Great space heater

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seilerbird

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I am staying in a park where the electricity is part of the monthly rent. It is cold here, getting into the 40s most nights and I was running my propane heater too often. So I decided to go get an electric heater and save some money on propane.

The first heater I got was one of those oil filed radiator types for $40. Worthless. I had to sit on it to warm up. So I took it back to Walmart and got one of those metal box heaters with a fan and a heating coil in it for $20. Much better but it was so loud there was no sleeping with it running. So I took it back to Walmart and decided to make an informed decision for heater number 3. I searched Amazon for space heaters, listed them by average customer review and chose the one that I thought was best.

I ended up with a Lasko ceramic 755320 and it is one amazing heater and it was only $46. It heats way better than either of the other two heaters which amazes me since all three are 1500 watts. It has a large LED digital readout of the current room temperature right on the top of the unit that can be plainly seen all over the room. It has a + and a - button to adjust the temperature of the heater. The LCD display changes to the set temp as you adjust it then automatically goes back to displaying the room temp after you are done adjusting. It has a timer. You can set the timer to turn off the heater after one through 8 hours. It oscillates. When I read the reviews I didn't think that was important, but that turns out to be one of the main reasons it heats so well. You push the oscillate button and the heater turns back and forth in a 70 degree arc heating a larger portion of the room. It also has two heat settings, high and low.

But the coolest feature is that it has a cute little spaceship like remote control that controls every function of the heater. I keep the remote by my pillow and when I wake up I don't even have to get out of bed to turn the heater on. I have been using this heater for a week now and it is the warmest week I have spent during the winter in this RV.

The heater is $65 at Amazon but I paid $46 at Walmart.

http://www.amazon.com/Lasko-755320-Ceramic-Digital-Display/dp/B000TTV2QS/ref=sr_1_5?s=appliances&ie=UTF8&qid=1321888388&sr=1-5
 
We have three of those heaters.  Two for the bathrooms in the stick house and one for the RV.  We set it to come on if the temp gets too low at night.  Half the time it doesn't even come on but if it does it is much quieter than the big heater and probably uses less energy than the propane unit but I'm not sure.  I wish the low setting could be switched using the thermostat on ours but only the hi setting can be controlled.
 
I should mention that there is one drawback to this heater, it is a tower and is subject to being knocked over by a cat or a dog or a clumsy human. Of course it has a shutoff if it does tip over. Mine has been knocked down twice, once by me and once by the cats, and it is still working. I think it should have been in more of a pyramid shape.
 
Over here in the UK we use something, not quite the same, but very similar. Two pictures below, one where you can see the heater. That's No.2 son doing his homework, last Christmas and one showing the conditions outside, about -13c at night.  All in all, excellent.  ;D

 

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After reading your glowing report (no pun intended), we went straight down to WalMart and bought the heater you recommended.  Cost was $45.44.  I love it!  We moved the oil filled electric radiator type heater up to the bedroom in the fifth wheel.  We probably will only use the propane furnace when we slip into the 20's occasionally.

Electricity here in the park is 10 cents per kwh and propane is currently $2.07 per gallon, but will probably rise.  Will be interesting to see if it's an even trade off or if we save a penny or two.  At the very least we might be able to run the dehumidifier less.

Thanks for taking the time to write that description.  :D

Margi
 
You are welcome Margi. I never bothered to run the numbers because I know that as much as I will use it during the winter it will pay for itself eventually. I also know that the furnace in my RV has had problems in the past and if it ever fails again I now have a reliable backup.
 
Tom and Margi said:
.....
Electricity here in the park is 10 cents per kwh and propane is currently $2.07 per gallon, but will probably rise.  Will be interesting to see if it's an even trade off or if we save a penny or two. .....

Margi, can you send me some propane. Propane here is $3.30 per gallon if you pre-buy. It's about 50 cents a gallon more otherwise. I just pre-bought 250 gallons for the winter.

The propane company advertises $2.70 per gallon but after you add in all the taxes and fees it's $3.30. Guess I should be looking into buying an electric heater.  :(
 
amazing, they throw away 2/3rd's of the energy to even make electricity, then they sell/send the left over energy to us as electricity and we use it to heat air.  The propane truck brings us the energy in the form of propane and we burn about 80% of it to make warm air and the electricity wins on the basis of cost.  What's wrong with this picture?
 
Don - Propane is at least 50 cents per gallon higher at local stations.  Timber Valley buys propane in quantity and pumps it for park residents at no profit.

Taos - Heating with electricity in the Pacific Northwest means less humidity and less opportunity for mold to grow.  We always heated with propane when in Arizona. 

At our ages and physical condition, whatever makes us comfortable is what we will do. 

Margi
 
Wow, Seilerbird, I've just got to thank you one more time!  This heater is the best we've ever tried. 

This was Football Saturday, so lots of recliner/TV time with the heater oscillating in front of us.  Stayed really toasty! Wearing Helaine's hand knit Oregon Duck slippers helped, too.  ;D

Margi
 
You are welcome Margi. I know exactly how you feel. I use this thing every day and it basically replaces my furnace. I know it will pay for itself soon with all the propane I am not using. I find it rather odd that I could get so excited about a heater, but this one is a really a gem.

The interesting thing is that when I first got it Tarzan (my male cat) was obsessed with it. He would sit and watch it for long periods of time. I think he liked the oscillation. Now he has figured out that when it is cold he can sit about 4 feet away and get warmed up.

I am jealous, I can't get any TV reception where I am camped so I can't watch football tomorrow :-\
 
I see that heater is down to $48 at Amazon with free shipping. If there was some way to make the heat all go to Mike and none to me, I'd buy it. We don't need it now but I suspect that we will over on the coast.

Wendy
 
That is the cool thing about this Wendy, it is tall and slim. The output is really directional. You can point it where you wish or you can put it on oscillation and it will sweep back and forth and heat a whole room.

It was $48 when I first saw it on Amazon. Prices at Amazon can fluctuate quite a bit depending upon who the supplier is.

BTW yesterday morning it was 38 degrees outside at 8 am here.
 
I have one from WalMart that sounds just exactly as you describe Tom. Only mine has the "Sunbeam" name on it and I have had it for a little over a year. We are in  the mountains at the moment and the temps are hitting the low 20's at night. I leave the heater run all night long and it keeps us at a comfortable sleeping temp.  Love the little remote too!
 
Ohhh noooo ... no football?  :'(  I can miss the pro games, but not the college games.  I'm the football fan in the family; Tom has other interests, but we watch the Ducks games together.  Today was a good day!!! (49 to 21 Ducks).  At the risk of sounding like Methuselah, a good heater is a wonderful thing to have on a long football recliner day.  ;)

Margi
 
seilerbird said:
BTW yesterday morning it was 38 degrees outside at 8 am here.

Tom, You are a California boy, aren't you? 38 isn't seriously cold, it isn't even below freezing. Back in Colorado, I don't even close the bedroom windows until it goes below 30 degrees.

Wendy
Anza Borrego Desert where the high today was 82 and the low last night was a brisk 42.
 
Wendy said:
Tom, You are a California boy, aren't you? 38 isn't seriously cold, it isn't even below freezing. Back in Colorado, I don't even close the bedroom windows until it goes below 30 degrees.
I spent 30 years living in Ventura County California which basically has the most perfect weather in the country. It is 67 degrees most all of the time. However the last time I lived there was in 1989. Since then I spent 7 years in northern California, three years in Salt Lake City, and a few years in the Reno Tahoe area.

But that is not the problem. You see I just spent 4 months living in Kingman Arizona and they had the hottest August imaginable. 105 every day and it got down to 80 at night. I left there and got here just in time for the big freeze. It is 50 degrees colder than it was. I can handle heat and I can handle cold, but it does take me some time to adjust. I am an avid snow skier so I actually love cold weather. But I moved to southern California because of the "mild" winters here. I planned on staying in San Diego all winter and I had a nice park picked out. But my RV failed their inspection, it wasn't new or pretty enough so I ended up here, since they would take me. Way way way colder than San Diego.
 
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