Anyone with experience with Econo-Heat room heaters?

[stlsaxman]

I've been to the website and read the testimonials and STILL a little skeptical...

well, not skeptical, but wanting to hear from folks I trust- DUers!

http://www.eheat.us/

They look perfect, sound perfect and I want them to be "perfect". At $80 a piece, I wanna make sure they ARE perfect before popping for 5 of them.

I want to get my natural gas bill down to next to nothing, if not eliminate it entirely...

Any help would be appreciated!

[HeeBGBz]

1. I'm currently testing out two room heaters.

I don't have a furnace where I am now. Decided to try a non-propane alternative.

At present, I am trying out the Dimplex Compact Electric Stove

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=85711-34438-DS2205&lpage=none

So far it's a good little heater. It keeps me plenty warm so far. Temps have only gone down to about 35 though.

I also have a backup. The DeLonghi 1,500 Watt Portable Oil-Fill Radiator Heater

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=35277-000000803-2507L&lpage=none

Keeps my bathroom toasty but it takes a while for the oil to heat up.

Let me know what you find or try.

[Kolesar]

2. Econoheat would be good to bring some heat to a poorly heated room...

...so that you don't have to crank up the central thermostat. The wall mounting design with convection behind it sounds well conceived. It is better than sticking the heater in a corner or somewhere where the heat will be blocked. It will be quiet and use a scant amount less electricity because there is no fan.

Now for some skepticism. That 425 watt unit will not heat you like the 1200 W space heaters they compare it to. It does not cost 1/3 the cost to operate.

This part is such B/S that we ought to turn the FTC on them:

2. Health
Central Heating systems (along with portable fan heaters) are dust, mold and allergen traps that wreak havoc on asthma and allergy sufferers. When the central heating fans turn on, these contaminants are propelled around the home or office, causing health problems. With careful placement, an entire home can have Econo-heaters placed in all - or certain - rooms, eliminating the need to turn on the central heating system. This will save your health as well as protect your pocket book.

Yes, it will not promote dust & allergens blowing around your house. But them saying it will protect your pocketbook is a lie. A heat pump or a gas heater would be more efficient.

[LARED]

3. A few comments

In general electric heat is far more expensive than gas heat. The panels are probably more efficient than standards electric heater because there is no fan. Convective heat is how baseboard heaters work, but I sorta doubt they provide "tremendously efficient convection heat" compared to regualr baseboard heaters.

I would be wary of the idea one panel can heat a 10 X 10 room. There is a big qualifier about having adequate insulation for that to happen. and exactly what is meant by adequate is not mentioned.

On the good side they are a great way to heat a room if you want to use electric heat. They look nice, are quiet, are most likely more efficient than standard electric heaters, and you can shut them off in rooms not being used.

But remember you are only trading NG cost for electric costs.

[fleabert]

4. I would love some information on room heaters that are more

efficient than the electric ones I used last winter. they were provided by the homeowner (i rent) and I had no idea they gobbled so much electricity. my bill nearly tripled. (I normally don't use much)

any ideas, I have no idea where to start! I will need to heat five or six rooms, ranging in size from a decent sized bedroom to a tiny bathroom. I have 12 foot ceilings.

(this is for the OP and for anyone else who wants to chime in!)

[Kolesar]

5. Can you capture any California sun with your south windows?

Then close the window coverings at night? Yes, I know this sounds trivial, but you have the sun in the winter and I have clouds.

It's 50 degrees outside and I am wearing two sweaters, fleece pants and a hat. I get cold easily. So, I recommend keeping a sweater handy.

You could close off and not heat rooms that you only store stuff in. If that ceiling had no insulation, insulating it would save >$100/year. If it had minimal insulation, insulation would probably not pay off for a renter. Good luck discussing that with the landlord.

edit: Good morning. What are you doing up so early? :)

[fleabert]

13. I could do more to capture the sunlight...

good idea. I do close off rooms and leave them cold, even then, the bill was crazy...looks like (as a renter and not an owner) I am a bit screwed. :-(

I was up due to insomnia...i'm in a cycle of not getting to bed before 4am lately. it sucks! x(

[stlsaxman]

7. Space heaters are awful- burn anything close to them and leave the rest of

the room freezing. Not good at all.

I have a tenant in my building and will be getting the econo-heat panels for her as well, if I buy them for myself. Both gas furnaces are quite efficient but with gas prices doubling, I want to give the big "FU" to the gas company.

We spend $300 a month, at least, for each apartment to heat with gas during the cold months. Let's do some cyphering- (per panel) $.03/hour for 24 hours (max) = $.72 a day for 31 days= $22.32 a month for, let's say, 5 rooms= $111.00 /month for a 5 room house! That's considering I run the things 24/7, which I won't. I'll use timers or a thermostat to reduce usage from there.

The windows in the house are tight. Lots of southern exposure. We have 10 foot ceilings, too, and ceiling fans, they help a lot!

[fleabert]

14. sounds all too familiar.

I guess my situation is the same as you and your tenent. you are a good landlord! I looked at the panels, and don't feel comfortable unless they give me permission to install since they have to be mounted to the walls.

I've got a gas fireplace in my bedroom that works like a champ, a ceiling fan in there, and a western exposure- that room is the easiest to heat. I am hoping that my gas bill stays low like it did last year. I stay on top of the flame and turn that sucker way down when I am not in the room.

[bananas]

15. Do the math using square feet

They recommend one panel for a 10x10 room,
that's one panel per 100 square feet.
For example, if the 5 room house is 1000 square feet total,
you would need 10 panels.
It would be similar to getting 10 space heaters set at low wattage,
for example 10 delonghi oil-filled heaters set at 600W instead of 1500W,
in which case the space heaters wouldn't "burn anything close to them and leave the rest of the room freezing".

Another consideration - the space heaters can be moved around, the panel heaters are screwed in place and take up wall space - I don't think you can put a bookcase, sofa, or bed in front of them. A 14x14 room is 196 square feet and would require two panels, a 20x20 room is 400 square feet and would require 4 panels. That's quite a bit of wall space.

[skids]

10. All electric heaters are technically 100% efficient.

The only difference is how good or bad they are about circulating air. Just use the same heaters and get the air moving. Generally you want a good but slow churn in the room, and especially moving air up in the ceiling area down to the floor. A nice ceiling fan if you have a sturdy fixture, failing that, an aimable floor-mount.

Not that electric heat is recommended -- waste of good electricity. But sometimes us renters have litte choice.

[fleabert]

12. oh dear. we did that.

and it was horrible. took forever to warm the room, and like i said, my bill was HUGE. :-( I'd be fine with sweaters and blankets, but the dh wants it warm...

thanks for the advice.

[skids]

16. Underpowered then.

And I'm guessing that you don't want to pay for sufficient power :-)

In that case, you could try to manage the heat so it blows (again very slowly) down across your feet but not clear past you.

[philb]

17. all electric strip heating is the most inefficient type of heating

heat pumps are much more efficient and cost effective for a fairly large area; and even more so if you also use the waste heat to heat your water.


Anything using electriciy has the disadvantage of over 60% of the fuel energy being lost in generation and distribution.


On site gas heat pumps are theoretically much much cost effective than electric heat pumps. They have them in Japan. But Japan is far ahead of the U.S. in most energy efficiency technology.

[skids]

18. That wasn't the question.

The OP was wondering if a different brand of electric heater was more efficient. From the wall socket to the air, they are 100% efficient. Well OK *almost* 100% efficient if any of the noise or glow light escapes the heated area before turning to heat.

What goes on before the wall socket's a whole other story. Regularly using electricity for large heating tasks is a waste of high quality power.

(Though there is one way in which electric heat might be good -- if the space heater was made of an array of high-power parrallel computer processors and linked to the BOINC network. If you're gonna do it, may as well do it geek, right? :-) )

[Dogmudgeon]

6. It doesn't look too bad

Personally, I ignore all hype. I also ignore my own cynicism, because it always comes from resisting the hype, not analyzing the reality. So it looks like you're on the right track.

Econo-Heat may indeed be a real bargain. The approval of the BBB and Underwriters' Labs speaks well for it. They've also been around for a decade and a half. You're just going to have to ask around and check to see if the company is being honest. I'd also check out the state's department of consumer whatever.

I got incredible efficiency out of a 1000W oil-filled radiator-style heater when I lived in an apartment with expensive, dirty, forced-air electric heaters. I turned the thing on and set a small desk fan on low to blow air at it to circulate the heat. Of course, the apartment wasn't very big, but I saved a lot of money compared to my neighbors, and we were all using electricity for our heat.

A lot of these things are matters of engineering, placement, and a little creativity. If you're trying to save money on heating, I'm sure you're well aware of them! Good luck, and let us know how it works out.

--p!

[zalinda]

8. Look into the ceramic heaters too

the outside doesn't get hot like some of them do. I have a little one that gives off a lot of heat. This is me, just looking at the safety factor. You may be very careful, but you're tenant may not.

zalinda

[Richard D]

9. Just to note:

10 by 10 is a really small room.

[Systematic Chaos]

11. I own two small ceramic heaters

I have used them only rarely, but each one can keep at least one small room (or a section of a larger one) quite warm. They're relatively safe, too.

[LiberalEsto]

19. Question about space heater safety

My daughter, 22, lives in the coldest room in the house because the ductwork is all screwed up.

Is there any way to safely give her extra heat overnight while she's sleeping? She's rarely home during the day - she works and commutes to college.

Would some kind of small space heater be OK to use overnight or are they too dangerous for that?

[bananas]

20. Electric ones are safe

I'm scared of the kerosene etc heaters,
they are supposed to be safe if used correctly,
and they now have all kinds of safety features,
but I've never tried them.

I've tried several kinds of electric heaters over the years,
they are all UL-approved and are very safe.
The kind I like best is the delonghi-style oil-filled radiator,
they take a few minutes to warm up,
but then they work very well through the night.
Some of them have 24-hour timers so they can be off during the day.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000A33B1C/qid=1130297134/br=1-2/ref=cl_tr_br_cl//103-5578334-5068632?v=glance&s=kitchen&n=916370

The ceramic heaters are good, they are similar to hair blow-driers,
they are very small, they heat the room quickly,
but I still like the delonghi oil-filled type better.

I bought one of these once, at first I liked it, but it gave me a sunburn.
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=10035033&whse=BC&topnav=&cat=2944&hierPath=337

I haven't tried the electric baseboard heaters, they probably work well too.

[LiberalEsto]

21. Thanks!

I think I'll go for a small ceramic since her room is small and crowded with stuff.

Sunburn? That's a shame. I saw one at Costco the other day and it made very nice heat, but getting cooked is not my idea of fun.

[bananas]

22. It wasn't actually a sunburn

One day I noticed white circles around my eyes.
Then I realized the circles were the shadow from my eyeglasses,
my skin had reddened where it was exposed to the heat.
Someone who doesn't wear glasses might not notice,
or might even like the effect.

[Kolesar]

23. Make sure your receptacle wiring is in good order to prevent fires

The receptacle should have good "retention force" when you pull the plug out. If it just slides out without much resistance, it may cause overheating where the electrodes make contact.

Don't use extension cords, especially those cheap-o ones made with small-conductor zip cord that have premolded ends.

Judge the workmanship of the room wiring. If it looks like somebody's brother slapped it together in exchange for some beers, you may wish to have it redone. There is a reason there are professional electricians.

If the heater is 1000 watts or less, it would draw less current and be "safer". I use an electric blanket. I have read up on the subject and never found conclusive evidence that the electric fields cause health problems. There are also electric mattress pads, but I have never seen or used one.

[LiberalEsto]

24. Thank you, B.A.!

One more Q. - is it okay to use one of those surge suppressors used for computer equipment?
LibE

[Kolesar]

25. A surge arrestor would not be a problem at all

But a space heater really does not need protecting. Unlike a computer or tv with tiny components that operate at tiny power levels and get hurt by power line surges, a space heater is designed to handle BIG amounts of power. Surges in the power line will just get absorbed by that 1000 watt heater.

I work in the field of surge suppression, btw.

[bananas]

26. Do these do any good?

Whole house surge protector
http://www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDUS/EN_US/jsearch/product.jsp?pn=091803

[Kolesar]

27. Whole-house surge protectors are required in FL, the lightning state

By required, I mean that the electrical code for new construction requires them.

Whole house arrestors a good product. Even if your house does not get hit by lightning, a lightning strike down the street may send residual surges into your AC wiring. $80 seems like a great price, too.