The Best Portable Space Heaters
Here’s another way to save energy this winter: try using a portable space heater to heat just the room you’re in, and turn down the thermostat in the other rooms of your house. The New York Times recently tested 10 portable space heaters. Here are the Top 5:
Shown above the jump, from left to right:
Holmes Ultra Quiet Ceramic Heater ($82.99): At 15-inches high, this model from Holmes produced the hottest air and took only about 20 minutes to warm up the room by 10 degrees. Set it to either high or low, or to a specific temperature between 60 and 80 degrees, in increments of 5 degrees.
Honeywell HZ-7200 Energy Smart Heater ($39.99): The lightweight 13-inch-tall unit from Honeywell ranked high as a personal heater for sitting by your desk or relaxing in a chair. It was lightweight, cool to the touch, and had an oscillating feature— great for distributing heat around the room. It took about an hour to raise the room temperature significantly, but aimed directly at you it performs wonderfully.
Vornado TVH 600 ($199.99): 12 1/4 inches high, the Vornado only about 35 minutes to raise the room temperature by 10 degrees, although the air coming out didn’t feel that warm. It boasts a wide temperature range of 40 to 90 degrees, and functioned well as a personal heater. It also has a tip-over protection feature that turns the machine off immediately if it’s knocked over.
Lasko Remote-Control Silent Room Heater ($39.98): this unit looks and functions like an electric baseboard with its low profile and basic controls. The fastest of the models tested took just 15 minutes to warm the room by 10 degrees. The exterior surface became very warm, but there are cool-touch handles if you need to move it.
De’Longhi Safeheat Mica Panel Radiator ($89.95): The flat and rectangular De’Longhi was the most similar in look and feel to a radiator. It can be wall-mounted, or rolled around on casters, but as it gets very hot to the touch, the wall-mount option is recommended. It has 12 settings and took about 25 minutes to raise the room temperature 10 degrees.
See the full article at The New York Times.
Image: Tony Cenicola for The New York Times