Space heaters?

[thomasortega]

Folks, Winter is coming and it means I'm about to freeze to death.

I need some advice on space heaters.

My apartment has the infamous williams double wall furnace (living room and my bedroom)

The thermostat is in a terrible position and that darn thing doesn't heat enough. I mean, right in front of it I almost burst in flames, but 2 steps away from it it continues freezing cold. (add to the equation a 100-year apartment with NO insulation).

Anyway, that wall furnace makes me sweat, but only once a month when i open the gas bill All the other nights I feel like a popsicle. (and yes, i tried putting a fan in front of it, it works when it's not that cold.

I have one of those I-don't-remember-what-brand "El cheapo" (maybe Pelonis or Mainstrays?) tower heaters (ceramic, 1500W, with a blower) I wish the temperature could reach the same noise level (almost a hair dryer) I don't need to say that thing just wastes electricity and heats nothing.

So, what kind of heater should i look for?

I'm personally terrified by those quartz heaters or anything that glows because of a zillion horror stories I see every winter.

If it's silent, that's better, but if it has a fan, it also doesn't annoy me at all.

I'm also considering one of those electric fireplaces (the cheap ones) and i don't really care if they heat well or not, i just want it because of the visual effect. Of course, even the worst brand will add some heat, but I'm sure it won't be enough.

So, what are the options left?

Oil filled? (that takes forever to heat), one of those "milkhouse" units? One of those expensive honeywell that look more like an air purifier? one of those portable "baseboard" heaters?

Is there anything that will heat a large bedroom without costing a fortune?

Regarding the power consumption, of course I want as efficient as possible BUT I also understand that it's impossible to have enough heat with low power, specially with walls that are not insulated.

And before anybody mentions, my apartment is a rental unit and the landlord WON'T even think about replacing a 1-year old wall furnace by a fan forced unit.

BTW, my personal comfort temperature during the winter is above 80F (If I can keep my bedroom at 82 or 83 it will be wonderful.) With the wall furnace set to 90F and a fan in front of it my bedroom barely reaches 65F because two walls are freezing cold.

 

[ea56]

Thomas,

Dyson heater fans are excellent, and really worth every penney. We have two of them and they heat very effectively, and the warranty is very good too.

Eddie

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www.dyson.com

 

[DADoES]

 
Vornado works excellent in my experience.

 

[rp2813]

For silent operation, I like a portable oil filled radiator type heater.  If you just want to keep your bedroom warm, one of those will do the job.   They are best placed under a window to assist with circulation of the heat (no need for a fan), but will keep a room toasty regardless of placement.

 

We have a like-new Pelonis with analog controls.  It has settings for low, medium, and high heat, along with a thermostatic adjustment dial.  They also come with digital controls.  I found ours in a thrift store but you can buy new for about triple the price I paid.  A portable baseboard unit would deliver similar results, but they're bulky and not as common.

 

As I've mentioned before, at our previous house we had a Williams wall heater in the den, which had a high vaulted ceiling.  The heater had no fan assist.  I stuck an 8" Vornado air circulator set to low speed on the floor in a corner behind a club chair and aimed it vertically.   It prevented the heat from hanging in the top half of the room and kept it comfortable in there without any hot or cold spots.  I highly recommend doing this in both your bedroom and living room, and if possible, moving the thermostat to an area away from the furnace.  Even if you have to run exposed wires, if you relocate the thermostat, that, combined with the small fans in each room that will make a big difference and perhaps eliminate the need for a space heater.

 

[yogitunes]

maybe consider an electric blanket for your bed....

a teddy BEAR never hurts for added warmth and to cuddle with....its the season for them to start hibernating...

 

[combo52]

Extra Heat For A Cold Apartment

ALL portable electric heaters draw the same 1500 watts, they ALL put out the same amount of heat, They ALL cost the same thing to operate [ a lot ] .

 

Hi Thomas, What kind of A/C does your apartment have ? If you happen to have Through-The Wall A/Cs of around 26"X16" you can easily pull one out and slide in  an A/C that is also a heat pump and these usually have back-up resistance heat as well.

 

With one of these units you can be VERY warm and when operating in the heat-pump mode they put out 10-12,000 BTUs  [not the 4,500 of a portable heater ] and distribute around the apartment much better, and only cost 1/3 as much to operate in the heat-pump mode, which is all you really would in Southern California .

 

My coworker Jason used two of these units to heat and cool his two level town house and he not only keeps it at 72F all winter but also has an electric bill much lower than most of his neighbors.

 

John L.

 

[turbokinetic]

I can agree with John L about using a package A/C unit being a very good option. In addition to the reasons he mentioned concerning energy cost, it will be a lot safer as well.

 

For some reason, I have a feeling your apartment building may be an older building. If not, then you can disregard this! In older buildings, often there are unseen deficiencies in the wiring. It is likely perfectly safe for using most household appliances. Heaters are a constant, high current load. This can lead to a gradual overheating wiring, especially when there are old repairs in concealed areas. We have repaired nonfunctional outlets where there was nothing wrong at the outlet connections, nor at the breaker box. The cable was open circuit. We found a completely burned-apart splice, in the wall, with no box. Somehow it didn't start a fire. The second one was a nonfunctional bathroom outlet, where the burned splice was in the attic, in a box without a cover. It was actually "near a box" because so much wire had been stuffed in there, it was all hanging out of the box.

In light of that, I always recommend caution using continuous, high current loads in older buildings unless a new dedicated circuit can be added. Which, in your case of a rental, won't be an option.

 

The package A/C has to have a dedicated circuit, which his probably already in place for the currently installed one. Exchanging it for a heat-pump unit would be a very good option, from an energy cost and especially safety standpoint.

 

[stricklybojack]

.
Portable Oil filled in my experience are the best heaters.
This one in particular, “Delonghi Safe Heat”, I like.
You can run it at 750 or 1500 (the pic below shows one red switch, they actually have two engaging each heating element), and it’s not tippy given it’s low center of gravity.
You live in LA, this fills the main room of our high ceiling drafty NYC apartment with all the heat we want using the low (750) setting, in winter. No not instantly, but between the timer and thermostat you should be able to manage. It is a one room heater, but I would much rather have the flexibility of two or more of these (if needed) than trying to use a single larger heater.

 

[revvinkevin]

Old apartment wiring

 

 

I'm sure Thomas is still sleeping....

 

Dave, yes his apartment is much older, but updated cosmetically inside so it doesn't look nearly as old as it is.  There was problem with the wiring earlier this year (or late last year) and the landlord had to bring in an electrician to rewire the majority of the apartment, as I recall.

 

Thomas, I agree with John about the heat pump unit being your best option.  With the size of your rooms, no single space heater (in each room) will be able to achieve and maintain the temps you desire (I'm sweating just thinking about it, LOL).

 

Kevin

 

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Here is my space heater trio that I, as of a week ago, actually sold:

I started out w/ the oil-filled one, then got the one w/ the heated-gridwork, just for the fan-forced coil model to be bought on sale...

Needless to say, they all got very little-to-no use...

-- Dave

 

[tinkr]

Have you Checked for drafts

Is the hot air all at ceiling height? If you have ceiling fans change their direction to force air down.
That heat is somewhere.
Check windows for cold air leaks. Also door leaks. Around outlets on exterior walls.
For windows I use sheet plastic and painters tape to secure it. I have read folks use bubble wrap on windows. And they sell kits.
We have the original 1970 aluminum windows. And they leak.
I have double window curtains. The living room window is 108 by 6 ft. South facing.
Great for day in winter but summer it's an oven. The cost to replace it is huge. I'd be dead before it paid for itself.
We have to keep the temp around 75 constant, hubs mom has heart failure and get cold easily.

A lot of diy insulation ideas for apartment dwellers online

 

[simpsomatic]

Maybe soluition

Williams wall furnaces have a fan accessory that mounts on top of unit, designed to circulate heated air. One for each side of the unit would be feasible. Request that your landlord cough up the bucks as they will become a permanent fixture in his rental unit, meanwhile you will have toasty warm air circulation.

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www.plumbersstock.com

 

[ksbanker]

Radiator

The oil filled radiator space heaters are very efficient and have worked great for me!

 

[Ultramatic]

Sheesh.

 

 

And we're roasting alive here. We are getting so much heat I actually had to open all the windows and open the terrace door last night. I have only ONE heater, rarely used. A <span style="font-size: 12pt;">Bionaire - Ceramic Tower Heater with Remote Control. </span><span class="product-data-label v-fw-medium body-copy">Model:</span><span class="product-data-value body-copy">BCH3620-U. So old, it's no longer made, but I am sure there are modern equivalents. I mention it because the heater has worked flawlessly all these years.
</span>

 

 

 

[robbinsandmyers]

I have a 20 year old 1500 watt Duracraft Heat Express cube that is so much better than the new 1500 watt cube I just bought off Amazon. Plus I 3m film the windows in this drafty old house and it makes a difference.

 

[thomasortega]

Window-type A/C unit with heater: No way. I recently bought two window-type air conditioners, cold only. The versions with heat would require 220V. The units that didn't require 220V were too small for my needs and none of them were smart.

Windows: My windows are vintage aluminum windows. terrible! no insulation at all (another challenge).

Williams fan: My landlord won't spend a cent. The fan itself isn't much of a hassle, I could even afford it out of my pocket but making electricity reach the fan will be a costly nightmare. My landlord took almost 1 year to have a professional electrician to install a security camera floodlight on the back. IDK how people charge in other states, but here in Los Angeles, electricians are usually latin and they will almost always arrive driving a huge brand new truck, TOL version, gold bracelets (tons of gold BTW) and not surprisingly a Rolex watch. I asked for an estimate to install an extra light fixture in the living room (3 feet from the other, same circuit) and I almost had a stroke when he said "well, that will take me two hours and I'll have to walk in the attic, that's usually dirty, so if you really want it will cost you over $1000, plus the material.
It wouldn't surprise me it the electrician said it would cost $2000 just to pass the wires and then other $1000 just to peel and connect three wires.

If i mention any other expense above 3 cents my landlord will have a stroke.

Dyson: Thanks for the advice but I'll pass... I didn't even check the price but i bet it costs a fortune just because it's a Dyson. I don't want to spend $399 or $599 or maybe even more on a space heater. I have no doubt that it's a wonderful heater, but not for my budget this year. However, that's a space heater I'd die for. It's cute and I saw it running, that thing gets really hot.

Electrical wiring: I had some issues with the wires, the circuit breakers were popping for no reason. The landlord hired an electrician, he discovered something scary (I would consider it a crime).
The landlord had the apartment rewired right before i moved in. The first electrician charged a fortune to rewire 100% of the apartment and replace all the fixtures. He actually replaced the fixtures and a few inches or wire on each outlet. deep inside he kept the 100-year old fabric coated wires. Not a surprise the circuit breakers were popping.

I followed the second electrician rewiring the apartment (it took 3 days) to make sure everything was brand new. Miraculously, the landlord went above the standards and overdimensioned all the circuits, just in case. This is being very helpful specially in the laundry room.

i'm starting to like the idea of an oil filled radiator. I had a Delonghi heater several years ago in Brazil and it was great (for the 52F "severe" winter)

And more important than anything else: Thank you all for the advices. I knew I could count on you!

 

[ea56]

I know the Dyson is expensive, but Lowes does have them on sale now for $279.99,which is a very good price, they are normally $399.00. They have great thermostats, set the temp you want to maintain and they hold that temp, cycling the heating element on and off as necessary. And they really heat fast and with the oscillation heat a large area evenly. Also they are very quiet.

The other plus is you also have an excellent fan for the warm months.

And the warranty is great. One of ours last year stopped oscillating. I called Dyson customer service, they instructed me to just take it to the nearest UPS Store, and they would pack it and ship it back to Dyson, and Dyson simutaneoulsy overnighted a new unit to us, no charge for anything, and the replacment has a full warranty, not just thru the warranty period of the first one, but the same warranty as if we went out and bought another. I was favorably impressed.

Eddie[this post was last edited: 11/21/2018-01:59]

 

[thomasortega]

$279?

Hummmm... It's starting to look even more interesting...

 

[kb0nes]

The oil filled radiator types are definitely the safest form of electric heater as they have the lowest temperatures, typically about 200 deg or lower. Except for a wiring fault I can't see a way a filled radiator heater could cause any fire hazard. I have one I run at a remote radio site that has been used for years and I have total peace of mind with that unit.

As for efficiency of various resistance electric heater designs repeat this over and over "they are ALL 100% efficient", every one of them will produce 3.41 BTU from each watt of power they consume. Don'f fall for marketing claims.