- Jul 11, 2001
- 38,332
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My house's central heater has sat disconnected rusting in the crawl space since I moved in here in 1983. I bought the house in 2000. The guy who did the inspection when I bought the house dropped off a proposal to renovate the whole house the next day, a total surprise to me, and he told me he'd done around 9 houses similar to mine in the past. He would have done a great job, I'm pretty sure, would have installed heating, fixed the foundation, etc. At the time I didn't have the money, I spent my last dime on the house and a refrigerator... the branch manager at my bank had told me my mortgage was a slam dunk but they bailed on me at the last minute, so I scraped together the funds and spent my last $1000 on the fridge, that I'm still using (saved it around 6 weeks ago, installing a new thermostat!).
So, I'm in the midst of a challenging winter, it's colder than recent ones here in Berkeley, CA. I tell myself I'm OK, but it's really not true. Today's better, it will drop a few F in coming days. I have had days in the last 2 weeks or so when my bedroom when I wake up is at 48F, kitchen not much higher. Years of experience help a lot, but it's still tough.
I realized a few days ago I have a space heater given me in the late 1990s that's perfect for me. It's a Holmes HFH-512 (Oct. 1994), has 3 power settings, a fan-only setting, and off, all on the same dial. Another dial says "Temperature" and has about 6 settings. Set on low I haven't seen the heater turn off yet, so maybe that (a thermostat, I presume) isn't working. The oscillating switch has broken free from it's mount but it's On, which is fine with me. It goes back and forth, rotating about 90 degrees. I put it on a Kasa monitoring smart plug (KP115) and see that the power draws are about 1300w, 900w, 450w. I think that's perfect for me. Thing is, I need two space heaters, one for my bedroom, the other for my kitchen.
A search comes up with nothing. I don't see anything that looks like the Holmes online (see pic below). Searching for space heaters I can't find anything so perfect for me in terms of those 3 power draws. My bedroom is small, the kitchen not much bigger, I don't require 1500w. Really, the setting I'll use the most is 450w. A working thermostat to turn it off would be nice, but not as essential as that power profile. Oscillating is also not essential, but a nicety. I have a couple infra-red reflecting space heaters but I find them annoying. If I have one in my bedroom, I point it at me, it warms me, but have to shut it off when it gets annoying, which it does after a few minutes (also, those parabolic heaters are big, too, too big). I reach for a switch on the power strip its plugged into. Still, one of those reflectors is what I've used during the winters in my bedroom, just at choice moments.
Now, I bought a couple Lasko CT22445 space heaters at Costco several weeks ago but I'm bringing them back in two days. They literally STINK! I tried the burn in thing, ran them 45 minutes on high, did that twice with one. They continue to fill the room with an odor I just can't abide. Besides annoying, it might be toxic. They were cheap there, $45, they have remote, oscillation, 3 heat settings (1500w, 1100w, 750w), eco mode, which uses on/off in tandem with thermostatic control, but the smell is a deal breaker. My gifted Holmes described above has no detectable odor!
I have another really old, small space heater that has one power setting, ~1200w. It has a thermostat for on/off and a fan. It's all metal, no smell, but it makes a serious racket! I almost never use it because it's so noisy. I'm thinking of taking it apart to see if lubricating the fan will help with the noise, it probably will, but I doubt it will get it anywhere near as quiet as the Holmes and the Lasko's.
The house is 111 years old, a craftsman that's been modified, is somewhat odd, has quite a few small rooms, two stories, back and front stairs, is somewhat drafty compared to modern construction. It would take a project to install central heating (I suppose in the attic), maybe I will, guess I should, but running it would be costly. Presumably such a system would burn a lot of natural gas. Meantime, and this winter in particular, just one simple space heater would really help. I have this in my Amazon cart, which is about as rudimentary as it gets. A review there says it doesn't smell. At least it hits my ~500w requirement, but it does nothing else... no thermostat, nothing. Also, it's expensive for what you get. A few more bucks and there are LOTS of heaters with features but most all of them have minimum power draw of 750w, which is high for me. There's one at Amazon that has 1000w/500w power profile, but the reviews didn't inspire me.
My bedroom has two bulbs above the middle, I keep an LED in one, a 250w heat lamp in the other and they have independent switches right at the bulbs. That heat lamp helps! A modest heater (~500w or so) would most times be sufficient in tandem with the heat lamp. And size matters. I can keep the Holmes in the kitchen.
Suggestions? Thanks for considered recommendations!
My Holmes HFH-512 (Oct. 1994):
So, I'm in the midst of a challenging winter, it's colder than recent ones here in Berkeley, CA. I tell myself I'm OK, but it's really not true. Today's better, it will drop a few F in coming days. I have had days in the last 2 weeks or so when my bedroom when I wake up is at 48F, kitchen not much higher. Years of experience help a lot, but it's still tough.
I realized a few days ago I have a space heater given me in the late 1990s that's perfect for me. It's a Holmes HFH-512 (Oct. 1994), has 3 power settings, a fan-only setting, and off, all on the same dial. Another dial says "Temperature" and has about 6 settings. Set on low I haven't seen the heater turn off yet, so maybe that (a thermostat, I presume) isn't working. The oscillating switch has broken free from it's mount but it's On, which is fine with me. It goes back and forth, rotating about 90 degrees. I put it on a Kasa monitoring smart plug (KP115) and see that the power draws are about 1300w, 900w, 450w. I think that's perfect for me. Thing is, I need two space heaters, one for my bedroom, the other for my kitchen.
A search comes up with nothing. I don't see anything that looks like the Holmes online (see pic below). Searching for space heaters I can't find anything so perfect for me in terms of those 3 power draws. My bedroom is small, the kitchen not much bigger, I don't require 1500w. Really, the setting I'll use the most is 450w. A working thermostat to turn it off would be nice, but not as essential as that power profile. Oscillating is also not essential, but a nicety. I have a couple infra-red reflecting space heaters but I find them annoying. If I have one in my bedroom, I point it at me, it warms me, but have to shut it off when it gets annoying, which it does after a few minutes (also, those parabolic heaters are big, too, too big). I reach for a switch on the power strip its plugged into. Still, one of those reflectors is what I've used during the winters in my bedroom, just at choice moments.
Now, I bought a couple Lasko CT22445 space heaters at Costco several weeks ago but I'm bringing them back in two days. They literally STINK! I tried the burn in thing, ran them 45 minutes on high, did that twice with one. They continue to fill the room with an odor I just can't abide. Besides annoying, it might be toxic. They were cheap there, $45, they have remote, oscillation, 3 heat settings (1500w, 1100w, 750w), eco mode, which uses on/off in tandem with thermostatic control, but the smell is a deal breaker. My gifted Holmes described above has no detectable odor!
I have another really old, small space heater that has one power setting, ~1200w. It has a thermostat for on/off and a fan. It's all metal, no smell, but it makes a serious racket! I almost never use it because it's so noisy. I'm thinking of taking it apart to see if lubricating the fan will help with the noise, it probably will, but I doubt it will get it anywhere near as quiet as the Holmes and the Lasko's.
The house is 111 years old, a craftsman that's been modified, is somewhat odd, has quite a few small rooms, two stories, back and front stairs, is somewhat drafty compared to modern construction. It would take a project to install central heating (I suppose in the attic), maybe I will, guess I should, but running it would be costly. Presumably such a system would burn a lot of natural gas. Meantime, and this winter in particular, just one simple space heater would really help. I have this in my Amazon cart, which is about as rudimentary as it gets. A review there says it doesn't smell. At least it hits my ~500w requirement, but it does nothing else... no thermostat, nothing. Also, it's expensive for what you get. A few more bucks and there are LOTS of heaters with features but most all of them have minimum power draw of 750w, which is high for me. There's one at Amazon that has 1000w/500w power profile, but the reviews didn't inspire me.
My bedroom has two bulbs above the middle, I keep an LED in one, a 250w heat lamp in the other and they have independent switches right at the bulbs. That heat lamp helps! A modest heater (~500w or so) would most times be sufficient in tandem with the heat lamp. And size matters. I can keep the Holmes in the kitchen.
Suggestions? Thanks for considered recommendations!
My Holmes HFH-512 (Oct. 1994):
Last edited:
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