Heaters Reviews

I purchased this heater about 2 years ago to keep my garage about the freezing level, principally to melt ice and snow from the cars, but also to provide a comfortable sleeping environment for my dog (and to keep his water from freezing). For this purpose, it works very well, and even keeps the snow melted from my snowthrower, which I keep on the opposite side of the garage. It was quite easy to install after getting all the proper fittings and hoses, which are not included.

I do have some complaints, which keeps me from giving this 5 stars.

1. Clearance is very important. When the burner ignites, I'm always alarmed because of the small ball of fire that the heater emits across the burner.

2. Because of the radiant heat nature, I have burned my hands while working under the heater, similar to getting a sunburn.

3. I've had problems with the pilot light going out. It is easily adjustable with a screwdriver, but is very sensitive and this was very annoying to fine-tune in the beginning. I still have to adjust it about once a year.

4. The garage always smells like natural gas.

This heater worked well in my situation, because I had natural gas stubbed into the garage when the house was under construction. Had I not done this, I would probably opt for an electric heater next time, and this means you need 220 volts. Depending on the size and type of heater, most also require some type of vent.

I would recommend this heater as it works as advertised for my 625 SF garage. However, I also recommend you explore other options first.

I have used this in my garage for several years now, if I have my garage door closed it will warm the space pretty well. Directly under the heater its really nice and toasty, but the furthest corner of the garage will still be cold. In a 20-degree day with the garage door closed (I have a two-car garage with most of the garage walls NOT insulated), I get over 70 degrees directly under the heater (where I usually change the oil etc.) and at least 40 degrees at the coldest corner of the garage. Most of the garage becomes very comfortable to work in, that I usually don't even need to wear a jacket. BUT - as soon as I open the garage door, I lose all the warm air and it takes a little while to heat the whole place back up. That being said, I typically also let it run for an hour or so before I start working on my car, just so I know the area is nicely heated.

Hope that helps. :)

I haven't installed this yet but was pleased with the cost savings and the free shipping. I frequently order through Amazon because of this.

I bought this heater last year to use in my living room, the term "safe heat" is an oxymoron. It started having problems turning on within a month of purchase and then burnt a hole in the rug - luckily I smelled it burning immediately. There was a large burn mark on the bottom of the heater and a burn on the rug. I suggest picking something that is really safe.

Pros: Good price, fast heating with excellent termostat, rotates, very quiet, timer, VERY safe.
Cons: display is not backlit and is hard to read. This is troublesome enough that I gave it 4 stars instead of 5.

This is without a doubt the best fan heater I have ever used! I live in the mountains of Colorado and we had an incredibly brutal winter but this fan kept my bathroom (the only room I bother using a heater in) so nice and warm. After 5 minutes I could turn it off and the room would still be comfortably warm. And it oscillates! Great heater. I highly recommend it.

I live on the third story of a townhouse in a historic part of town, where we are prohibited from having anything other than a flag that extends more than six inches out of the windows. I thought this air conditioning unit was the perfect solution to my problem, however, it has proven to be completely useless. I even keep the curtains closed during the day in an attempt to keep the room from getting too hot. However, the air that blows out of the unit is not any cooler than the temperature of the room.

Set-up took only 5 minutes in my attic bedroom. The exhaust tube/window sash adaptor was simple to install, but I would suggest you plan to supplement its temporary installation with some weather-stripping.

This rolling unit is solid, and the controls are convenient and easy to operate. Adequately cooled a 90 degree room in about 2 hours and kept it comfortable afterwards. Adjustment of the thermostat is simple (twist a knob).

I agree with another reviewer that the exhaust tube gets warm, but this is to be expected given the unit's mechanism of action. I don't see it as an issue.

The enclosed instruction manual is sparse but covers the basics. Reads like a translation from Italian (which it is).

The unit is also a little louder than I expected based on previous reviews, but I'm very pleased overall. It has made an unusable room very comfortable!

We really needed something fast for our bedroom. This portable unit is great. We have a large room, so a 7500 btu unit is a little small. None the less, it does the trick. It's a really nice looking unit - almost like a piece of furniture; much nicer than its picture shows. It's reasonably quiet & we love the timer. The only setback is that it really should have a longer vent hose. Because it's so short, we vented it thru our attic that is also vented. We couldn't make it to the window. I agree with another review that the hose needs to be insulated which we will do this weekend. But this unit is well worth the money & is put together VERY well. It's a sturdy unit & first class. Thanks.

Heater was great when it worked - absolutely silent, and kept my livingroom very comfortable. It turned itself off a few times, apparently as a result of overheating, as the user manual said it would. But, now, after a month of use, it suddenly turned itself off (it wasn't a case of overheating this time - the heater felt tepid to the touch) and will not turn on no matter what I do. Will buy another brand next time.

I'm very pleased with the Bionaire BH3900 heater. The central heating in my 1200 square foot townhouse wasn't working, so I bought the Bionaire. We've recently had some very cold nights (for California) in the 30 to 40 degree range. The Bionaire is plugged into an outlet at the bottom of the living room stairway. It manages to heat the 600 square foot area downstairs, and the warm air rises upstairs to heat the master bedroom. It's lightweight and can be easily wheeled around the room for spot heating. It's also completely silent. I recommend this product.

My new home came with central heating. I loved the convenience, but wanted a heater for the bedroom so I didn't have to heat the entire home through the night, when it was only one room we needed heat in. There began my quest for a portable electric heater!

My first try was a Bionaire Digital Tower Ceramic Heater. It went right back to the store the moment I realized how powerful (read : noisy) the fan inside was. It did do a decent job warming up the room though.

I knew I'd like something quiet. Real quiet. My next try was an Oil Filled Radiator. It was much quieter - just low clicking sounds (probably from the metal or oil expanding?) - but failed to impress on heating. It took almost an hour to make a significant difference to a cold room (12x14) - and barely kept the temperature up through the night with the thermostat dialled up. When in use - the surface turned really hot - and I worried about someone stepping into it in the middle of the night - or my cat scalding herself while trying to kill it :)

I decided to try the Bionaire BH3900 - it promised swifter heating and a cool surface. My wife and me were delighted! It warms the room up much swifter than the oil filled radiator and is absolutely silent! The heat mostly escapes out the top - and there isn't a lot of heat radiated to the sides. The grille on the side makes this look more elegant than the radiators - and just gets luke warm even when this has been running all night. And while my cat has sniffed at the grille (when on) - she hasn't been tempted into attacking it yet.

This was twice the price of the other options we looked at - but were sold on it the first night we tried using it. I wish the thermostat were digital (knob takes some tweaking to find your sweet spot) - but our quest for a heater has ended.

PS. Bought it off the Bionaire website with a 10% off, free shipping, no tax for 89.99.

I love Oil filled radiator heaters, but I'm not so crazy about this one. Here's why - the electronic read out is nearly impossible to see, so all the wonderful features are wasted. You have to crouch down on your knees, and there has to be ample light.

I advise you to save your cash, and buy the cheapest version of this item, with the manual on/off dial. The digital version will just make you feel like you are losing your eyesight.

So, five stars for the oil radiator, just don't buy this one.

The controls are a bit hard to use but once you get the hang of it it keeps the roomjust right. We are using this in our sons room for when he goes to bed so we dont have to keep the furnace runnig for the entire house. Does a great job keeping the temprature constant. (I have a nother themometer in the room and the temp on the heaters display is exactly the temprature of the room.)

Extremely quiet and very well constructed. Warms up a cold room quite quickly. I have read complaints in the past about oil-filled radiators leaving the room smelling of oil. Not a problem with this unit -- the manual states to run the unit on high for 2-3 hrs in a ventilated room when you first receive it.

I live in a 75 yr old brick & plaster home with no insulation on the outside walls and no basement heat. The unit works wonderfully in my upstairs bathroom. (The manual states that you should not use the unit in bathrooms, but I am careful to place it away from any sources of water.) It also works well in the basement bedroom, but it will not heat the entire basement.

The only complaint is with the digital display. It is difficult to read, but not impossible. The mfr should consider a magnifying lens over the display or perhaps backlighting the LED display.

This baby will make it nice and toasty in a room. It has a fan built in to circulate the heat but if you're more than 10ft away do not expect much heat.
It is real safe and very portable. If you get 2 to 3 of them they could heat your entire house.
Just a tip, it does not circulate heat that well, so use a fan to help circulate the heat or a ceiling fan on low.
For the price it is tough to beat.

This is the BEST ELECTRIC Heater on the
market.. It is safe, and provide's a great
heat in a 15 *15 room.. I have 2 of them, 1
is about 8yrs old and the right rod has burnt
out, but it still provide's heat for the bath
room.. I use these in fall, and in winter to
back up the gas furnance.. My Dog love's it
she lay's down about 3 foot in front of it
and has a smile on her face.. It can be on for
2 hour's strait and it's only luke warm at the
wall plug!!! Holmes keep making these, they

are the BEST!!.. I just wish they would offer
replacement rod's for the unit... hint!!!
Folk's if you want a Electric Heater, that is
safe, and give's you Great Heat, this is the
one to get, trust me I have tried a bunch of
them!!! I just ordered 2 more from amazon.com
The Best Folk's can't say any more...

I have this heater in my 3 Br 2 Ba home and it heats half of the house(And my home needs to be re-insulated bad). It automatically shuts off if tipped over(my 3 children can attest to that!), and it's very energy efficient!

.
In December 2004 I purchased a Mr Heater MH18B Portable Heater
and this hose to connect to a propane storage conatainer.
.
The hose inserts into the tank and the heater smoothly. But no
propane flows from the tank to the heater. I have been unable
to get even the pilot flame to light ... no gas flow through
to the heating element
.
A wasted $150 .... not a very happy or satisfied customer
.

I bought two of these hoses to attach to two 20lb propane tanks. Attaching to 20lb propane tanks is a huge savings over using the individual 1 quart propane cyclinders. Hoses work very well. The only thing to remember when attaching the hose to 20lb propane tanks is that the couplings are left hand threaded (i.e. you must turn to the left to tighten).

I bought this hose because I wanted to maximize the safety, usefulness and economy of the propane Portable Buddy heater by Mr Heater. You can't go wrong buying this hose!

1. It allows the use of a larger LP tank (I have a 20 lb cylinder). I am certain the savings from buying LP fuel in bulk will pay for the hose.

2. You can locate the bulk tank a good distance away from the lit heater. I use the heater primarily in my garage, and with the hose I can put the heater up on a shelf or on the workbench, off the floor, and still have the bulk tank in a convenient and safe spot.

3. The hose can be used with any propane appliance that uses disposable propane cylinders.

Here's an essential safety tip when using this hose: be sure to shut/close the valve on the bulk tank BEFORE you remove the hose from the tank. It's possible to remove the hose end from the bulk tank without closing the tank valve and you will quickly find out that liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is another name for stinky, oily mess when it comes squirting out of the valve as I've done.

Pros: Wall-mountable; Puts out a good amount of heat; Relatively quiet; Cool to the touch

Cons: Breaks after two months; No thermostat or sophistocated timer; Poor customer service

I'm renting a small house that doesn't have a very good heating system, and I have a baby daughter crawling around. So at the beginning of the winter I started looking for space heaters that would be safe for her and require no serious installation. This model seemed perfect since I could mount it high on the wall, and I bought two of them in November 2005.

For about a month and a half they worked fine. I ran the first one most of the day and night, the second for just a couple of hours each evening, and they kept the house warm. The only serious drawback was that there's no thermostat and the built-in timer is very simple. You can set it to run for a certain number of hours, but there's no way to set it to turn on an hour before you wake up. You can't connect it to a thermostat or a more sophistocated timer because once it loses power you need to manually turn it back on, it won't come on again when power is restored.

In January the first heater stopped working. The fan would still blow, but no hot air would come out. I called customer service and they agreed to replace it, but I would need to pay the shipping. Shipping cost $15 for standard delivery (five business days), $125 for next-day delivery. I argued that $125 was ridiculous, and that since this is a heater that stopped working in the middle of winter less than two months after I bought it, they should be able to do better than five business days. They offered standard delivery for $10, but said they couldn't knock anything off next-day delivery.

I took the standard delivery and for a week I just used the second heater. Worried that I had over-used the first one, I tried to run the second for only a few hours at a time. The replacement (third) heater arrived and worked fine, and to prevent over-use I ran it for only a few hours at a time.

A few days later, the second heater stopped working with the exact same problem as the first. I called customer service again and they assured me that this is not a typical problem. I again paid for standard shipping on another replacement (fourth) heater, which I received in a week.

Less than two months later, the third heater stopped working, in the exact same way as the first two. At this point, I bought a different heater to replace it and am now waiting for the fourth heater to break.

Summary: I've had three of these heaters all break in exactly the same way, each after less than two months of use. One of them was used heavily, one lightly, and the third moderately. I believe this heater has a serious reliability problem, and I recommend choosing a different heater.

Wonderful little heater, works well; doesn't seem to jack up my electric bill much at all; doesn't get hot on top, bottom or back; looks good; light weight and compact size, plus it has a remote control and timer. Couldn't ask for more for this price.

I purchased this item early this year. We live in a condo with 800 sq ft area, and we normally use this in our living rm/kitchen (doors closed for both rooms) -- keeps the room warm & just set the thermostat to LOW setting (timer if needed). Toddler's curiosity is unlimited, it's a must to have one!

I bought this for small room on the third floor. It works pretty well but is a little noisy. It is convenient to roll around upstairs though.

Good for places where you can't use a regular window A/c. I use this in a room with a Bay window with crank windows...inserted a plexiglass pane cut to fit, with an area cut out for the hoses, then added the hoses and there you go! I have an A/C for this hard to fit room. It does not cool as fast as some units, but provides a steady stream of cool air, exhausting the moist air to the outsite via one of the two duct hoses.

If by chance you live in a house that was built in the stone age as I do, in hot summers lack of central air is a pain.
But, hark! what is that I see! a portable air conditioner! hoora!

Theatrics, aside, this has been very heapfull, because my windows are swing rather than sliding, so that meant no window air-con, so this thing is great as the hot air can exet a sliding door.
It doese'nt make the house a meat-locker, but it is comefertable in here now.

I have used the Internet extensively for information on tankless water heaters and this 250SX model in particular, so I wanted to fully detail my experiences accurately for others. In short, these things aren't for everyone, it depends on your usage and tolerance, your handyman ability, and the quality of plumbing in your home particularly water pressure. That being said, I am personally very happy with my 250SX set up, but I had to make some adjustments.

Usage: I only use hot water at the kitchen faucet, dishwasher, and clothes washer about once a week. I take a 10 or 15 minute shower every morning. About once a month I fill my 75 gallon jacuzzi. Rarely do I use hot water in the bathroom sinks for other uses, I often wash my hands in cold water. Other than the jacuzzi water and shower, I use very little hot water. Having a hot water tank of 75 gallons, or even 40 gallons, just does not make sense. The 250SX needs 0.8 gallon flow to activate the heating element. I take fairly hot showers and I keep the 250SX at 124 degrees. Because an extra 0.8 gallon flows through the pipes before the 250SX activates, some complain that it takes too long to get hot water, but I think it is no big deal. A bigger problem for some: when you turn off the hot water then turn it on again, your hot water that was in the pipe comes first, then the 0.8 cold water, then it gradually gets hot again. That is a little annoying. Imagine your wife turning the hot water on and off to wash dishes. A hot water tank would just keep the hot water flowing ready for on/off use, but not a tankless unit. It wasn't too big of a deal, but in the end I decided to solve the problem by adding a 6 gallon hot water tank (Ariston GL6+) in series after the 250SX. The 250SX has 3/4 inch NPT water threads, to keep the pressure constant make sure you get a small holding tank that also has 3/4 inch NPT water threads. The hot water always flows through the hot water tank last and the outward source recieves hot water from the small holding tank first. Also, the 0.8 gallon of cold water flows into the small tank first where it is mixed with 6 gallons tanked hot water. Set the small tank at about 4 degrees higher than the 250SX and you won't even know the difference in temperature; problem solved. One guy told me that his wife insists that the hot water must be 140 degrees in the dishwasher, but she also likes luke-warm showers. The problem here is that the 250SX does not get the 0.8 gallon of flow when she is in the shower. Add the fact that she messes with the shower's water controls and the unit goes from on (hot) to off (cold) while she is in the shower. Apparently, that really pisses her off. The small holding tank helps with this too, but there are several ways to solve this problem: 1) get a new wife, 2) use Bosch's remote temperature control (about $120 extra) at the shower to turn down the temperature, 3) turn on a bathroom faucet while she showers (wasting a lot of hot water) 4) my new dishwasher (this recently went out too) has an option to superheat the water it uses (it must have a separate water heater). Some people complain that the unit causes less hot water pressure, but that is not my experience at all. It helps to have good water pressure to begin with (mine is 70 psi) but maybe the hard piping to keep 3/4 of water flowing without bottlenecks helps too. Some people complain that the unit makes a high pitched noise, but that is not my experience either. I will say this: for a short time I had it connected to the previous tanks 1/2 inch gas line. It did make this noise a little when two hot water appliances worked at the same time; probably has to do with needing more gas than available in the 1/2 inch line. In that case, that problem is solved by hard piping a 3/4 inch gas pipe to the 250SX. It seems to me all these problems are related to particular usage or to improper installation; READ THE INSTALLATION MANUAL.

Installation: The venting exhaust must be on its own line, NOT combined with say your furnace exhaust. Also, be sure you incline the exhaut pipe upward if venting horizontally as the manufacturer requires. Incidentally, the model's installation instructions are available on the Internet, READ THE INSTALLATION MANUAL. The 250SX drinks in 175,000 BTU when it is working hard, that might mean you will need to upgrade your gas line. In my case, I was replacing my furnace as well as the water heater. The guy that installed the furnace, used the previous 3/4 inch gas line for the 250 SX, then ran another gas line for the new furnace. Since it was part of the bid, I have no way of knowing the cost, but I would guess the cost at $75 of the furnace bid. To insure that the 250SX gets sufficient gas, the installation manual strongly suggests that the gas line be hard piped to the unit which is what the furnace guy did for me. Another guy told me to hard pipe the water lines to unsure that there are no bottle necks in the water pressure. Apparently, a 3/4 inch flex line is actually 5/8 inch in the middle. I sweated the 3/4 inch copper pipe from the cold water source to the 250SX, then to the 6 gallon holding tank, then to the hot water line; all water runs through 3/4 inch copper pipe with unions for quick uninstall if either the 250SX or the holding tank needs to be replaced someday. You will need an outlet for the 250SX pilotless ignition, but I think it takes very little power. If you install the Ariston tank, it requires a 20 amp circuit hardwired to the unit. So, you've got to know a little about electrical, plumbing for copper pipe, and basic handyman skills for everything else. I found it to be a fun little installation project. You can also contract out the installation but it is rather expensive.

Costs: I bought mine at a local hardware store for $899 + tax. The expenses don't stop there, if properly installed this model MUST HAVE a special sealed 3 inch stainless steel pipe for hot gas (carbon monoxide) exhaust, plus a wall thimble and a termination hood. I needed 13.5 feet of exhaust venting (AL29 type) which I bought on the Internet (Cinnabar) for $292. The optional small holding tank (Ariston GL6+) cost me $174 (from Ace hardware on the Internet, have them send it to one of their stores). There is another $150 to $200 in other materials, including a 20 amp circuit plus 12 gauge wire for the small holding tank which needs to be hard wired, copper pipe, etc. The 250SX itself needs an outlet for pilotless ignition. You are supposed to have both on separate curcuits, but I felt this was not necessary, so I put them on the same circuit, outlet and hardwire to the small tank. In total, everything cost me about $1650 with the small tank and installing everything myself. Figure more if you need to increase your gas line as these things suck 175,000 BTUs when loaded, plus $800 to $1500 more if you have someone else install it for you. I got a quote for about $800 for the install not including the small holding tank or the extra for the increased gas line.

Analysis: I figure a quality large water heater, big enough for my Jacuzzi, would be about $800 installed. I will get $300 back in a Federal Tax credit, so the tankless unit setup is $550 in extra expenses that have to be made up in savings ($1650 - $800 -$300 = $550). I figure I save $8 a month in energy costs when I subtract the $2.50 a month to operate the small 6 gallon water tank. It depends on how much hot water you use, others claim they save $20 a month. That means it will take me about 6 years to break even. The warranty is 12 years on the 250SX and 6 years on the GL+6. Keep in mind that tankless units are expected to give twice the service of a water tank. That make sense since most water tanks rust out trying to hold all that water. I have used the 250SX for 2 months now. I'm tickled pink by the unit, but NOT because of my marginal energy savings. With the small tank in series, it acts a lot like the tank I replaced, except the hot water is endless, great for the Jacuzzi, and a lot of room is freed up in my garage. Bottom line: If you 1) have good water pressure (a must), 2) are able to install it yourself, 3) have other reasons besides energy savings to install, then I highly recommend it. If you are lacking on these 3 points then do yourself a favor and just replace your old hot water tank with another.

Tankless water heaters are the wave of the future if you ask me. They're using them all over western europe already, because they can't afford to waste energy. We can't in the US either, but then we're encouraged to. Over the life of the water heater, you'll save a lot of money on your tankless water heater.

Tankless water heaters are DIFFERENT than the one you're used to. So you have to shift your expectations. The difference? Tankless water heaters don't STORE hot water, they make it as you use it. Therefore, if they can't make enough, they run cold(er). If they can make enough (like when you take a shower) they'll never run out. Their problems are different too. Their sensing circuitry is more high tech, and computer controlled. When gas pressure or water pressure fluxuates, so can the temperature. It takes very little handle adjustment to make a big change in temperature. You might also consider buying the remote temperature controller. I can see where that might make your life a bit easier when switching from the shower to the tub.

Now to the 250SX. We've been running ours in San Francisco for about 5 months. We put it in the attic to get it out of the living space. Its gas fired. It supplies a tub and a shower simultaneously (and actually works a bit better when you turn on both than it does when you use only 1). Gas and water pressure fluxuations affect the temperature of a shower, which can take some adjustment. The power bills are down as a result .. no wasted water heating when you're not using it. Turning on other appliances can affect the temperature and actually make the water run cold, depending on how much pressure you have in your house and how much it fluctuates naturally. There seems to be a good case for installing pressure regulation to use this applicance, though we didn't. We're currently considering installing a second unit just for the dishwasher and sink.

Its a nice, quiet, efficient unit. Its easy to understand. It takes some reading to install it correctly (your building department will help you do that, but you have to work with them). The space savings are great. There's a computer involved, so you have to read and understand the error codes so you can troubleshoot it if it has problems. I reccomend getting a plumber with experienced to help you plan the installation, and size the unit. It gets more technical than just about any other household installation.

That said .. might as well ride the wave of the future now, save yourself some money, the planet some hydrocarbons, and some of that valuable real estate you paid so much for.