I think it's time for a new space heater

Factual Questions
1

My bedroom in the ~100-year-old house I live in has no built-in heater. It’s got a grate-covered hole in the floor, through which the downstairs heat is theoretically supposed to flow upward (it doesn’t). So I use a space heater.

But it may be time for a new heater. A couple days ago I unplugged the heater so that I could plug in my vacuum cleaner and discovered the outlet blackened and burned. Yikes! Now I’m really glad I always turn the thing completely off when I go to bed or leave the house!

This charring/melting is apparently the result of prolonged heat rather than any shooting flames. It seems to have been caused by the way I’ve operated the space heater: 1) turn the thermostat to the maximum setting, 2) let it run until the room is toasty warm, 3) turn it off until the room temperature drops below my preferred threshold, 4) repeat. Apparently, this causes the power cord and plug to gradually become hotter and hotter, with the pictured scorching being the end result. I don’t know if the heat is being generated in the outlet or in the cord, but I can feel the heat over the full length of the cord. (Interestingly, this has happened while running the heater on the “low” - 1250W - setting. Last winter I always used the “high” - 1500W - setting, and there was no scorching last year.)

I’ve known all along that this isn’t the ideal way to operate a space heater. Unfortunately, setting the thermostat to anything less than maximum means the heater comes on, runs for maybe 10-20 seconds, and then shuts off again without noticeably warming the room. To make matters worse, every time it shuts off the heating elements spend several seconds making agonized shrieking noises as they cool and contract. Needless to say this racket becomes extremely grating on my hearing and sanity as it is repeated every minute or so as the heater goes on/off/on/off/on/off . On the upside, the outlet/plug/cord doesn’t get hot when I operate the heater this way.

The heater is a traditional box-style heater (pic). It’s the only one I’ve ever used (my housemate gave it to me last winter), and I don’t know how old it is. Since I lack experience with similar heaters, I’ll ask: is this shrieking noise typical of this type of heater? Because I spotted a new heater of the same type at a store for $19.99, but I don’t want to buy another one if I’m still going to have to deal with the noise.

Also, I’m open to suggestions for other styles of space heaters. What have you found that works well? The room is approximately 13’ x 12’ and is not well-insulated, so the temperature drops fairly quickly (the thermometer I have in here says it’s currently 75.3 degrees F, but I ain’t buyin’ it) when the heater shuts off.

2

Good lord, that socket needs replacing!
The contacts are probably swimming in melty plastic goo, and it’s arcing rather than connecting properly.

3

We have an unheated sunroom in which we grow plants I’d rather didn’t get too cold in winter. We got a DeLonghi electric oil-filled radiator. I don’t think I can link directly to it, but start here: http://www.delonghi.com/Int/USA/prodotti.html

We got ours at Lowe’s. They may carry them similar places like Home Depot or something. It seems to work pretty well and is completely silent most of the time. Once in awhile it makes a creaky noise as it cycles on or off or something, but does that pretty rarely.

4

I use two of them to assist the expensive propane furnace. They are great. Quiet as the above poster said, and the cords don’t become hot.

5

If you get a similar heater as a replacement, consider getting a fan to blow across it as well. That would mix up the heated air with the cooler room air, and should reduce the short on/off cycles.

6

This is common behavior in bare element type heaters. There’s little thermal mass around the temperature sensor to provide hysteresis, so the thing cycles and cycles and cycles…
An electric oil-filled radiator has a much larger thermal mass, so you get less cycling, and more even heating.

7

I have a great space heater from Wal-Mart or KMart (can’t remember). Just got it this year. Yours looks old, you should get a new one - they’re not that expensive.

8

I looked on the back and found a sticker that says it was refurbished in 1998. No indication as to when it was originally built, though. You’re right, it’s old.

I’ll investigate these hot-oil radiators.

9

Radiators do take awhile before they start heating up the room, though-- so you’ll be shivering and shaking for awhile before you feel anything. We used them in the children’s rooms and the “one element” setting (750W) heated things up more than enough for Ohio winters.

Have you considered a kerosene heater? You’ll need to lug a 5 gal can up the stairs and light the heater every time, but they’re pretty nice. YOu can get a heater nozzle that screws onto a barbecue-type propane tank, and boy, do they heat the room quickly! No thermostat, though.

Forced-air heaters electric do not cycle as much, true. I also second the vote about replacing the socket: a 10-minute job if you’ve done it before. (To make the job a skosh easier, you can purchase sockets with holes in the back instead of – or in addition to-- the screw terminal: you simply strip the wires and poke the appropriate wire in the hole.

Inspect the house wiring as you detach it from the old receptacle-- it should be shiny or slightly dull copper. No green (corrosion) or blackening.

10

Another vote for the oil filled ones. Get one at Home Depot and take it for a test run.

I feel much safer having one of those around than a traditional exposed-element heater.

(By the way, that Delonghi web page sux. I clicked the heating appliances picture and was shown a flash video of their stuff. Annoying.)

11

I don’t know if there are any left at your store, but Home Depot had incredible clearance prices on those oil-filled heaters last week.

12

Here’s an article from my local public utility’s web site:
Over the last several months I have seen advertisements for a new electric heater that claims to be able to cut my heating bills by 50 percent. I recently received an invitation in the mail inviting me to attend a special “this weekend only” showing of this breakthrough new heater. Can this heater really save me 50 percent on my heating bills and still keep me comfortable?

It is possible to cut your heating bill by 50 percent or more with any electric space heater if you are willing to make some sacrifices.

By turning down or completely off all the other heating systems in your home and using a single space heater to heat the room you are in, you too can cut your heating bill tremendously. However, depending on the size of the room and the outdoor temperature, you may have to use a heater with a larger output to maintain a comfortable temperature in the room. The rest of the house will cool down as you are now just heating a single room. For this strategy to be successful you must remember to close all the doors leading into surrounding rooms or the space heater will run continuously trying to heat the other, now unheated rooms.

There is no magic to electric space heaters. If they plug into a house electrical circuit, they all have several things in common:

 They are all 100-percent efficient at turning electricity into heat.

 They all convert one watt of electricity into 3.413 British thermal units of heat.

 Higher wattage heaters produce more heat.

 Plug-in space heaters are limited to 1,500 watts, or 5,120 Btu.

Regardless of what a manufacturer claims about their plug-in electric space heater, they are all limited to the facts above.

It does not matter whether the heater uses electric resistance coils or quartz lights shining on a “cured copper element” or “ceramic quartz tubes” to produce the heat. The wattage consumed by an electric space heater determines how much heat it can produce. A 1,500 watt heater will produce the same amount of heat regardless of its cost or other unique features. A $40 heater will be as efficient and effective as a $400 heater.

Some ideas seem to stretch the amount of heat an electric heater can produce – like including a high mass ceramic disk or tubes filled with water or oil in the heater. Some of the electricity consumed by the heater is used to heat this higher mass so that after the heating element shuts off, heat from the now heated mass continues to radiate from the heater.

This does not make the heater more efficient, since electricity was used initially to heat the mass, but it does make the heat feel like it lasts longer.

Some heaters bury the heating element deep in the heater and include a fan that blows air across the element so that heated air comes out one part of the heater while the rest of the heater remains cool to the touch. Others place the heating elements behind a metal screen for more direct transfer of the heat. In this last case, the metal screen can get quite hot.

All new plug-in electric space heaters are equipped with a sensor that shuts off the heating element in the event the heater is tipped over onto its back or side.

The bottom line with any electric heater is that the less wattage the heater consumes, the less it will cost to operate. However, the less wattage it consumes, the less heat it will produce as well.

Be careful when reading a manufacturer’s advertising literature. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.