoguy++10-14-2011-04-34-16.jpg
 
DaveAMKrayoGuy's Space Heater Collection, 2:

Here is the BEST heater that I bought! An "electric coil, fan-forced" design...

Don't mind if my wife wants to use, but despite having a tip-over shut-off switch, and the cabinet being super-insulated w/ "cool touch" outer protection, preventing the outside from being hot, really hopes she does not leave it on or use near anything flammable or by any person; supposedly has an Auto-Shut Off, too, of some sort:

daveamkrayoguy++10-14-2011-04-40-47.jpg
 
And finally:

If not for buying this on-sale for $9 instead of whatever the price was originally, I probably wouldn't have considered this one, even though when I was heater shopping I was really tempted to, though being disappointed when I tested it, opting for the other two:

It is really for a garage/utility room, but it gives off so little heat (although that can be said for that "radiator design", as well) that I think I can run it in that area of the basement... I really bought it in spring, so along will come the opportunity to tell how well it performs in the proper season (and hopefully as well as the previous pic seems to)...

What I really dislike the lack of a "clickable" on/off switch; the red toggle switch (which illuminates when the heater is on) is really a "Hi/Lo" deal... The knob just turns it off in the very lowest position... Note the three-prong plug:

daveamkrayoguy++10-14-2011-04-46-46.jpg
 
DaveAMKrayoGuy's Space Heater Collection--Postscript:

My mom had an ARVIN heater, much like the hot orange-coiled, fan-forced one that I have...

It was a square-shaped deal that she got rid of (I believe there was an "old and/or unsafe heater removal drive" going on, too) that once inadvertently went on (when I was at home, in my bedroom to catch it going on--But I would always unplug it when I left the house) and not knowing any better at the time, had an extension cord plugged into it, which the plug connected to it had been about to be burned off & luckily noticed it just in time; and after that realized I never really needed to use one with it, while getting in the know about using one of a much safer gauge, designed for such use...!

Wife gets cold all the time (and with that, she always assumes that the baby does, too) but I really do not think I can trust her to use these in a safe, well-operable manner (there tend to be a LOT of house fires caused by the improper use of these heaters & the fires always take place at night when everyone's asleep & right "when the kid, or kids have their friend/friends over", that I've read & heard about), so I don't ever want her left at home w/ any of these on--would rather she turn up the furnace then, though some of our gas bills have been near-unforgiving, as a result of "for just plain safety"...

So given the age & inherent condition of much of the heaters here, I hope that you guys operate 'em safely and turn 'em off should they be unattended... Also remember proper use of extension cords: (when my man-cave was in the basement, I tried to plug the first two heaters, which I had at the time near me, given that I had no safe cord, other than the one they came with) use the right length & gauge and three-prong where ever possible...

-- Dave
 
Hey Dave
Very rarely will i use a space heater in the house. If its cold turn up the furnace. My feeling is i would rather pay a higher gas bill than possibly starting a fire. That is what the furnace is for. Another way of thinking about this is: what is the deductable on your homeowners insurance policy? How much money is a human life worth? How valuable is moving and rebuilding your home worth? I would suspect a few months of higher gas bills is worth it to me. Just my 2 cents worth.
Jon
 
"Home, Sweet--and SAFE!--Home"

OK, I didn't mean to imply that I'm THAT cheap...

While my personal feelings about high energy bills over took my post (& conserving our electricity, natural gas, oil, coal, water & other vital, natural, renewable but not always renewable resources for our future generations to come) I do agree, that lives, the well-being of our home (& NOT wanting to deal w/ rebuilding/relocating) & how well prepared we are for natural disasters in any such event (& how well our Ins. Co. would treat us, there) are important enough that THAT is what I should have considered & conveyed in my thread...

Sorry for not making myself more clear...

-- Dave
 

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