Please recommend me a space heater

[ultimatebob]

An Intel 12900KS...

It seems that GeForce 3080's are back in stock. Get a couple of those and mine crypto with them... you'll have the most overpriced space heater of all time

 

[BoomerD]

Muse, I know it's warmer than when you started this thread, but consider having a good quality pellet stove installed instead of electric space heaters. They're compliant with the EPA and CA laws.

Wood Smoke - City of Berkeley, CA

We installed a Harman pellet stove this past year. What a difference it's made in the comfort of the house as well as dropping our electric bill considerably.

 

[Muse]

It's warming up in fits and starts. 59F here in my bedroom right now and I'm wearing a hoody and down vest & a bucket hat. 57F outside ATM at 10:10AM.

That little toylike ~500w (optimistic, it's really a bit less) space heater was, as I anticipated, a good idea in my 10'x10' bedroom. Given the temperate climate it mostly satisfies when coupled with the 250w heat lamp, which I turn on occasionally.

I figure I'll look into the heat pump ideas in this thread. There's a lot more to this 1900 square foot house than this 100 square foot bedroom!

PS Only a seldom occasion that I light a fire in my fireplace, and it's not to heat the house, doesn't seem to do that. But it does warm me physically quick, so my hands don't feel frigid. Maybe 1/2 dozen times/year on average. It also gives me ashes that I use in the garden for fertilizer. I have a LOT of dry firewood from trimming my two plum trees.

 

[BoomerD]

It's warming up in fits and starts. 59F here in my bedroom right now and I'm wearing a hoody and down vest & a bucket hat. 57F outside ATM at 10:10AM.

That little toylike ~500w (optimistic, it's really a bit less) space heater was, as I anticipated, a good idea in my 10'x10' bedroom. Given the temperate climate it mostly satisfies when coupled with the 250w heat lamp, which I turn on occasionally.

I figure I'll look into the heat pump ideas in this thread. There's a lot more to this 1900 square foot house than this 100 square foot bedroom!

PS Only a seldom occasion that I light a fire in my fireplace, and it's not to heat the house, doesn't seem to do that. But it does warm me physically quick, so my hands don't feel frigid. Maybe 1/2 dozen times/year on average. It also gives me ashes that I use in the garden for fertilizer. I have a LOT of dry firewood from trimming my two plum trees.

If you have a fireplace, consider an insert. Much more efficient.

 

[Charmonium]

I have 2 space heaters (of the various ones I keep handy in case there's an issue with the furnace). Both are the radiant oil type. The Soleus Air model has 2 power settings - 700 and 1500watt.

My problem is capacity issues. In the room I call my office, it's only about 10x12 and about a third of that is file cabinets. So I only run it at 700w and don't have any problems. Setting it to 1500w, you can use it to time how long it is before the breaker trips.

An electrician friend once told me that you can't treat breakers like a light switch. They WILL wear out. I took that warning to heart.

 

[Muse]

It also gets to a minimum of about 40 Freedom degrees, no more than 2 weeks per year over the last 30 of our years, where the OP lives.

Heating is definitely useful, because it does get cool at night, but it's comfy indoor temperature most of the year because it just never gets cool enough to diffuse the day's accumulated heat trapped within the typically stone and concrete and stick living units (probably about 55-65 Freedom degrees through most of winter days, and nights are typically 45-50).

It gets down into the upper 30's (F) at times every winter, and occasionally the lower 30's most winters for a few days. There was one winter (about 1992?) when minimum night temperature stayed around 26F for several days running. I left the butter out because it stayed around 40F in the kitchen!

Yes, daytime max temperature is generally 55-65 in the winter (can be significantly lower) but nighttime outdoors minimum is NOT "typically 45-50" ... it's more like 40-52. I find in the cooler part of winter, indoors in my house it gets to around 52F around dawn and stays there for much of the day unless heated by appliances. That 52F can be 48F during a serious chill. Was 40F, as I say, back about 1992 (all my housemates split, and I endured it alone, for almost a week IIRC). I can see my breath during the cooler stretches inside my house, but I don't recall ever shivering here! I have appropriate clothing!

Right now, almost dawn, it's 50F in my kitchen.

 

[Torn Mind]

I have discovered parabolic heaters are quite an effective twist on radiant heating. Failure mode was the overheat buzzer triggering because the metal dish was covered in dust.

I didn't buy. Someone died; made it to almost 100. Their senior children decided to sell the house...probably after noticing a rodent infestation. This heater wasn't given to anyone, it was actually put curbside as trash.

 

[Muse]

I have discovered parabolic heaters are quite an effective twist on radiant heating. Failure mode was the overheat buzzer triggering because the metal dish was covered in dust.

I didn't buy. Someone died; made it to almost 100. Their senior children decided to sell the house...probably after noticing a rodent infestation. This heater wasn't given to anyone, it was actually put curbside as trash.

I have a number of space heaters but have never bought one. Found, left here, one given me, and at least 2 are parabolic projection coil heaters. I used to use those parabolics. They are OK sometimes, but when I used one I found myself turning it off after a bit. It's better if you are situated in the throw, of course. Can be efficient. I no longer use them. My favorites now are a rotating (~60 degrees) fanned coil heater in the kitchen, a 250 watt heat lamp facing down from the ceiling in the bedroom and a tiny 500 watt (489 watt, actually) thing that's fanned I bought off Amazon. Yeah, forgot, I did buy that one!

 

[Ken g6]

Did you ever look into heat pumps? They're perfect for your climate, and there are now potential federal tax incentives.

 

[Muse]

Did you ever look into heat pumps? They're perfect for your climate, and there are now potential federal tax incentives.

I haven't done my homework yet. Once I get past this winter (this one's been more challenging than most) I can hopefully think about getting into determining what would work for me and how to proceed. Woke up early this morning and it was 48F in my bedroom, 50F in the kitchen. Turned on my dinky heat-em-up systems and gained ~5F in both rooms. I'm pretty used to this stuff.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

Whatever you're doing, or trying to do is obviously not working as well as you've convinced yourself it might be.

It was 24 outside overnight, 33 now and 63 inside and I don't use a lot of heat source, either electric, gas or other forms.

 

[igor_kavinski]

Whatever you're doing, or trying to do is obviously not working as well as you've convinced yourself it might be.

You are probably in a well insulated shelter / cottage / cabin etc.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

Yeah, that's why the wind blows candle flames and draws curtains. This place leaks like a sieve.

 

[igor_kavinski]

Yeah, that's why the wind blows candle flames and draws curtains. This place leaks like a sieve.

That doesn't explain the 30F differential between the inside and outside. You have a potent heat source or YOU are the monster heat source. Must be drinking a lot of coffee or eating lots of protein.

 

[Captante]

I haven't done my homework yet. Once I get past this winter (this one's been more challenging than most) I can hopefully think about getting into determining what would work for me and how to proceed. Woke up early this morning and it was 48F in my bedroom, 50F in the kitchen. Turned on my dinky heat-em-up systems and gained ~5F in both rooms. I'm pretty used to this stuff.

Don't you live in Socal near the ocean?

How much "colder" than 48f could it even have been outdoors this morning?

Not saying that you need to keep the place at 70f all the time but if indoors is at/near the same temp as outdoors you might as well be living in a tent! (even Cheez has better heat then that lol)

 

[Captante]

That doesn't explain the 30F differential between the inside and outside. You have a potent heat source or YOU are the monster heat source. Must be drinking a lot of coffee or eating lots of protein.

Being "FULL" of a certain stinky brown substance CAN result in copious amounts of hot gaseous "emissions" ROTFL.

 

[Markfw]

https://www.amazon.com/DeLonghi-Comfort-Thermostat-Settings-Features/dp/B000TGDGLU/ref=asc_df_B000TGDGLU/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=167116234959&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3744002281752997716&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9032828&hvtargid=pla-276712688777&psc=1

I have one exactly like this. No fans, no elements for little kids to burn their fingers or get electrocuted. On high, its very hot to touch, but I have never actually been physically burned by it. It will heat an entire garage. Sever of them will heat a house. Pretty efficient too.

Forgive me if its posted elsewhere here, as I don't have to time to read the whole thread.

 

[igor_kavinski]

This looks nice for directional heating: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B5ZNYT29/

 

[Red Squirrel]

At this point with price of utilities continuously going up across the board the best bet is heat pump + big solar install, or wood stove. I ended up getting a wood stove myself. I really need to boot it and start actually installing it. I was waiting on someone to help with the chimney but think I need to just do it myself at this point.

 

[Torn Mind]

At this point with price of utilities continuously going up across the board the best bet is heat pump + big solar install, or wood stove. I ended up getting a wood stove myself. I really need to boot it and start actually installing it. I was waiting on someone to help with the chimney but think I need to just do it myself at this point.

There might be difficulty finding this wood thing to burn in San Fran.

 

[Red Squirrel]

There might be difficulty finding this wood thing to burn in San Fran.

On yeah being in a big city might make that hard. I'm used to being able to easily drive anywhere to get wood quite easily. It's practically free around here.

I'm looking into getting a harvest permit as well so I can harvest on crown land. I don't actually have pine tree rights on my own land, which is kinda dumb and it's a very old archaic rule from past wars as they used the pines for ship masts, but by getting the permit I will be able to harvest a larger area. I'll use the good stuff for milling and rest for firewood. Ideally want to find dead trees for firewood. I hate to waste a live tree on it.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

I haven't used my wood burner yet this year and will probably take it out in the Spring. I've used it for the past 10 years or so and I've just run out of the energy and desire to mess with it.

Find the wood.
Cut the wood.
Haul the wood.
Sort the wood.
Split the wood.
Haul the wood.
Stack the wood.
Haul the wood.
Load the wood.
Check the wood to make sure it's burning well.
Shovel the ash.
Haul the ash.

Who needs heat? You're sweating like a pig in 10 degree weather.


And free? Nope. Costs of saws, splitters, fuels, other tools and machines, maintenance on everything.

 

[lxskllr]

People pay good money for that kind of workout. All you need is a chainsaw, a maul, and a few splitting wedges. You could get all top quality gear for firewood duty, and it'll all be < $1k. A new chain every so often, and a few expendable saw parts that cost $5-$20, and you can go for decades.

 

[MrSquished]

Being on the third floor is good. Today has been a high of just over 40 and now it's 37 and ticking a bit further down.

My heat is set to 72 except when I'm not home it goes off automatically, and at bedtime it goes lower to 64, which basically means it never goes on when I sleep. Thanks Nest.

Been home all day chilling and my heat has been on just about an hour all day today so far, since midnight, hanging out in short sleeves.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

That doesn't lift and move the stuff. You need a tractor or similar .. ATV , truck, whatever. I had a 25 ton splitter and it was still all I could do to place the rounds.
I ain't a swining' no maul.

And all that's assuming you don't drop something on your foot or get your hand caught somewhere.