DeLonghi oil filled radiator Good!

[jking]

I bought one of the oil-filled heaters for our upstairs bedroom a few years ago. Apparently, I'm in the minority here. I've quit using it in favor of one of the small electric models with a fan blower. I could leave the oil-filled heater on all night & wake up in the morning to a cold room. It seems unless you have a fan blowing to move the warm air away, the heater will reach the set temp & shut off.

I'm also not sure there's much savings on the type of heater. Most of these heaters whether they're oil-filled, electric heat with fan, or even the "quartz" heaters mentioned previously; they all run about 900 - 1000 watts. I seem to need about the same amount of "on-time" regardless of the heater. If both pull the same wattage for roughly the same time, there shouldn't be any cost difference. Unless I'm missing something.

[MilDoc]

Does anyone know how these compare to the infrared quartz heaters Lowes sells?

Todd

I have a quartz radiat heater hanging from the ceiling. As it says, warms objects, not the room. So when the temp drops too low I froze. The radiator works well for my small shop (and in our bath since LOML insisted I bring it inside for now).

[ragswl4]

Thanks for the info, picked one up today for $17.50 (They gough us in CA for a few more bucks). Will try it tomorrow in the shop.

[Ed62]

So is it safe to leave these things running un-attended??

The cord on mine gets very hot when it's on high heat. I wouldn't leave it on unless I were nearby, maybe in the next room or so, where I could check on it every once in a while.

Ed

[TK421]

I used on of these when I used to live on my houseboat. Needless to say living on the water during the winter can be very cold. I would leave it on 24/7 all winter long. It would keep thing nice and toasty onboard. Never had any problems, in fact the same heater is on right now in my basement shop.
The crackling on startup is normal. Definitely keep an eye on the wire temp., I ran mine on its own circuit breaker. I would keep it low when I would leave the boat and only run it on high when I was onboard. Cant be to careful about that.

[hermit]

I have a quartz radiat heater hanging from the ceiling. As it says, warms objects, not the room. So when the temp drops too low I froze. The radiator works well for my small shop (and in our bath since LOML insisted I bring it inside for now).

Sounds like I should check these out. my space is 24 x 32 do you think 2 would cut it? Are there a couple sizes? Like I said the building is heated, I just need to lift the temp from around 58-59 to a more comfortable level.

Thanks,
Todd

[MilDoc]

If you're talking about the oil filled radiators, the highest wattage I've seen 1s 1500 watts. If you have the circuits for 2 it should work. In my 12x 22 shop it's warm enough for one, but I have to run in on a circuit by itself.

[hermit]

Wow you're fast! thanks a bunch I'm going tomorrow.

[wardprobst]

Ah, had these in the old shop and was pretty happy. One thing I haven't seen mentioned is that though they are less likely to combust dust than the exposed element, forced air units, there is a spark when the unit kicks on so be careful with solvents, etc. Also, they work nicely in combination with an air filtration unit that circulates the air and removes dust. It helps spred the heat and clean the air.
My dos pesos,
DP

[MilDoc]

Have to agree with DP. I like the fact there is no ignition source too. Should also point out that these have an over-heat circuit that shuts them off if they get too hot. Nice feature.

Just checked it in the bathroom, running on high for 5 hours. Even the cord isn't warm, but it might not be running as much as it did in the shop.

[ChongoChingi]

I'm glad I found this thread. I am about to return an electric heater that sucked. I will have to go grab one of these. Its cheaper than the crappy one! Will it warm up a two car garage or do I need to get 2?

[Kristofor]

Well, that depends... It wouldn't warm up my (insulated) garage enough in the depths of winter, but it hits -20 or worse on occasions around here... You're in Oklahoma so I'm guessing you get down to maybe 20ish sometimes? How well insulated and tight is your garage?

I guess as long as I didn't need to travel too far to buy one I'd start with one, then add another if that wasn't enough. As other have mentioned, you won't want to share a circuit with anything more than a couple lights at most or you'll trip breakers if it's running full out.

[hermit]

I ended up with 2 ($13 and change at my Lowes) and I must say they seem to work well. I don't FEEL the temp change in the air as quickly as the quartz heaters, but the overall temp increase is better warmth. As soon as the quartz are turned off, you feel a cool down. They do take a while though.

Also ended up with some condensation in my ceiling area. Temp was in the teens overnight. I may have had some heat loss with gaps in insulation in the ceiling. I worked at fixing it. I never had the problem before, so I don't know if the heaters were responsible, or not. This is the first winter with heat in the garage, so I don't know whats going on.

Thanks again for the heads up,
Todd

[dlminehart]

My marginal electricity rate in San Jose is about $0.32/kwh. Running one of these 1500W heaters would cost me almost $0.50 per hour. I need some alternative energy source!