I am no coward
I am not easily cowed by bad weather (a skill developed by years of waiting for public transportation in windy wet weather back home), but it has been freakishly cold down on the Peninsula lately. Below-freezing temperatures and California do not equate in my mind. I moved into my new place, and for the first month I didn’t know how to turn on my heater. Then I found out that while it could be turned it, the off lever was broken. Safety hazard to use.
Yes, my place is old. But adorable, nonetheless.
So after sucking it up for a month, I succumbed to a space heater. You really have to wonder when your home is the same temperature as the outside: freezing. I hate buying things without doing research beforehand (almost to the point of obsession), so I high-tailed it to ConsumerSearch and Amazon. Since I wanted to heat up my entire place, I decided to go with ConsumerSearch’s advice and get a convection heater (who am I to argue?) Their top pick was the DeLonghi TRD0715T, which got a good number of decent reviews on Amazon as well. I looked at several other heaters, and was even tempted to order several and test them out for comparison sake, but in the end, I couldn’t stand the cold anymore and bought it for survival’s sake.
Now that I’ve had a chance to use it, here are my thoughts.
This heater is not efficient. And even worse, it doesn’t have a digital thermostat (which I knew beforehand from the reviews on Amazon, but didn’t realize how subpar their heating options were until I started using it). My parents have a similar style heater from at least 10 years ago, and even that has it a digital thermostat. And it beats this one by a long shot. My main room is not that big (wildly guessing…24×24 10×12), but the ceiling is a little higher then normal to accommodate a loft bed. This heater funnels all the heat up to my bed, but leaves the rest of my place a couple degrees warmer, but overall still pretty chilly. At least I have the privilege of being roasted in my sleep. You know that feeling when you open a hot oven, and your face gets hit with a blast of hot air? Just like that, but all over.
I am going to test out the Presto HeatDish and the Honeywell HZ515 and see if they outperform the DeLonghi. Meanwhile, if you have recommendations or your own 2 cents about failed space heaters, please share.
February 5th, 2007 at 8:04 pm
Most heaters just heat the top of the room, that’s why you should use a ceiling fan, if you have one, to keep air circulating. Hot air rises, remember? I cheat and use a box fan but back when I lived in an apartment with vaulted ceilings, I just froze all the time.