Another problem with ceramic heaters is that they only produce maximum heat in very cold temperatures.

Basically, the ceramic heating element is temperature-dependent - The amount of heat it produces depends on the temperature of air flowing though it. So, unless the air is very cold, the heating element never produces anywhere near full output.

Result: A 1500 watt heater that behaves like a 700 watt heater under most conditions.

 

























 

The 1500 watt limit was an attempt at fire prevention I thought. Less fried cords.

Yep.  Silent.  Fan heaters aggravate my tinnitus.  You may hear the thermostatic switch click on and off.
READ the manufacturer's instructions regarding distance from wall and other materials.
It shouldn't be a problem, mine are both close to the wall, and I can put my hand on them and not get burned, though they do get toasty.

All that extra stuff = heat.  

Bare element radiant heat (quartz or simple resistive elements that glow red) will have a greater effect in making bare skin feel warm without air temperature being warmed.  Like on a sunny day.



Oil filled radiators have nearly nothing in this department as they only heat the air.  In reality, they are more convectors than radiators.  



Now, if you suspended 5 heat lamps, each 300 W, around the room, you would have the same thing as a 1500 W bare element radiant heater.  Yes, the air eventually gets warm since the radiant heat warms the surfaces it is absorbed into and those warm surfaces then convect heat to the air.



On fans and lights.  Yes, they do consume energy but even the fan's energy is eventually converted to heat .  But that is 15-30 Watts of heat, a trifle amount.  Same with lights, but 15 incandescent bulbs, each 100 Watts, would also heat the same as a 1500 Watt radiant heater.  Now if you only have CFLs, better have a BUNCH of them.



Heat is work is energy.  All the same.  The reason gas/fuel heat isn't 100% efficient is because of the exhaust gas.  Some fuel heaters (all gas) condense the water vapor produced which puts them into the 96%+ efficient.  The exhaust can be plumbed with plastic pipe (and should because the condensate is corrosive).  Old school fuel heat had to be less efficient because flue gas was extracted by convection which is driven by heat.  This is the nature of a chimney.  Newer gas appliances often use forced convection or a fan to extract exhaust gas.  Yes, the electricity consumed is less than the energy saved by extracting more heat from flue gas.

       
 

Hmmm...is anything in our universe 100% efficient?

Democrats are 100% efficient at converting tax revenue into votes



 

And like Democrats, this is 100% waste.

In this application, "efficiency" is converting electrical energy into waste heat.

I purchased a new space heater. I went with the Honeywell HZ-717. It's fantastically silent. It was $70

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Honeywell-Electric-Oil-Filled-Convection-Radiator-Heater-HZ-717-WMT/21666111

Youtube Video of heater


The fins do get hot enough where you can't have your hand on them for long, but you can touch them for a short time without being burned. It is a nice looking heater. From a photo on the box, it appears they do good in the corner of a room. I may re-situate my bedroom so it can go into the corner of the center of one of the walls.

Thanks for all the great advice in this thread. I think I found a unit that will work great in these cold months. We had our first snowfall that stuck yesterday, so it was time.

Space heaters are the debil.
They'll damage every weak electrical connection back to the panel.
We make a lot of money off people who use space heaters and window shakers.

As long as you don't overload the circuit there shouldn't be any problems. How is this different then my entertainment center I have setup using a lot of juice with a computer?

Oil filled are also less likely to cause a fire if they are accidentally tipped or cloth etc put in contact with them.  I have a delongi it has a timer so my office is warm in the am and heat cuts off in the pm if I forget.

Yeah. The less chances of a fire the better for certain

Exact same one i bought. I like it so far.

I have one of the DeLonghi models with the manual thermostat and dual switch. It's been great for many years, it's so old it's one of the ones that was made in Italy.

The only time I use both switches (1500W) is when I first turn it on and for about fine minutes at that. Once it's warm, I turn off one of them, and run it at either 700W or 800W and set the thermostat to either 2 or 3. Keeps my bedroom (fucking CA uninsulated home with crappy windows) warm during the winter months comfortably. Sure, the electric bill goes up but why run the central gas furnace all night to heat the whole house (older system) when it's not necessary? I think they're safer than the ceramic ones and certainly quieter without the fan.

Any way to tell when it's heating as opposed to when it's not heating other then seeing if it's hot?

If your entertainment center draws 1500 W, I would be really impressed.  Same with a computer.  You might have a 1200 W power supply but it isn't always drawing 1200 W.  A CPU can draw about 250 W (all waste heat) and the GPU about the same.  Modern monitors are barely 25 W.  HDD/DVD 5W, except a second or two on startup.



Some giant screen TVs might do 500 W so you might have a point there.  But these are the old ones.



 

This is my experience (not sure on the theory, i'm new to hvac) but I probably pay a lot more attention than most because i'm a hvac contractor. The oil filled radiant works better and keeps my electric bill lower.

The ceramic types have their place, and I own some for our office (bunch of fat cold secretaries and also keeping a detached bathroom and wellhouse warm) but for home use I think the oil filled is best.

In my old house, we used 6 oil filled heaters to help the central heat (old drafty farmhouse) and keep the bill lower. My bill would drop about 30 bucks a month when using oil filled to help with the load but went up 60 using ceramics to help with the load.

I've used oil-filled heaters since back in the '50s and like them. It's an even heat, but it does take them a while to get up to temperature.

I had one in my attic ham radio shack back when I was a kid. It was hooked up to a heavy duty time clock to come on about an hour before I got home from school.

Ceramic heaters wont heat a room, they heat a spot.  They throw off infrared heat like a flashlight, which means if its not pointed at you, or far away, it will feel cold.