Space Heater Safety

Heater reliability and safety varies in tests

With central heating costs on the rise, experts recommend turning thermostats down and using a space heater to boost warmth in an area or room in use. Owners confirm that this can lower overall costs. Electric space heaters - the type covered in this report - are the safest type to use in insulated rooms.

We found the best comparison reviews of electric space heaters at Consumer Reports and Good Housekeeping. Consumer Reports documents their testing procedures best, ranking all 16 heaters based on ratings for safety, temperature control, noise and ease of use. Good Housekeeping editors test almost twice as many heaters, but only report on the three best electric heaters they found. Owner-written reviews and ratings of space heaters complement these brief comparison tests by reporting on performance over a longer period of time, in various situations. We found the most useful owner-written heater reviews at Amazon.com, but Viewpoints.com, Epinions.com and various retailer sites also add important comments.

Space heaters do cause burns, fires and deaths every year, so it's important to follow safety precautions. Although newer space heaters are said to be safer than their predecessors, the editors of Consumer Reports cite a disturbing statistic from the U.S. Fire Administration that space heaters are responsible for 40 percent of heating-related deaths every year. Experts say most space-heater fires are caused by heaters placed too close to curtains, upholstery or other combustible materials. We did find several reports, however, about Pelonis disc furnaces bursting into flame all on their own. And every year there are several electric heaters of different brands and types recalled for safety issues, without any evident pattern. Experts urge that you register a new heater with the manufacturer right away, so you'll be informed of any safety issues.

Unfortunately, in some heater designs there also seems to be a tradeoff between safety features and heating performance. This doesn't show up in comparison tests, but for example, many owners complain that the newer DeLonghi SafeHeat Oil Filled TRD0715T (*Est. $70) and faster-heating DeLonghi SafeHeat Flat Panel Micathermic HHP 1500 (*Est. $80) don't warm room air as well as older oil-filled radiator heaters. But those older models can get hotter to the touch, and are thus not as safe for rooms with children. Some owners complain about grilles with smaller openings - designed to keep children from getting their fingers burned - and we even found a report from an owner who said he boosted his heater's effective heat by removing the grille altogether, something that's never recommended.

Lots of owners report disappointment with manufacturers' quality control. Even the heaters that rank highest in comparison tests earn complaints from owners about quality control problems and early breakdowns. Many heaters also smell bad for at least the first few hours of use as various coatings burn off - but in some cases, the odor persists. Owners suggest keeping the box and receipts in case you need to return a heater, and buying from a retailer who makes returns easy.

Expensive space heaters aren't always better

With space heaters, paying more doesn't guarantee better performance or reliability. The expensive EdenPURE Quartz Infrared Heater (*Est. $400) ranks lowest in comparison tests - well below the Honeywell Mini Tower 360 Surround HZ-2200 (*Est. $30), for example. Owner-written reviews agree, giving the less expensive Honeywell heater much higher average ratings. Experts say that it's reasonable to expect some energy savings from cutting your thermostat down and using an electric space heater, but not by the 50 percent boasted by the EdenPURE ads.

Nearly all electric space heaters produce the same amount of heat, so the differences lie in safety features, convenience features, reliability, and the way the heat is directed. Most electric space heaters are 100 percent efficient in converting energy to heat, and have a maximum wattage of 1500 watts - usually with a lower 750-watt setting as well. This means that at the high setting, an electric heater can produce 5,100 BTU, and at the low setting, 2,550 BTU. Experts estimate that to provide heat on a very cold day to a well-insulated room with an eight-foot ceiling needs about 10 watts (or 34 BTU).