I need a heater for my small bedroom, but I have pets. Are there any pet-safe options?

I bought 2 oil filled space heaters. I turned them on today for the first time. They are barely putting out any heat. I have the 2 knobs all the way up. Any suggestions?

My garage gets really cold in winter. What’s the best heater for such conditions?

My living room is 400 sq. ft. Are there energy efficient heaters for such a big space?

Best 10 Heaters for Large Rooms to Keep You Snug and Warm 2023

Best for Large Spaces: Mr. Heater MHVFB30NGT

"Great gas heater model for the largest of spaces, place Mr Heater anywhere in your room and feel toasty"

Quietest Heater: TURBRO Arcade HR1500 Electric Mica Space Heater

"The Turbo Arcade heater is fast heating and extremely safe to operate. You can rely on strong heat output with quiet operation"

Budget Pick: KopBeau Space Heater

"The best choice for those rooms on the smaller end of the large-room scale, an oil heater that will (quietly!) keep you cozy and warm."

Best Ceramic Heater: Lasko Tower Heater 5165

"Compact, but with a lot of power, a heater that will warm your room even on the coldest days"

Best with Humidifier: Dr Infrared Heater

"A 2-in-1 option, combining the functions of a heater and humidifier to warm your room without drying the air"

Best Infrared Heater: TRUSTECH Space Infrared Heater

"An excellent choice for those with kids and pets, this space-saving heater is safe to touch during use."

Best with Air Ionizer: Lasko 760000

"For those with asthma or suffering from allergies, this heater will not only keep you warm, it will also ionize the air for your added comfort"

Best with LED Display: Dr Infrared Heater DR-978

"We liked its safety features; it includes indicator lights for the safety alarm, a metal housing that is built to remain cool, and an anti-tip switch."

Bionaire Silent Micathermic Console Heater

"Ultra-quiet, this convection heater won’t disturb even the lightest of sleepers"

Editor’s Choice: LifeSmart 6 Element

"An excellent choice for when you need to heat a large room, but don’t want to dry out the air (and your skin and hair, too!)"

There's a similar thread from a couple days ago with good tips on oil-filled radiators and micathermic panels that might help your setup

https://www.reddit.com/r/diynz/comments/1mhdce8/decent_heater_options_for_a_large_lounge_room_in

Our bedroom is about the same size as yours. We have a simple wall mounted panel heater (1.8kw). This heats our bedroom and WIW easily and takes the chill off the ensuite. We only heat to about 17C overnight.

Huh I thought micathermic heaters were the best because they do both radiant heat and heating the air. But I've never used one. That's a big room tho, is it possible it's just too small to heat the room?

Blowing it through the heater fins would definitely cause it to heat the room more than otherwise, it'll transfer more heat per minute from the heater to the air. It'll help distribution too. Otherwise, just oscillate really, it doesn't matter too much. Ideally, I'd aim it up on an angle, that'll really help mix the layers of different temperatures.

If you're in front of it, radiant heater, no question. Even then, perhaps a wall mounted radiant heater so that the whole room is affected. It'll feel drastically warmer per unit of energy than heating the air, considering the older house.

Failing that, try an oil column heater, paired with a fan. I find fan heaters to be too all or nothing, and dry the air out. The problem with an oil column is that the heated air will stratify near the ceiling. The fan will work wonders to mix the air in the room, and get that heat down to you.

Mitre10 still have them in stock. It's just what's available on each store. You might be able to get a transfer.

https://www.mitre10.co.nz/shop/dimplex-alta-top-outlet-panel-heater-2-4kw/p/279477?store=43&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwwO20BhCJARIsAAnTIVQ3iSlddSg1AirNvE_JJ2tkkJ2tk1HN_OqmJesZhkNTpIRUaloWeqYaAsKWEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Can't rate the Dimplex Altras high enough.

They've stopped making them but we have a 2.4kw in our lounge where the heatpump doesn't make it to.

2.8 stud. 7x4m floor space. Goes fucking well.

Put it on a Tapo WiFi plug. It's fucking amazing.

We have 750w in the kids rooms.

We do however have uPVC windows, floor, wall and ceiling insulation. But it's mounted on the wall where the old fireplace is.

I would suggest one of those plug in oil filled space heaters. They don't get hot but stay warm. They can't start a fire and are extremely efficient.

At my last condo we used radiant oil heaters around the place. It was built in the 40’s with hot water piped through the walls for radiant heat that worked inconsistently in some areas. The Pelonis brand are around $40 and worked quite well to heat our living room and bedroom (one in each). It take an hour or so to really heat the room up but it is a pleasant, consistent heat. Good for sleeping around as it doesn’t ramp up and get you too hot.

I don’t have experience with other types aside from the old school space heaters, but maybe someone else can chime in.

Then the oil filled kind like most are saying. You may have to put up a blanket between the kitchen if there's no door to keep the heat in. Keep in mind depending on where you live, an electric heater can cost about 20 cents an hour to run constantly...$5 a day, $140 a month. It can add up.

Realize that this will be noticeable on your electric bill. Electric heaters use a lot of energy.

Get an electric blanket for the bed? Portable blanket? Electric fitted sheet for the bed? Much easier to warm a person than warm a room.

If it's mostly for sleeping, what about an electric blanket?

https://www.lowes.com/pd/pelonis-5-200-btu-oil-filled-radiant-cabinet-electric-space-heater-with-thermostat/1000108031 which will heat about 144 square feet.

Air seal and insulate are the best "bang for the buck". If your room has large windows? insulating cellular shades/heavy curtains work well to minimize heat loss to the glass

To help your existing system?

Try leaving your bedroom door open to allow the supply air an easier route to the return air grille.

Damper the other room's supply vents to force the supply air into your room

All electric space heaters are the same in efficiency. A fan driven one will help your room reach temp quicker but they are noisy. Choose one with a thermostat.

Smart vent in your kids room. It will close the damper in that room when at the desired temp, and allow the extra btu’s to continue on to your room.

Can you adjust the dampers inside the duct work?

Buy an old dell server.

Double on all the HVAC comments above. Your original question of what space heater to get - I would suggest a oil radiator. They take a bit to warm up, but are energy efficient and effective for large rooms. They do get hot to the touch, so you'd have to be careful the kids cant get to it.

De'longhi is the best brand I've used for oil radiators. Their newer ones have some good safety features like turning off when tipped over.

Your wall outlet likely can’t handle more wattage than you already have, and as another poster pointed out all electric heaters basically have the same efficiency since they do no work and turn electricity in heat. That said, If you are sitting you should consider one of those parabolic heaters that focuses the heat on your rather than a diffuse, Ambient heater.

This Vornado is an amazing space heater that is safe for children. It has a vortex action airflow that evenly heats the whole room, and a built-in thermostat to prevent overheating. It also has tip-over and overheating protection, and is cool to the touch. We love this heater so much that we are getting rid of our other space heaters and replacing them all with this one.

Put a regular fan behind the oil heater at a lower speed, it will circulate the warm air more

All electric heaters are similarly efficient: they turn 100% of the electricity into heat. The bad news is that electricity is a very expensive fuel to heat with.

Your best bet for saving money is to keep the room as cool as you can tolerate and keep yourself warm. Electric blankets are great for this. Because they heat your body directly, they use a very small amount of electricity to warm you.

Dress in layers. Warm clothes work for free.

For your heater, you want a heater with a thermostat and a fan. The thermostat ensures that the heater only goes on when you want it to and you don't need to remember to turn it on and off.

The fan helps circulate the warm air. Without a fan, the heat goes directly to the ceiling and stays there. The fan can be separate from the heater itself.

We have to use an oil/electric space heater and small fan to supplement our crappy home heating during the winter. It works pretty well.

These are the best space heater (according to someone who lives in one of the coldest places in the USA):

Vornado AVH10 - Convenient cord-wrapping post for easy storage, and, for extra safety, a countdown clock when you turn it off.

DeLonghi TRD40615T - It's a bit expensive. Cozier, more ambient warmth throughout the room than what you typically get from a directional space heater with a fan.

Lasko FH500 (tower space heater) - it warmed the room swiftly and consistently to the temperature you dial in. It also has a medium heating option (in addition to the standard high and low settings found on most other space heaters).

A self contained electrical heater is basically 100% efficient.

So unless you want to spend a bunch and get a proper split system, just get any cheap fan heater. With expensive ones, you are just paying for smart features and aesthetics.

The only thing that matters is how many KW and even the cheap little ones can be enough to max out a single outlet.

How big is the room?

A 7 bar oil heater does a pretty good job heating my joined lounge rooms

The heater isn't the problem, the energy is

What type of meter do you have? Is it a smart meter?

First thing is change your plan, this will give you more budget to work with see https://www.energymadeeasy.gov.au/

Depending on your meter and plan, you can come up with a strategy to stay comfortable, so check your meter and share your plan and the various periods and costs per kWh

Protip, hot water bottles are the most underrated pieces of technology to stay warm

electric throw rugs. give up the idea of heating the entire room & just heat yourselves; you'll save $$$ (that fan heater is expensive to run!)

Get an electric oil heater, they take a while to heat up room, but they are silent.

I upgraded to an oil filled portable radiant heater. I really love it. Same wattage as ceramic fan (1500W in this case) but it seems sturdier. Maybe also less likely to burn out if overloaded? In any case would recommend.

I can’t provide a specific product recommendation for BIFL (yet) but I can provide “some” insight for now

The advertised room size doesn’t matter. If it pulls more energy from the walls, it spits out more heat. 1200W large heater is just as warm as 1200W small heater. The energy transfer medium is probably what matters more, like infrared vs convection

De'Longhi DeLonghi TRD40615E

I recommend this one you can find off amazon. Its well built with steel and only a small amount of plastic on the front panel and feet. You can set the temperature between 5C-28C (41F-82F) and it has 3 power settings and an ECO mode. setting 1 is 700W, 2 is 900W, and 3 is 1500W. When Eco mode is turned on it will run at the highest power that you have set until it reaches the set temp and then switches to a lower power to maintain the heat as needed.

Its silent except for a click when changing power settings which I like and doesnt dry out the air the same way ceramic heaters can. Its a bit heavy at 20 something pounds but the wheels make it easy to move around. It can take a while for it to heat up but it also takes longer to cool off which can be helpful if the power goes out or if you want to turn it off before going to bed. I also feel safer since its harder to start a fire with one of these.

Parents had Oil filled De’longhi heaters. They last forever.

I’m an electrician, please buy an oil filled heater.

I’ve been using a pair of delonghi oil filled heaters for the better part of a decade now. Work great and safe around kids/pets

The vornado space heaters work great. 🇺🇸 made w/5yr warranty

My Eden pure electric space heater is really good. Use it daily (winter only).

Owned it for 6 years. Has a remote (worth the extra money).

It's not loud like the other smaller units, I really like it.

which space heater did you end up choosing and are you happy with your choice?

I have had good long term luck with oil filled radiators. No moving parts.