Radiant Heaters Reviews

Calamity Jane has it right - I can verify. I purchased this unit for backup in my cabin in case the generator failed - and it happened. We were in an uninsulated cabin. 5 big guys without a lot of clothing frankly, in the dead of winter near Bismarck North Dakota. Just back from hunting and all our clothes were soaked. Didn't look good but this little puppy came through in a pinch. No problems lighting, and it heated the 150 sq feet cabin in a flash - went all night and dried our clothes. Great when you need it.

The Pros -- This thing delivers the heat! I live in a 980 sq. ft. mobile home with an open living room and kitchen. Even during the coldest months this unit kept me warm during power failures. The heat even traveled to the farthest bedroom, not heating it to the fullest, but keeping away the chill. It runs silently.

The Cons -It does not run for the 12 hours, as stated on the outer carton. I suppose if you heated a very small bathroom it would regulate itself to the full 12 hours. I have to refill the tank every four hours. Since the unit is rather heavy and bulky it's difficult to carry it outside for refueling. It's even heavier on the return trip because of the full tank of kerosene. The carrying handle doesn't feel secure enough to haul that weight.

Unless you run the tank completely dry, this unit flares up and sends a cloud of black smoke into the room during shutdown. A kerosene-stink will linger for half an hour. It has to be taken apart and cleaned every few days to remove the carbon build-up on the wick. I have not yet been successful at removing all that carbon.

A kerosene heater is not for wimps or for those who won't follow safety instructions. It can be dangerous.

I wouldn't recommend this product for someone looking to run it all winter long to cut down on their heating bill.

I would, however, recommend it for someone wishing to have an optional heating source available during emergencies. If the only choices are to freeze or find another heating source, this will unit will do the job well.

I believe the Cons (as stated) are typical of all portable kerosene heaters, so I will not fault this unit in those areas. With the exception of the misleading "runs for up to 12 hours", this unit does what it's supposed to do. That's why I give it five stars.

I like it. It works and heat my room in the cold winter.

My father purchased this heater TEN years ago when we were having some financial troubles and needed to heat the house one cold Maine Winter. We heated our 1000 sqft house all winter with ONE unit, not a small task when you realize that you have to keep a window open or you will have some serious issues with the O2 Levels in your home. It moved to the garage to heat my fathers workshop, was lent out to my uncle for a winter project, lent out to my sister as her husband finished off their addition, and now TEN years later it is in my garage heating my workshop. The only thing we have ever done in all TEN years was to add Kerosene, Change the Bateries (for the electric start), and Change the Wick!

Although we plan on a woodstove for emergencies because of the lower ammount of Stink this Kerosene Heater is by far the best value we have ever found. I highly recommend it, take care of it and you'll be lending it out to your kids in another ten years.

This has saved my life. I live in a split-level house, and my entry levels are always too cold while my upstairs are always too hot. Speedheat has saved me by allowing me to just heat one room at a time...and you don't have to rip up your floors to use it either! - just throw it under a rug, plug it in, and go!

I bought this about a month ago. I hadthe idea that electric would be cheaper to heat then Gas this winter. Well so far so good. Granted I am not heating the entire house. Just the living room. I keep the rest of the house at 67-66 degrees. This heater really kicks out the heat.
1500 watts cost about 10-13 cents per hour

It uses very little power - you don't need to low-high switch that I ordered extra. Heat is just right.

I bought this heater for our bird cage to keep them warm during cool season. Its radiant model works just great, zero noise, distributes the heat evenly and does not disturb the birds like the regular fan heater models that not only not energy efficient but also really noisy. And best of all, it uses only 100W - try to compare it to any other regular heater that would eat 750W-1000W minimum. Got it amortized in less than two months. The overall dimension is about 16"x22"x1" so it can be placed anywhere. I'm glad I found this one and Amazon is the best and least expensive place to buy from.

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.

If heat is what you're looking for then this might be your product, but if you don't want to kill yourself then I'd go with something else. This is seriously the loudest thing I have ever heard in my entire life. At first you'll think the thing is just warming up, and after about 10 more minutes of it you'll think its broken. Finally, you'll realize that its just loud. It sounds like you've got front row seats at a NASCAR race or you're actually on the space ship thats launching into space, but no, its just this new heater that you bought. Don't buy this thing unless its for your deaf brother, but it might even be too loud for him.

I have this radiant heater and 2 similar models. They are all noisy for about 15 seconds when they turn on. I suggest running it on low in small rooms so it does not cycle on and off. I buy this type of heater for 2 reasons. 1. I find that forced air heaters dry out the air, which irritates by allergies. 2. The biggest reason is that my cats LOVE laying in front of these heaters for hours. The heater gives off a glow which feels like you are sitting in the sun. I have been using them for years without any safety issues, just use common sense.

This unit does a good job heating up my small office (measuring about 10'x12') rather quickly, and its thermal control keeps the room in a comfortable temperature by turning the unit on and off automatically. The unit radiates heat over a pretty large area (with a small fan helping push the hot air out front). This means that it probably will do a good job keeping you warm in a larger space as well, as long as it's placed closeby.

My only complaint is the noise. The unit makes a rather loud rattling noise when its heating elements turn on, which lasts about 10-15 seconds. The fan is reasonably quiet in the low setting, but can be distracting when on high. I certainly wouldn't put one of these in the bedroom.

You can't beat the price for a quartz heater. However, as a heater it is noisy. I bought it just for the quartz tubes. After opening the unit I was rather surprised to see that the fan was caked with dust. Obviously, the heater was used. Somebody probably returned it because of the noise. At 14.5 inches the tubes are just right for an IR paint stripper. If you need a heater, I'd recommend the Vornado heaters.

I bought my heater less than a year ago and one day it just shut off and wouldn't turn back on. I tried using the reset button but that did no good. I loved the heater when it was working but apparently they are not made to last long!

This unit is a great buy for the dollar. It's vertical design will warm the entire body while seated. The thermostatic control provides a range of comfort settings on both high and low power. On the downside, the fan is somewhat noisy and the standing height may prove prohibitive for some low-clearance applications. Overall a great buy at $19.99!

I ordered this heater from Amazon to have a little additional warmth in our home office during the chilly winter months. The heat output was far less than expected, and did not seem able to significantly warm the not terribly large (12x10) space. I was also a little disturbed when the unit was accidentally tipped one night and did NOT turn itself off. Fortunately I was in the room when this happened and no harm was done. The real problem though is the heater simply stopped producing heat after 3 weeks of very light use in one room. The fan would blow, but the coils would not heat, turning the device into a fan, rather than a heater. I'm definitely steering clear of Holmes heaters now while searching for my replacement heater. Not at all recommended.

I purchased two of these heaters awhile back. I found them to be noisy and not really all that effective at heating the childrens bedrooms. I would not buy them again.

I bought this heater in Oct and used it very little until it quit working in Dec. I tried contacting the company by Planetfeedback.com and through their website to resolve this issue, but apparently they don't see the need to respond to consumer complaints.
I can understand a product being defective, but when a company won't stand behind their products I won't continue to do business with them.